This retelling of Pandora's Box felt very modern, but in a way that was a little distracting from the story.

Pandora’s Box by Jessica Gunderson is a cute, quick, simplified version of the Greek myth of the same name, perfect for the target age of 9-11 year olds. It’s easy to understand and updated with kid-friendly vernacular (and hashtags). The illustrations are great too.

Overall, as a fan of mythology retellings, I enjoyed this quick read. It was definitely sanitized but in an age-appropriate way. This would be a great intro into Greek mythology for kids and I would read others in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley for ARC.

Pandora’s Box releases August 1, 2023.

Thank you to Netgalley and Capstone for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What a fun little retelling of the story of Pandora and her infamous box / jar. The art style was simply adorable, and the language was clear and accessible - I especially appreciated the glossary at the very end, a perfect learning opportunity. Even though I hadn't read the blurb and didn't know this would be a middle grade graphic novel, I still had a great reading experience.

This mythology retelling is really cute in a lot of ways, but sometimes the modern humor misses the mark. I liked the social media component sometimes and other times it just feels like overkill, particularly with all the hashtags. I feel like some were hilarious and fun, others were just unnecessary and less fun. Overall though, this is a fun, new presentation of a classic story. This is a cute and quick graphic novel that young readers will likely greatly enjoy.

This was fun and cute!
I did enjoy it for what it was.
Great origin story of Pandoras box for middle grade.
The only ick I had was they used a lot of hashtags and @name, it felt very much like the Author was trying way to hard go be hip and cool.
It would of flowed nicely and been a great read without those.

This is a great, simple, colorful and easy explanation to the Pandora's box myth. It concisely rehashes the story in a format easy for kids to understand but captures the essence. It makes it creative for the world we live in now, including hashtags and simulation of texting. It was an enjoyable read.

"Pandora's Box" by Jessica Gunderson was both delightful and informative. While I have heard the term "opening Pandora's box" many times, I had never known what the story behind it actually was. Reading Jessica Gunderson's book gave me quick, easy to understand, and fun way to learn about it. "Pandora's Box" is a great way for children to learn, as well as Jessica Gunderson's other books, about Greek mythology.

With Jessi Zabarsky's wonderful illustrations bringing the mythology to life, the book is one I highly recommend.

Cute introduction to the Pandora myth. Told in more modern terms (hashtags!), but overall it still tells the basic Greek mythological story.

Pandora’s Box is the newest book in the Mythology Graphics Series released by Capstone Press. This series is dedicated to bringing classical stories of Greek Myth to a younger audience, grades 3-4, in an accessible way. Jessica Gunderson, author of more than 50 books for young readers and winner of the Moonbeam Award for Best Graphic Novel, is the force behind this latest book.

Pandora is the girl who released all the negative things in the world (war, famine, and pestilence) but there was one blessing left at the bottom of the box: that of hope. Everyone knows the story, right? Yet few are familiar with the wider backdrop of this drama, such as the battle for supremacy between the Titans and the Olympians, as well as Prometheus stealing the fire for humans, or even Epimetheus’ wooing of Pandora herself. Gunderson brings the whole story to her readers in graphic novel form.

Gunderson’s writing would be familiar to most young readers. She peppers hashtags and social media jargon into the panels periodically – anachronisms funny enough to get a reader to laugh out loud. Zeus might be the king of the gods of Olympus, but this story casts him as a petty and vindictive deity – a characterization in line with how he’s been depicted in a fair number of the mythological cycles. Pandora is a curious and relatable, if tragic, hero, while Prometheus and Epimetheus are both lovable and amusing comic relief.

Jessi Zabarsky and Le Nhat Vu’s illustrations give the book a fun and punchy feel. It reads a bit like a newspaper comic strip – not difficult to follow, but also fun to peruse more than once. This stripped down, modern aesthetic renders the strip modern enough to present day readers without divesting it of the core story elements that have endured over the years.

This is a fun retelling that I’m sure most kids will love. Age-appropriate, but with art that would be fun for older readers, it would be at home in any school library. With series like Percy Jackson continuing to thrive on the shelves, I’m hopeful that this book will sit right next to them and help to lend context to more mythological retellings for a long time to come.

Pandora’s Box was a cute story for children. The drawings were beautiful and the story was fun and easy to understand. The only thing is that I believe should be eliminated is the social media hashtags. The children understand what they are. Thus with the social media hashtags it seems like it is geared to older teens rather than the suggested age range from 7-9. Other than that, it is a great introduction to Greek mythology!

Jessica Gunderson's 'Pandora's Box' was fantastic. It is absolutely educational, but relatable to young kids as it is geared towards kids ages 7-8. This is a part of a series, but is absolutely able to be read on its own. The comics are well done, and I loved that it was realistic proportionally for the images. Well done! This is set to be released in July and is absolutely worth the read!

Pandora's Box was truly an enjoyable read! This book told one of the many versions of Pandora and how she unleashed "evils" on humanity. The modern elements helped keep it fresh and put it into a context kids can understand. The color scheme reminded me of the landscape and architecture found in Greece. Kids will love the art style and comedic moments found throughout. I was happy to see the additional facts and glossary at the end of the book informing the reader that there is more to the story. I would recommend this title to children and teens!

Finding Greek Myths appropriate for young readers can be really tricky (given the often touchy subject matter and different translations) but this retelling did a great job of communicating the major points of Pandora in language that young people could understand. Given many young people go through a stage where they are fascinated with Greek Mythology, books like this are important.
The illustrations are engaging and help communicate the story without overpowering or distracting from the text. The stylistic choice of including hashtags is a great idea and will give young audiences something familiar to connect to in a setting that is very distant to them.
Unlike other iterations of this myth, this book does a good job of not demonising Pandora. It is nice to be able to expose young readers to female figures in mythology, additionally, it is nice to provide them with a story that is not the subject of female violence.
As a teacher I am always looking for books that my reluctant readers can not only access but enjoy. The definitions in the back are really great for expanding young readers vocabulary. At just under 50 pages, this book is a quick and engaging read that is able to communicate the story of Pandora's box, as well as expanding vocabulary and additional facts and misconceptions.
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

I found this graphic novel to be very cringey. With its hashtags, mentions, and humor, I wasn't really sure who this book was meant for. Information provided says it is intended for ages 7 and 8, but I think I would recommend other mythology books besides this series to that age group. Pandora felt very passive for a book meant to be about her, and I felt most of the focus was on the male gods and titans in the myth.

I love the idea of this book which takes mythology and puts it into a visually-appealing story for children. This book is laid out like a comic which many children will enjoy. It also simplifies the story of Pandora's box into easy to understand format. Pronunciations might be more difficult for younger children, but younger children would still enjoy this book if it was read to them. I love that this book includes a glossary at the end with some helpful definitions as well.

I loved the concept of this book. A Greek mythology using more current slang seemed like a great idea. However I found it was a bit heavy handed with that theme. I liked the book overall but I fear younger audiences may find it tries to hard

How do you explain the Greek myths to young children? I think this book took a great stab at it. Told as a simple graphic novel, we not only get the origin of Pandora, but the whys and wherefores of Pandora, which I have to admit, I had forgotten. I mean, I knew about Prometheus stealing fire, but didn’t remember this was connected to Pandora and her box.

There is even an after the main story, “More about Pandora” where we learn that it was not originally a box, but a jar, but someone messed up translating Greek to English.

The pictures are clean and clear, and if they look familiar, the illustrator also illustrated the graphic novel, WitchLight.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. It will be published 1st of August 2023 by Capstone Press..

3.5/5

Super cute and a fun quick read that could easily get children into the adventure that is the Greek Mythology rabbit while teaching them a valuable lesson.

this was adorable! I loved the art in it, and the author did an excellent job of simplifying the myth for children, while also keeping much of its accuracy and integrity.

This was a cute book, and a good way to inform not only children but anyone about these myths and stories. I liked the design of the characters, as well as how the language was simple and modernized.