Minos then vents his grief and anger by consigning the guiltless Asterion to be his vessel of revenge against the equally guiltless Athenians. “Now you’re grossed out?” Poseidon taunts, “Well, Life’s not for wimps./ Sometimes gods are gods/And sometimes they’re pimps.” At Pasiphae’s request, Daedalus is drawn into the drama he engineers his four-line rhyming stanzas as carefully as his contraptions, crafting a cow suit for Pasiphae to consummate her whim, and later a labyrinth when Minos’ beloved human son is killed during an athletic competition in Athens. His opening narration has a rolling bass rhythm that occasionally explodes into a gleefully naughty rhyme or pun as he explains the setup: how he first helps King Minos by sending a white bull from the sea and then punishes the king’s attempt to deceive the god by causing Minos’ wife, Pasiphae, to lust after the animal and give birth to Asterion, her bull-headed son. “Whaddup, bitches?” welcomes Poseidon, whose voice is as treacherous and irreverent as one might expect from the punitive god whose actions set tragedy in motion. Readers will certainly find more poetry than justice here there’s nothing half-blooded or Disneyfied in David Elliott’s energetic, multi-voiced verse novel retelling of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Voices is a novel in medieval verse looking at Joan of Arc's life from various points of view.Despite middle-grade and school-sanctioned sanitizations of ancient mythology, we know that the Greek gods were a randy, violent bunch who loved abusing their power to wreak havoc on the uppity mortals who dared shake their fists at the gods’ capricious ideas of poetic justice. Bull is a verse novel for young adults retelling the myth of the Minotaur.

On the Farm and its successors are sets of pithy poems about the natural world. Many of his children's books are humorous stories in verse and prose. He recalls that it was returned to him torn in half. He also served as their director of International Student Services.=ĭavid Elliott grew up in Ohio and wrote his first story when he was 16 and sent it to The New Yorker magazine. He taught creative writing, adolescent literature and playwriting at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire from 1998 to 2013. JSTOR ( July 2015) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)ĭavid Elliott (born 1947) is an American author of children's books in verse and prose.

Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful.įind sources: 'David Elliott' children's author – news This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification.

Bull by david elliott