YALSA BBYA Nominee
Long before the Bible and the Koran, before the myths of the Greeks and Romans were set down, the people of Sumer (who lived in what is now Iraq) recorded the stories of their gods and kings on cuneiform tablets. The world's oldest epic poem is the Epic of Gilgamesh, the tale of a hero who was part god, part man.
But just in the past century a thrilling discovery was made -- the 4,000-year-old stories of his powerful sister, the goddess Inanna. Inanna is a goddess who embodies the quest for growth. Her stories tell how she develops from childish inexperience and youthful exuberance into maturity and gains the powers to create, to destroy and to name. The people of Sumer associated Inanna with the planet Venus -- radiant, changeable and mysterious.
With the guidance of Sumerian scholars, Kim Echlin has provided a moving, sensitive and knowledgeable translation of the Inanna myths. They describe an ancient goddess who was at once a great warrior, lover, nurturer, seeker of knowledge and giver of power -- a figure worthy of admiration by people of any age.