EXCERPT and GIVEAWAY
Hestia the Invisible
(Goddess Girls Book 18)
by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
Description
Set at Mount Olympus Academy where Zeus is principal, the Goddess Girls series (ages 8-12) puts a middle school spin on Greek mythology. Hestia, the 12-year-old goddess of the hearth, struggles to create a symbol or logo for herself in Crafts-ology class and realizes she wants to make herself more visible. Because most MOA students don’t even seem to notice she’s around!
Excerpt
TODAY WE WILL TAKE A break from pottery design and painting,” announced Mr. Phintias on Friday at the start of second-period Crafts-ology. He was standing in front of a wall of shelves lined with vases, urns, and pots. Many were decorated with reddish-orange silhouette figures on glazed black backgrounds. The amazing feats of the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus were the main subjects of these painted scenes. And this teacher had created much of the stunningly beautiful clay pottery himself!
At his announcement most of the class groaned with disappointment. Reluctantly they started putting away the clay they’d begun unwrapping, as well as their sculpting tools and paintbrushes.
However, twelve-year-old Hestia breathed a sigh of relief as she plunked her half-finished clay pot back onto its shelf. While other students had unique, fantastical, or elegant pots, bowls, and urns in progress, her pot was plain old boring in her opinion. The kind you could buy anywhere down on Earth.
Hearing the groans, Mr. Phintias ran a hand over his short brown ponytail. “Hey, no worries. We’ll return to pottery soon enough. But today we’re going to investigate a new artistic skill.”
He was one of Mount Olympus Academy’s most mega-cool teachers, far younger and hipper than some teachers, such as Mr. Cyclops, who taught Hero-ology. However, making painted pottery was Mr. Phintias’s life. And he didn’t always understand that not everyone was necessarily as excited about it. At least Hestia wasn’t. The craft of pottery-making was just not her thing.
As she sat back down at her table, her fingers reached into the pocket of the tomato-red chiton she wore. They touched the edges of the blank cards she always carried, just in case she had a recipe brainstorm and wanted to jot down ideas and ingredients. She’d much rather use her creativity to come up with tasty concoctions to fill those pretty pots, bowls, and urns they made in this class. In other words, her favorite art was cooking!
What the teacher said next brought curious stares. “Today we will dip our feather pens into the exciting world of graphic design. As you know, mortals down on Earth will be voting one week from today to honor the MOA student they feel most deserves recognition for his or her service to humankind.”
He paused as a murmur of voices indicated that students were indeed aware of the Service to Humankind contest. As they quieted, his dark brown eyes swept the room, flicking from student to student. Hestia quickly repositioned herself behind a mortal girl named Pandora at her table. Fingers crossed Hestia wouldn’t be called on for anything.
“Are you deserving of such recognition?” Mr. Phintias asked the class. “Have you done something to help make the world a better, happier place for humankind? I hope so, since it’s the right thing to do. However, this is something you must judge for yourself. And if you believe the answer to this question is yes, then I strongly suggest you sign up to enter. The award will be well worth winning—”
“What is the award, exactly?” Pandora interrupted.
“That will be revealed at a banquet in honor of the eleven finalists, when one of them is announced the winner,” the teacher replied with a small smile in Pandora’s direction.
Praise for the Book
"Great! Creative and fun!!! Uses baking to create an idea of Hestia that has never been seen before!!! Read this book!" ~ Chas on Amazon
"Great book! I love these because it is good for my age because I am 11." ~ Trista Montenegro on Goodreads
Book Links
About the Authors
Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams are co-authors of three series: Goddess Girls (for ages 8-12, Greek mythology with a middle school twist), Grimmtastic Girls (for ages 8-12, fairy tale adventure with a middle school twist), and Heroes in Training (ages 6-11, Greek mythology adventure chapter books).
Suzanne Williams is also the author of over 40 books for children. A former elementary school librarian, she lives near Seattle. Her picture book Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg) won the New Mexico children’s choice award in 2000 and was on several other state award lists. Other series include Fairy Blossoms and Princess Power.
Giveaway
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