Looking for a picture book version of the story of King Midas? Look no further! It's Intertext time!

Intertexts are when an old story gets retold from another point of view. The themes can change, but the overall idea is the same. Once Upon a Time... There was a Greedy King helps tell the tale of King Midas (remember, that dude who touched things and it turned to gold? Not the guy from Fortnite, but he's an Intertext too in his own way).

This fun, little book has cartoon-y images that make this story very engaging. It's bright, colourful and packed full of images for the reader. It keeps your brain and eyes busy, which I really liked. It's King Midas... Of COURSE it needs to be colourful and engaging! What else would you expect from the King who thinks he's the cats meow?

This tale ends quite pleasant, unlike the origins of this tale. So it's a great book for children!

Overall, fun story! I highly recommend it for a short fairy tale re-telling read!

Three out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and DK for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Loved reading this series. The beautiful illustrations by Maja Andersen really enhance the words, giving it so much depth. This one, a simple retelling of the story of King Midas, with a clear problem and solution. Perfect for young readers.


With a board book format, they'd be a great intro point for fables/moral/lesson in the early classroom.

This is a great little board book! King Midas learns a lesson about money not being the most important thing in the world and I think kids will enjoy this re-telling. The illustrations are beautiful and bold and the story is short.

I received an electronic ARC from DK Publishing through NetGalley.
Simplified retelling of the King Midas myth for young readers. DK maintains the essence of the myth by summarizing the highlights and using language toddlers and preschoolers will understand. A great family read to discuss legends from around the world. The final page spread offers more information about the myth and further information about Greek mythology. The illustrations capture the action and let readers feel like they are in the scenes with King Midas.

This book over simplifies the tale of King Midas. The illustrations are great and so is the information on the last page, but the story falls short.

This book tells the tale of King Midas. In this retelling King Midas learns a valuable lesson, there are things more important than wealth. The vibrant pictures and additional facts about mythology add to the overall story. Children ages 6-12 would enjoy reading this book.

The remake of the classic King Midas who was a real king. He was from ancient Greece and the tale teaches about greed and the losses we suffer from it. It is a good lesson to teach our children and how it can lead to our demise. However, King Midas did have a 2nd chance and learned his lesson. We can teach that to our children as well.

A special thank you DK Children and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

Once Upon A Time... there was a Greedy King goes over the myth of Midas. The art was absolutely beautiful. I felt like the story of Midas was simplified for children really well.

This was a cute story. I loved the message and the illustrations were very well done. This had a very important story and I highly recommend it.

My favorite thing about this book is the illustrations, I think Andersen did a great job. All of the colors are super bright and compliment each other very well. The main color theme is orange and yellow as it reflects the gold that the King has and I liked the choice of using this color often.

This is a board book which means the story is pretty short at only 16 pages.

While this is a retelling of the Greek myth I feel like it cut the story pretty short. I don’t think this would have bothered me as much had the wording been for a younger age. Usually, board books are made for younger children, 5 and under, but the word length and words, in general, seem more for students in elementary school. It would have made sense for the book to not include details about the whole myth had it seemed like the book was for a younger audience; however, the choice to use more complex words makes me think it is for older children with a higher reading level. I feel the book would’ve improved had it went one way or the other.

When I say the story felt like it was cut short I’m referring to the ending. When the daughter is turned into gold the king is supposed to realize his mistake and while this does happen we barely see any of this. We get one sentence where it says he “ran to the river in despair.” We don’t really see the king talk about his mistake which I feel is an important part of the book. I think the lesson that is supposed to be coming across to children would have a greater effect if there were more details.

Overall I’m just a bit disappointed with the book. I would’ve liked more detail since the book seems like it’s for older children. Again, I think the best part of the book is the illustrations.

The story of King Midas in picture book form. The illustrations were lovely and the story a good one to teach how people are more important than things.

"Love is worth more than gold," is the moral of this story about greedy King Midas. The author does a good job at retelling this old greek myth in a way that young children can understand and appreciate. This book also includes an informative lesson on greek myths and the geography where this story takes place.

The art is bright and colorful. My only criticism is that the design would appeal to young children more than it would appeal to older children. Also, the reading level is better suited for older children. I think that this book could be improved if the language were simpler, or if it was designed for older children.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. I really enjoyed the illustrations and storyline in this young reader’s picture book. I loved the design of the book, with the double pages layout displaying large colorful illustrations sure to entertain and engage young readers. I also thought that the story would be really fun read out loud.

I received an arc of this book from NetGalley for an honest review. This is the story of a greedy man who learns a lesson on greed and what's most important.

This book will be a great lesson for children to learn that not everything you wish is good. The king had to accidentally turn his daughter into gold to learn that lesson himself!