The If Odyssey draws out the philosophy that lies behind each story in Homer's epic tale to introduce children not only to the exciting fables of Odysseus, but also to that other great Ancient Greek tradition, philosophy. Explore with Odysseus the value of happiness, non-existent entities, moral dilemmas, the philosophy of prophecy, and the nature of love among many other philosophical issues. From the author of The If Machine, this book offers stories and session plans suitable for use across the curriculum with children aged 8-16. Online you'll find maps of Odysseus' journey, The Words of Tiresias that provides clues for the children as to Odysseus' progress and an Ancient Greek language workshop with accompanying worksheets. You can use the 'Storykit' section, which provides hints and tips on storytelling skills, to bring the tales of The Odyssey to life and stimulate independent, critical thinking with your class.

 

There are 208 pages in this book. This book was published 2012 by Continuum Publishing Corporation .

Peter Worley is the co-CEO and co-founder of The Philosophy Foundation. He has been questioning children in classrooms every week for the past 15 years using philosophy for children, and he runs talks, events and teacher training on questioning. Peter is also a Visiting Research Associate at King's College London and the president of SOPHIA, the European Foundation for the Advancement of Doing Philosophy with Children. Follow Peter on Twitter @the_if_man. Tamar Levi is an award-winning artist and illustrator of numerous children's books including My Autism Book, The Philosophy Shop and The If Odyssey. She has studied child psychology, and is an expert in how to use picture books to communicate complex ideas to children.

This book has the following chapters: Acknowledgements \ Preface \ Section One: How to use The If Odyssey \ Introduction \ Ariadne: The Art of Facilitation \ Aoidos: The Lost Art of Storytelling \ Logos: Teaching Strategies \ Section Two: The Odyssey \ 1. The War (The Wooden Horse) \ 2. The Battle (The Ciconians) 3. Happiness and Forgetting (The Lotus Eaters) \ 4. Nobody's Home (The Cyclops) \ 5. Captain or Crew? (Aeolus and the Bag of Winds) \ 6. Dinner Guests (The Laestrygonians) \ 7. Choices (Circe and the Pig Men) \ 8. Under the World (Tiresias and the Underworld) \ Chapter 9. The Singing Women (The Sirens) \ 10. The Horror of The Rocks (Scylla and Charybdis) \ 11. Clouded (The Cattle of Helios) \ 12. The Concealer (The Island of Kalypso) \ 13. The Storyteller (The Phaeacians) \ 14. The Stranger (The Return Home) \ Section Three: After The Odyssey \ Appendix 1: The Hero \ Appendix 2: Introduction to Ancient Greek \ Appendix 3: Ancient Greek Workshop \ Appendix 4: Winged Words (Oidipus and The Riddle of The Sphinx) \ Bibliography