Free Kindle Version With the Purchase of a New Amazon Paperback Edition. After ten years of war, Troy has fallen to the Greeks. Now, the hero Aeneas leads the Trojan refugees on a quest to establish a new homeland. The son of the goddess Venus, Aeneas knows he must build the city that will one day become Rome. Over two thousand years ago, the Roman poet Virgil wrote the epic chronicling this Trojan hero's wanderings and battles. While stories about the dictates of fate and about gods helping their children may seem old-fashioned, the story still speaks to the issues of our times, issues of war and peace, love and loss, duty and pleasure, privilege and self-determination, the triumph of battles won and the tragedy of battles lost, new countries founded on lands occupied by others and immigrants excluded by established residents. In the tradition of Black Ships Before Troy, Virgil's Aeneid Retold for Young Adults offers a fresh retelling of the myth in modern English. Preserving the order and major events and characters of the original, this book makes the Aeneid accessible to readers unfamiliar with the grand poetic style and length of ancient epic. The author, who has taught high-school students since 2000, creates more realistic dialogue and shortens sections where students often get bogged down. Descriptions, particularly those of the battle scenes, seek to clarify parts of the original that can be difficult to visualize. The occasional inclusion of an oft-used phrase from epic poetry helps to preserve the tone and atmosphere of the Aeneid. The book includes discussion questions to help readers begin to think about themes, characterization, and literary technique. A number of the questions ask readers to think about the situations and motivations of minor characters, such as Iarbas and Amata, and the leadership qualities of Dido. Also included is an extensive glossary describing major characters and providing the pronunciation of their names, which students preparing to read Virgil's poem in their English or Latin classes will find very useful. The book can also be used to review for the AP Latin exam. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Frank Hering earned his B.A. in English from the University of Chicago and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from the University of Florida. He has taught 9th- and 11th-grade English classes at Elgin Academy in Illinois since 2004. He frequently teaches the Odyssey and parts of the Iliad and the Aeneid to his Freshmen.

The story of the Aeneas and the founding of Rome has excitement and adventure, romance and magic, humour and sadness. Emily Frenkel's retelling is fresh and direct. Simon Weller's illustrations are fabulous.

This is a book for people who love a good story--this story has truly stood the test of time. Millions of people continue to discover it and love it, generation after generation, even 2,050 after it was first made available to the public. It's about the hero's quest; it's about a good man dealing with incredibly difficult decisions. If you've always wondered who Aeneas was, who Dido was, what all the famous artwork is about, and what the opera Dido and Aeneas is about--this book will give you all the background, in easy-to-read language. If you're looking for a book that's a page-turner, that has characters who stay in your imagination long after you've finished reading, then this is the book for you. Below is an excerpt: -- This story is about a man-Aeneas-who endured hardships on sea and land to fulfill his destiny and establish a city that would become the epicenter of a vast and mighty empire. The gods had blessed Aeneas with courage, strength, beauty, humility, wisdom, and skill in warfare. He was the one who had been chosen to father a race of men who would one day rule the world. The goddess Hera, wife to Zeus, had a deep and abiding hatred for the Trojans. Long ago, in a beauty contest for goddesses, a Trojan named Paris had failed to select Hera as the winner, wounding Hera's pride and profoundly offending her. At another point in the past, a beautiful Trojan man named Ganymede had stolen the hearts of many gods, Zeus among them. This was another offense that Hera could not forgive. And there was the prophecy stating that the city that Aeneas planned to establish would one day destroy Hera's beloved city of Carthage. For all these reasons, Hera devoted herself to thwarting the Trojans at every opportunity. Her fondest wish was to eliminate every last Trojan from the Earth. Aeneas and his brave Trojan refugees, from their ships, spotted the coast of Italy in the distance. Finally! After years spent traveling-years facing obstacles and dealing with setbacks-they were now about to reach their destination. Hera, seeing this, became enraged. Desperate to stop them, she thought of the various ways she could annihilate this stubborn Trojan remnant once and for all. Hera visited King Aeolus and asked him to send a storm that would sink all of Aeneas' ships. King Aeolus had been designated by Zeus as the keeper the Earth's winds. To keep the Earth safe, King Aeolus kept the winds locked in a mountain. In exchange for Aeolus' help, Hera promised to give him a nymph he had long loved. Aeolus pounded the mountain one time with his fist, and a portal opened up in the rock. The two strongest winds-Eastwind and Southwind-came screaming out, furious at having been locked away so long, and eager to do as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time. They immediately swept towards Aeneas' ships. Aeneas and his companions saw the clouds thicken suddenly. Where there had been sunlight, now there was darkness. They felt the boat lift up, lurch to the side, and then sink down freefalling in a twenty-foot swell. Without the slightest warning or signal, they found themselves in the midst of a hurricane! Aeneas tried to keep an eye on the other ships, but the swells and the walls of crashing water made it impossible. All he could do was hear. He heard the shouts of his men as they fought to survive the storm. He heard the screams and cries of others as they were pulled overboard by the angry sea. He heard ropes snapping and breaking. He heard wood creaking and cracking. Above it all he heard the roar of the storm, the wind and water pounding his ship again and again. -- Experience the unforgettable story for yourself!

This is a retelling in novel form of the Latin epic poem "Aeneid" by Virgil. My theme is war and a particular man-a man driven by destiny to abandon Troy and sail to western Italy to fulfill his fate of founding the people who would build Rome. Fulfilling his destiny was not easy. Juno, the wife of Jupiter, the king of gods and men, opposed him, as did many warriors. They did not want him to bring his household gods-the Penates-to Latium on the western coast of Italy, to found the city of Lavinium, and to marry Lavinia and become the ancestor of the Romans.

The story of Aeneas and the founding of Rome has excitement and adventure, magic and romance, humour and sadness.