This was one of those books that you trip over when you are trying to find another book by the same author and even if it was an mischance book I loved it as well as the idea that is behind the book.

Alison Lurie takes you into an introductory array of animal mythoi from around the world to give you an insight into some of our starry night constellations such as the bull that snatched away Europa, the Babylonian creatrix she-dragon Tiamat, the gentle dove who brought back an olive leaf to Noah and Callisto the Great Bear. The stories are quick, easy to read and open your knowledge to the way our ancestors used to perceive the world.

And the artwork by Monika Beisner is just beautiful and makes a very good addition to this book for it gives you the animal within an environ for it such as the bear on the snowy hills with pines in the background and above it in the night sky is drawn the picture of the animal represented in the constellation (in this case Callisto the Great Bear) with the stars added to the picture to show the general shape of the constellation as we may see it.

This is definitely a good starter book for those interested in the stories behind the constellations but since it is such a small book it is definitely not the ultimate guide to these starry legends. Just remember they are stories and for the one that is included there are hundreds that can be substituted for it while, depending on the culture, it may not be that particular creature they see when they look at that collection of stars. That is the beauty of mythoi and legends. ( )