It is relatively easy to avoid bad children’s picture books because they’re such eyesores but what do you do with one that’s simply a disappointment? I do battle with boring prose for the sake of mythology, that’s what.

Title: In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World
Author: Virginia Hamilton (1936-2002)
Illustrator: Barry Moser (1940-)
Original Publication Date: 1988
Edition: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (1988), 161 pages
Genre: Mythology
Ages: 9-10
First Sentence: Time was, there were no people on earth.

On the face of it, this striking volume is exactly what I would want in a children’s library, which should always come replete with a generous selection of myths and legends, fables, folklore and fairy tales. Virginia Hamilton is a celebrated and award-winning writer while Barry Moser, in addition to illustrating numerous picture books, has composed engravings for such pillars of the written word as Moby Dick and even the King James Bible. So far so good.

Hamilton wrote several books of mythology but she is best known for middle grade novels such as The House of Dies Drear (1968) and M.C. Higgins the Great (1974), and she won pretty much every major children’s book award over the course of her long career – In the Beginning is only one of her Newbery Honor books. However, this is the first of hers that I’ve read and so far I find her prose depressingly dull, with flat, simplistic sentences and no underlying melody. Take for instance this segment from the Russian Altaic story of Ulgen the Creator:

In the beginning, Erlik and God Ulgen were friends. But then Erlik tried to create life of his own. He boasted about it.
“I can do as well as Ulgen. I can make a man.”
That made Ulgen angry. He commanded Erlik down to the depths. Now Erlik is the leader of dead spirits. He is the devil.

I read the whole book and assumed from the above writing style that it was aimed at kids in third or fourth grade. Only after I had finished and was in research mode did I learn that Scholastic actually recommends this book for grades 6-8, meaning 11-12 years old and up. This is the age group that gets recommended books by Philip Pullman and Wilson Rawls – they should be fluent readers. Of course, if the writing was deliberately stripped down to mimic oral traditions, the result should have the rhythm and repetition of speech but when I experimented with reading several of the myths out loud no such pattern manifested itself. The prose remained lifeless, so I went to Project Gutenberg. Compare the above quotation with this one from Old Greek Stories (1895) by James Baldwin (1841-1925):

There was Juno, the queen of earth and sky, who sat at the right hand of Jupiter and gave him all kinds of advice. There was Mars, the great warrior, whose delight was in the din of battle. There was Mercury, the swift messenger, who had wings on his cap and shoes, and who flew from place to place like the summer clouds when they are driven before the wind.

Hamilton’s 9 sentences contain 58 words. Baldwin’s 3 sentences contain 70 words. Read them both aloud and hear the difference. One could certainly accuse Baldwin of being an “old-fashioned” writer but that would not be possible if he hadn’t had some style to start with. At least he expected his young readers to be able to keep up with his winding whimsies, whereas Hamilton seems to expect nothing of her audience beyond the most basic levels of literacy. The only things she brings to the table here are the collective theme (which is definitely interesting and which I will get to in a moment) and her multicultural selection process, which were enough with her and Moser’s reputations to win this volume considerable adulation. Either 1988 was a thin year or the quality and cadence of the writing really didn’t matter to critics in this case. So enough on that subject and on to what I actually did find interesting about In the Beginning.

I do believe this book could open up some rather interesting discussions between a questioning child and his or her parent as the thematic selection from so many cultures is a natural start to a comparative mythology class. One could discuss the intent behind the myths and how imagery recurs and alters from one region to another, as geographical location plays its own part in these stories. Obviously, one could also contrast how recurring elements are handled – for instance, in the aboriginal Karora myth the violence is depicted uncritically as Karora and his human sons hunt down and devour all of his first children, the bandicoots, whereas to the Greeks the tale of Kronos was a morality play, as he who transgressed and killed his father must in turn be slain by his own son.

In the Beginning has good educational merit at its core and all its myths are sourced. I really wanted to like this book, yet am forced to acknowledge another problem: In the Beginning‘s layout. The myths are not arranged geographically, thematically or even alphabetically and the short commentary on each myth and its culture of origin is found at the end of each story rather than the beginning, summarizing events you literally just read. Adding to the confusion, there is a final section: ‘More on These Myths.’ This segment arranges the myths in a helpful thematic order that really enhances reader comprehension – already after you and your children have read them in the random fashion given.

The book’s strongest point is in fact Barry Moser. His watercolor illustrations are moody and often striking, singlehandedly supplying In the Beginning‘s atmosphere. The cover art is superb and caught my eye immediately. He uses light beautifully throughout, from the pearly haze on the first ocean of the world to the harsh illumination as Adam contemplates the apple. His style is fairly grave – his humans are intense and careworn, his animals peaceful yet somber, his monsters genuinely frightening and his abstracts eerie. He does a very fine job with much of the material and I always do enjoy his work.

Clearly, in spite of the sentence structure, this book is indeed meant for older kids who have developed strong comprehension skills. It shouldn’t be your child’s first access to mythology but I would have come to that conclusion regardless of the writing style, as beginning mythology “in the beginning” is a rather terrible idea (Kirkus doesn’t agree with me). The Greek hero myths are so popular for a number of reasons: there are warriors and monsters, epic adventures, treachery and triumph. They also contain a measure of morality that children find easy to understand, advocating and rewarding bravery and cleverness, while punishing hubris. Creation myths on the other hand are quite esoteric. The landscapes are amorphous: In the beginning, all was dark. There was water everywhere. There was no sun and no moon and no stars. The gods’ behaviours are perplexing and changeable; in many myths they quickly decide to destroy what they have made, though this does not always work out well for them. The purpose of these tales often lack in relatable substance for a child – for instance the Babylonian myth concludes with: He let there be Man and thus freed the gods from eternal labor.

With such a wide range of mythology for children now available, In the Beginning is simply not one that I would recommend to parents. Yes, the comparative aspect is interesting but I believe it would be more beneficial for a child to have a larger collection of world mythology written with passion and depth. I doubt any single author could do equal justice to myths from so many different cultures, nice as the concept might sound. Consider In the Beginning supplementary, not essential.

To conclude with the Parental Guide.

Violence: Creation myths are full of death for the most part. Actually, so are most myths. The only caution I would therefore apply to this book regards Barry Moser’s illustrations, which in several places are not appropriate for young or sensitive children. I for one would not have been a happy child to flip through the book and see this:

Values: At the end of the book you will find three Greek myths and two from Genesis. They seem to serve as a summation of sorts, since they are the most recognizable material, and I genuinely think Hamilton did a nice job of retaining some of the King James feel for the Biblical stories. However, I noted one GoodReads reviewer who seemed pleased to think that Hamilton wrapped with the seven-day creation as some kind of “take that!” to Christianity. I didn’t read it that way, but it’s something Christians might want to be aware of.

Hamilton was clearly interested in how different peoples see the world and promoted the value of cultural anthropology and awareness. For those curious to know the cultural breakdown for this book, I’ve arranged them by geographical location. Twenty five myths are included from twenty two cultures, with the Judaic and Greek selections getting split up as mentioned.

Five African myths, from Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Guinea and Zambia.
Five North American myths, of the Blackfoot, Huron, Maidu, Mayan and Eskimo people.
Four myths from Oceania: Australian aboriginal, Micronesian, Melanesian and Polynesian.
Three from the Middle East: Babylonian, Egyptian and Judaic.
Three from Asia: Chinese, northeastern Indian and Altaic Siberian.
Two from Europe: Norse and Greek.

Educational Properties: Besides the obvious comparative mythology angle I think this book could also be used to teach writing. Have your student select his or her favorite myth and retell it in fewer sentences. It would also be a good springboard to a fairly wide-ranging geography lesson.

End of Guide.

Having checked the Classical Christian List as I always do for authors, Virginia Hamilton appears twice – with a picture book entitled The Bells of Christmas and with The House of Dies Drear. Her reputation remains unassailable to this day. Would reading something else by her change my mind on her prose? What could you recommend me as her best work?

Up Next: Getting back to Jack London with a boys’ boating adventure no one remembers.