Atalanta and the Golden Apples: a book club kit

Where it comes from. The Greeks told of Atalanta, the fastest runner of all, and the Roman poet Ovid wrote down her famous race about 2,000 years ago.

In short (for the leader; it gives the ending away). Atalanta is a huntress raised in the forest, and she can outrun anyone in Greece. She says she will only marry a man who beats her in a race. Hippomenes asks the goddess Aphrodite for help and is given three golden apples. He rolls them across the track, and each time Atalanta stops to pick one up.

The lesson, in one line. Cleverness and not giving up can win a race that speed alone cannot.

Reading plan, by the story's parts. Meeting 1: Part One, “The Girl from the Forest” and Part Two, “The Great Hunt” and Part Three, “The Races”, pages 1–6 (about 5 minutes aloud); Meeting 2: Part Four, “Three Golden Apples” and Part Five, “The Race” and Part Six, “The Finish Line”, pages 7–12 (about 4 minutes aloud). Each stop's own questions, which never give away what comes next: Atalanta and the Golden Apples by chapter.

Questions to talk about

1. How did Hippomenes beat Atalanta in the race?
   The story's answer: The goddess Aphrodite gave him three golden apples. During the race he rolled them in front of Atalanta one at a time, and each time she stopped to pick one up, he ran ahead.
2. Who raised Atalanta?
   The story's answer: In the old Greek myth, her father left her on a mountainside as a baby. A mother bear looked after her, and then hunters found her and raised her in the forest.
3. Who wrote down the story of Atalanta?
   The story's answer: It is an ancient Greek myth. The Roman poet Ovid told it in his Metamorphoses about 2,000 years ago, and the Greek writer Apollodorus told it too.
4. What happens to Atalanta and Hippomenes after the race?
   The story's answer: They marry. In Ovid's telling, they later forget to thank Aphrodite for her help, and in the end they are turned into a pair of lions.
5. What does this myth explain, or try to explain?
   Listen for: Many myths explain how something came to be: a season, an animal, a name.
6. Was the main character right or wrong? Was the ending fair?
   Listen for: Myths are often hard on people; let the group disagree.

Did you know?

• The Roman poet Ovid told Atalanta's race in his long poem the Metamorphoses.
• Some old tellers call the young man Hippomenes, and others call him Melanion.
• In the myth, Atalanta was one of the heroes who hunted the Calydonian boar.

Activity: Make a new myth

Each reader explains something they see every day (why cats purr, why puddles dry up) with a short made-up myth of their own, told round the circle in three sentences.