Karas’s whimsical account of the story of Zeus’s early life provides young children with an engaging introduction to Greek mythology. The light humorous tone of both the text and the illustrations neutralizes some of the more sinister mythological themes (unwanted children, cannibalistic father) without watering down the original story. Karas chooses to retell the version in which Zeus is raised by the goat Amalthea (though, sadly, he left out the details about how the goat kept baby Zeus hidden from Cronos). He then moves on to tell how Zeus outsmarted Cronos to free his siblings and unleash his uncles from the Underworld, and the resulting battle between them and the Titans. Much of the story is relayed through witty, modern dialogue that somehow manages to stay true to the essential characters, and even include a few in-jokes for those who already know their mythology. (Ages 4–8)

This is the story of how young Zeus, with a little help from six monsters, five Greek gods, an enchanted she-goat, and his mother, became god of gods, master of lightning and thunder, and ruler over all. in doing so, he learned a lot about family. Who knew that having relatives could be so complicated, even for a god?

Brian Karas says about his inspiration for this book, I've been interested in working with myths, but I felt as though I needed a personal connection. I am of Italian and Greek descent so I started to think of my Greek heritage. But the world of Greek mythology was unknown to me and in a way felt inaccessible, until I learned more. The Greek believed their gods and goddesses to be, among other things, very human-like in their emotions and behavior. They had complicated family relations. They were flawed on many levels - they could be petty, impulsive and unreasonable. I started to recognize them. Then I travelled to Greece, I knew this place! This personal connection gave me what I felt I needed to work with a Greek myth. But which?

I am also interested in the beginnings of things. When I started researching I kept looking for the ultimate source, the very first account, and largely drew from Hesiod's Thegony. Being interested in origins, I was also drawn to the Greek's version of the very beginning of things and it was here that I settled on the story of Zeus. There is much written about his reign as ruler of heaven and earth but very little about his youth and rise to power. The story of how his mother hid him on the island of Crete is a familiar one but there was a big gap in everything I read of what happened in between his life as an infant and his glory days. Young Zeus is my account of how things might have gone for young Zeus and what led him to become the omnipotent almighty god that he was believed to be.