The Arete Storybook of Heroes is one mother's response to the once upon a time midnight feedings that turned into poetry readings and a lifelong commitment to the oral tradition. It is my hope that this storybook of heroes dignifies the right of the person, young or old, to imagine. In spite of the popular culture, it is up to us to imagine who our heroes are and for young people to know them as the best friends of their best thoughts. Included in this storybook are a number of myths and fables I have performed to the accompaniment of the harp over the years. Among them is a Homeric Hymn to inspire a budding environmentalist, some of the lesser known fables by Aesop, and a myth about the meeting between Arete (Virtue) and the legendary strongman Heracles. My story about Mother Mary was presented in the Great Theater in Argos, Greece, and in Ephesus, Turkey at Meryem Ana Evi - the House of Mary, during the Izmir International Music Festival in 2000.

This book should be read aloud by parents and grandparents to their children and grandchildren. It can provide a decent excuse for a loved one's voice to be heard. As a child who loved the Greek and Norse mythology, I have written to the six-year-old I was and to the woman I was at sixty. I know that a proper mythology book must have pictures so I have added to the text a number of photos from my own mythological family of found objects. My hero, Heracles, is made form stone polished wood, a thistle, some abalone shell. Mary is made from a dying hibiscus flower turned upside down. Again, an invitation to imagine and respect the world. The hardcopy books are available at https://norfolkpress.com/?s=dianne+de+laet.

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