Live like a Goddess by Jean Menzies

A gift for the young goddess in your life - with life lessons for living confidently, courageously and fearlessly.

Cultures around the world celebrate tales and myths of daring and brave goddesses. These legendary ladies were tenacious, smart and strong. Meet...

· Osun, the Yoruba goddess of love who refuses to be dismissed because of her gender and stands up to those who believe women are less important than men

· Rhiannon, the Welsh queen of fairies who won't let anyone make decisions for her and instead follows her heart

· Freyja, the Norse goddess of love and death who doesn't give into pressure, sets boundaries and is comfortable with being a single independent woman

From demanding respect and recognising unhealthy relationships, to standing your ground, helping others and using words instead of violence, these rich and sometimes forgotten female stories of the ancient past teach girls and young women everything they need to know, so they can be just as fierce and fearless in the future.

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First of all; the artwork! Oh my gosh. I actually squee'd when I opened this first.

We'll come back to the artwork in a minute. I often mention in folklore reviews that when I was a child, we didn't have nearly the range of cultures published that we do now - generally you'd get Greek/Roman, Celtic and Norse, maybe some Egyptian. It's great to see that collections like this pull from all around the world nowadays - there's stories here from Polynesia, from the Americas, from Australia and Asia - it really is a global collection. Each story comes with a brief introduction at the start and a note at the back with ideas to help us be more like that goddess.

It's an interesting collection to read, as the stories about gods and goddesses usually present their problems as far beyond the mortal realm and too difficult for us to comprehend. Seeing them linked to human problems and emotions like this is really intriguing and clever.

Now, the art! The endpapers, with their stamp-style images of the goddesses, are the first thing that will catch your eye, but the book itself is heavily illustrated. There's a full page image of each goddess at the start of her story, the pages have frames and there are small pictures as well, including a symbol for each goddess at the end of her story, which I really loved.

This is a wonderful selection of stories to inspire any child, and hopefully it will encourage some of them to do further research into these amazing folktales and cultures. One of this Christmas's highlights for sure.

Live like a Goddess publishes on the 28th of September, 2023. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.