Since borrowing my father's copy of Edith Hamilton's Mythology back when I was in elementary school, I have read many different versions of Greek and Roman mythology. My 11-year-old daughter's new-found interest in the myths -- sparked by the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan -- reignited my interest enough to seek a good version of the stories for her to read.

I decided to give Nigel Spivey's Songs on Bronze: The Greek Myths Made Real, which has languished unread in my collection for nearly 20 years, a try.

It's good. Good enough, at least, that I feel confident loaning it to Annabelle to read (despite the inevitable tales of rape and incest that are inescapable when this pantheon is involved).

Spivey writes with a relaxed tone, casual enough that it will be easier reading for my budding pre-teen classicist, yet not so loose that it would be mistaken for modern young-adult fiction. I enjoyed revisiting these tales, although I would quibble with some of Spivey's choices; for instance, he makes Ares the author of the Trojan War, initiating the judgment of Paris through boredom, rather than his spiritual sister Eris, who was feeling particularly spiteful because she wasn't invited to a wedding.

Also, some of Spivey's stories are streamlined a little too much -- a boon, no doubt, for young readers who are easily distracted, but in some cases I thought he left out important elements of the original Greek sagas.

Still, he writes a compelling version of many familiar myths, spelling out the details behind the deeds of Herakles, Perseus, Theseus, Jason, Orpheus and more. He provides an artful summary of the Trojan War that, while abbreviated, hits all of the major points, as well as the ill-fated journey that kept Odysseus from his home and family for a long decade after the war's eventual end.

Songs on Bronze is a fairly quick read, and I hope it will be enough to set my daughter on a path toward Hamilton and Bulfinch, perhaps even Homer, Ovid and Virgil, just as Hamilton did for me so many years ago.

Addendum: My daughter didn't like it. She said it was "OK" but she didn't like certain changes Spivey made to the legends, and she didn't enjoy his writing style. She has switched to Hamilton and seems to be enjoying it more.