Imagine a world where seductive male sirens lure brave heroines to their death, where Icara and her mother fly too close to the sun, and where beautiful men are forced to wed underworld queens... Most of the gender swapping in the text is completed with a computer program, an algorithm. This blew William’s mind and he is now having a lot of fun trying to gender swap Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Tales of King Arthur and Robin Hood among others. The concept and the digital element has totally captured his interest and he wants to read some of his favourite, classic books with the gender swaps. It has really got both him and I thinking about everything that we read. Karrie Fransman writes and draws visual stories and comics that have been published in The Guardian, The Times, The BBC, Time Out, The Telegraph, The New Statesman, The Young Vic, Psychologies Magazine, The Arts Council and The Goethe Institute. She published two graphic novels with Penguin Random House.'The House That Groaned', and the award winning 'Death of the Artist'. She developed an award winning comic about a teenage refugee, for The British Red Cross, created a 2 storey installation for Southbank Centre and was commissioned to make a 'Selves Portrait' for an exhibition with Manchester Art Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. You can see more of her work at karriefransman.com

This is me. Jennie. I am a 44 year old, home educating mummy, passionate about picture books, children's literature and learning through play.A new captivating, inspiring, and totally perspective-shifting volume from the wife and husband team behind Gender Swapped Fairy Tales

They’re talking to me on a video call, sitting on their bed, “like John and Yoko”, laughs Fransman, letting slip a little unconscious bias, which she readily confesses to. It comes out when she’s with her four-year-old daughter, too, “referring to animals as male – Hello Mr Magpie – or assuming the school photographer is a man, and I think I’m a switched on card-carrying feminist!” The art, both in the book and on the cover are eye-catching, which adds another dimension to the stories.

And does this book include the story of a male god turning a huntress into a stag to be torn apart by her own hounds for accidentally seeing him bathing nude? Because that would be a great one. And I want to see male Hera and Athena sponsor an eleven year vendetta against Troy because they're jealous that a mortal said Male Aphrodite was better looking than them.

LoveReading4Kids exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading4Kids means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. We have joined the throngs of people who want to learn about life in the distant past through songs, ballads, poems and stories. MyHome.ie (Opens in new window) • Top 1000 • The Gloss (Opens in new window) • Recruit Ireland (Opens in new window) • Irish Times Training (Opens in new window) The authors reveal in the foreword that the ‘gender-swapped’ component of this collection is achieved via an algorithm that literally swaps feminine and masculine pronouns featured in already existing works that they fed into a computer: he for she, her for him; as well as queendom for kingdom etc It is hard to put into words how clever these books are and for me to explain why these gender swapped myths and the original Gender Swapped Fairy Tales are so important.

LoveReading4Kids Says

I read the article and I don’t at all get the impression they’re “dyed in the wool genderists”, making out like “hey this Greek heroine may have actually been a trans man”. What they seem to be doing is highlighting and shining a light on the assumptions people have of what is acceptable behaviour for men / male gods, and acceptable behaviour for women / female gods - and switching them round so the women are behaving in a way that isn’t traditionally feminine, and the men are behaving in a way that isn’t traditionally masculine. Which is of course much more like reality than the mythological and storyline pigeon holes that characters are put into. In true mythology style Gender Swapped Greek Myths does just that. Sirens are now male, luring heroines to their deaths. Icara and her mother fly too close to the sun and men we’d underworld queens. www.theguardian.com/books/2022/nov/07/it-was-exciting-to-create-these-beastly-huge-grotesque-women-the-authors-gender-swapping-the-greek-myths Imagine a world where you hurry along the street, past wolf-whistling workwomen, pausing at the traffic light for the red woman to turn green before rushing to make your ‘Father and Baby’ class where you’ll join the men (and perhaps one or two token women) in sitting on the floor listening to the story of Sleeping Handsome being kissed without consent by a brave Princess to all the tiny, wide-eyed girls and boys on the floor. Imagine a world turned on its head. Do you like Greek Mythology? Do you like learning about ancient civilisations, religions, cultures and traditions?

Interesting article from the Guardian on a new book. It seems the writer and illustrator have previously gender swapped fairy tales. I think it is fair to use gender (although I've not read the books) because they keep the stereotypes and it highlights how, frankly, psychopathic behaviour is just accepted in male characters. The way we tell stories matters. The way we see and understand and talk about the world around us and the people in it matters. Books like this one and its predecessor matter.However, there are some ways I feel that the story could improve. I felt that a few of the names were confusing, such as Danae, which was changed to Danaus, and Danaus, which was changed to Danae. Also, the change of dryads to satyrs was confusing, as they are already both established groups of characters in the myths. On the other hand, the name bank at the end of the book was incredibly useful, but hard to find if you didn’t realise it was there.... Read Full Review William, my 12 year old son, and I share a love of mythology and history. We have built over the years a collection of books filled with a wide range of retellings of the stories of Greek mythology. The needles and pins were said to be relevant to seamstresses in rural French history, I'm now trying and failing to find good sources ... The Greek myths were first told thousands of years ago, by poets and singers who wanted to tell how the world came to be. These brilliant stories are full of adventure and drama, but they also explore our deepest fears and fantasies. There's a reason these myths still feel so powerful - they've formed the foundations of narratives and archetypes that we see in books and on our screens even today. The gender swaps I hope will undo all my unconscious bias and I’ll find my inner power!’ Philippa Perry