The Minotaur Maze

by Xavier Bonet

  Kelly smiled. Then she tore open the envelope and read the letter inside. It was written in a fancy script with dark ink.

  Kelly of Queens,

  Many thanks to you and your brave band of heroes! Thanks to our deeds, Apollo granted life once again to your friends, to Perseus, and to my beloved Theseus. None of them could believe we defeated the Minotaur. They were impressed that we felled both Python and Medusa as well.

  My father has closed the Labyrinth for good. No more sacrifices shall be made! Perseus asked if he could keep Medusa’s head. He said it was going to be a wedding gift. Odd fellow, that one.

  May the gods shine upon you for the rest of your days!

  Your friend,

  Ariadne

  Kelly folded the letter and tucked it into her pocket. She was glad she’d made it to the library in time.

  An adventure like that? Kelly thought. I couldn’t afford to myth it.

  Inside the Midnight Mind of . . .

  the Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece

  When the Midnight clock chimes, the library transforms. Javier says each of these transformations takes the library “inside the mind of a book or writer.” In this a-MAZE-ing adventure, the Pages beam into a genre: Greek mythology. They visit a world where the gods are real, but so are the monsters.

  Labyrinth & Minotaur

  King Minos of Crete once stole a bull from the sea-god Poseidon. Poseidon cursed the king, and created a monstrous half-man and half-bull—the Minotaur. Minos ordered the clever inventor Daedalus to build the Labyrinth as an underground prison for the man-eating beast. Daedalus almost made the maze too good. When he had finished it and then inspected it, he had trouble getting out!

  Ariadne

  Princess Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, is the only person who ever figured out a way to escape the Labyrinth. She gave Theseus a ball of thread that unraveled behind him as he walked through the maze. He could retrace his steps with the thread, like Hansel and Gretel did with their famous breadcrumbs. Years later, Ariadne married a Greek god and went to live on Mount Olympus.

  Medusa the Gorgon

  The Gorgons were a fearful-looking trio born to Echidna, the “mother of all monsters.” Medusa was the youngest. Unlike her sisters, she was the only mortal. Snakes grew on her head in place of hair. Anyone who looked into her flashing eyes turned to stone. After Perseus killed her, new creatures sprang out of her blood. One of the creatures was the powerful flying horse, Pegasus.

  Apollo

  Apollo is the Greek and Roman god of the sun. He seems to have been extremely busy since he was also the god of healing, music, truth, poetry, prophecy, and all light. Oh, and he could cause plagues with his bow and arrows. Every day he drove his golden chariot across the sky pulled by four flaming horses. His twin sister is Artemis, goddess of the moon.

  Glossary

  afterlife (AF-tur-life) —

  an existence after death

  avenge (uh-VENJ) —

  to harm or punish someone who has harmed you or someone or something you care about

  brazier (bra-ZEER) —

  a pan for holding burning coals

  entrusted (en-TRUHST-id) —

  gave something valuable to someone to take care of

  intersection (in-tur-SEK-shuhn) —

  the point at which two things meet and cross each other

  mortal (MOR-tuhl) —

  not able to live forever

  ornate (or-NAYT) —

  covered with a lot of decorations

  passageway (PAS-ij-way) —

  an alley, a hallway, a tunnel, or anything that allows you to pass from one place to another

  perilous (PER-uh-luhss) —

  dangerous

  sacrifice (SAK-ruh-fyse) —

  the offering of something to a god

  stalagmite (stuh-LAG-mite) —

  a tapering column that sticks up from the floor of a cave

  Discussion Questions

  How differently do you think things would have gone if Kelly wasn’t late arriving at the library? Discuss some ways the story would have been different.

  Kelly sees her friends turned into stone statues. How would you feel if you were in her shoes seeing them in the labyrinth?

  Kelly’s knowledge of Greek mythology helps the gang defeat Medusa. How would she be in trouble if she didn’t know the stories of how Greek heroes stopped Medusa?

  Writing Prompts

  Ariadne sends Kelly a letter after their adventure. Write a response letter from Kelly’s perspective thanking Ariadne for her help.

  Baru’s love of monsters nearly gets him in trouble when he moves too close to Medusa. Write a version of the story where Baru is turned to stone along with Cal and Jordan. How differently would the story go?

  Imagine you went to the T. Middleton Nightingale City Library and were sent into the minotaur’s labyrinth. Write a short scene about fighting a monster.

  Michael Dahl Presents

  Michael Dahl has written about werewolves, magicians, and superheroes. He loves funny books, scary books, and mysterious books. Every Michael Dahl Presents book is chosen by Michael himself and written by an author he loves. The books are about favorite subjects like monster aliens, haunted houses, farting pigs, or magical powers that go haywire.

  About the Author

  Thomas Kingsley Troupe has been making up stories ever since he was in short pants. As an “adult” he’s the author of a whole lot of books for kids. When he’s not writing, he enjoys movies, biking, taking naps, and hunting ghosts as a member of the Twin Cities Paranormal Society. Raised in “Nordeast” Minneapolis, he now lives in Woodbury, Minnesota, with his awe-inspiring family.

  About the Illustrator

  Xavier Bonet is an illustrator and comic book artist who lives in Barcelona, Spain, with his wife and two children. He loves all retro stuff, video games, scary stories, and Mediterranean food, and cannot spend one hour without a pencil in his hand.

  Michael Dahl Presents is published by Stone Arch Books, A Capstone Imprint

  1710 Roe Crest Drive, North Mankato, Minnesota 56003

  www.mycapstone.com

  © 2019 Stone Arch Books. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Troupe, Thomas Kingsley, author. | Bonet, Xavier, 1979- illustrator.

  Title: The Minotaur maze / by Thomas Kingsley Troupe ; illustrated by Xavier Bonet.

  Description: North Mankato, Minnesota : Stone Arch Books, [2019] | Series: Michael Dahl presents: Midnight library 4D | Summary: “Every Saturday at noon precisely, the T. Middleton Nightingale City Library is transformed, and today Kelly, one of the library pages, arrives just in time to find herself inside the Labyrinth, confronting the Minotaur with Princess Ariadne; her fellow pages are nowhere in sight--and defeating the Minotaur is only the beginning, because other monsters of Greek mythology are also roaming the confusing corridors, and there seems to be no way out of this maze.”--Provided by publisher.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2018046386 | ISBN 9781496578952 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781496578990 (ebook pdf) | ISBN 9781496590077 (ebook)

  Subjects: LCSH: Minotaur (Greek mythological character)--Juvenile fiction. | Mythology, Greek--Juvenile fiction. | Public libraries--Juvenile fiction. | Library pages--Juvenile fiction. | Books and reading--Juvenile fiction. | Horror tales. | CYAC: Minotaur (Greek mythological character)--Fiction. | Mythology, Greek- -Fiction. | Libraries--Fiction. | Library pages--Fiction. | Books and reading-- Fiction. | Horror stories. | LCGFT: Horror fiction.

  Classification: LCC PZ7.T7538 Mh 2019 | DDC 813.6 [Fic] --dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018046386

  Xavier Bonet, The Minotaur Maze