I Am Hermes! Mischief-Making Messenger of the Gods

Greek myths told with a comics style, "distinct art and side-splitting dialog."

"The world!" the newly born Hermes says. "It's even better than I expected! I love it! I want it all!"

On his first day of life, Hermes manages to trick a turtle into surrendering its shell and a ram into surrendering its horns, thereby inventing the lyre, music, and song! He also manages to steal his brother Apollo's precious cow. but later, he redeems himself by outwitting the giant brothers Otus and Ephialtes, who have kidnapped Mars.

These adventures and more, all derived from classical mythology, are told with great humor as well as a twenty-first century sensibility by the colossally talented Mordicai Gerstein. The art in this graphic novel is truly spectacular, with 250 illustrations executed by a Caldecott medal-winning master.

Mordicai Gerstein is the author and illustrator of The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, winner of the Caldecott Medal. Four of his books have been named New York Times Best Illustrated Books of the Year. As a child, Gerstein was inspired by reproductions of fine art that his mother cut out of Life magazine and by children's books from the library: "I looked at Rembrandt and Superman, Matisse and Bugs Bunny, and began to make my own pictures." After attending Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, he was hired by an animated cartoon studio where he designed characters and thought up ideas for TV commercials. Gerstein lives in Westhampton, Massachusetts.