The Goddess Girls
 | |
| Author | Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Glen Hanson |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy, Mythology |
| Publisher | Simon & Schuster |
| Published | 2010-present |
| Media type | Print (paperback), E-book |
The Goddess Girls is a series of children's books written by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, published by Simon & Schuster under the Aladdin imprint. The books are based on Greek mythology and depict the younger generation of the Olympian pantheon as privileged tween students attending Mount Olympus Academy (MOA) to develop their divine skills.
The series focuses on four primary characters – Athena, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Artemis — as a diverse group of loyal friends. Athena is noted for her intelligence, Persephone is mysterious and kind, Artemis is bold and strong, and Aphrodite is "effortlessly beautiful". Joan Holub writes about Athena and Artemis, Suzanne Williams about Persephone and Aphrodite.
Zeus is represented as the Principal of the Academy, and many other gods, including Hades, Poseidon, and Ares, appear in the series. Pandora, Medusa and Heracles appear as mortal characters in the series.
The series includes deities and characters from other mythological traditions as visitors to the Academy.
Titles
| Number | Title | ISBN | Date of publication |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Athena the Brain | 978-1-4169-8271-5 | April 6, 2010 |
| 2 | Persephone the Phony | 978-1-4169-8272-2 | April 12, 2010 |
| 3 | Aphrodite the Beauty | 978-1-4169-8273-9 | April 12, 2010 |
| 4 | Artemis the Brave | 978-1-4169-8274-6 | December 7, 2010 |
| 5 | Athena the Wise | 978-1-4424-2097-7 | April 5, 2011 |
| 6 | Aphrodite the Diva | 978-1-4424-2100-4 | August 12, 2011 |
| 7 | Artemis the Loyal | 978-1-4424-3377-9 | December 6, 2011 |
| 8 | Medusa the Mean | 978-1-4424-3379-3 | April 3, 2012 |
| Special | The Girl Games | 978-1-4424-4933-6 | July 10, 2012 |
| 9 | Pandora the Curious | 978-1-4424-4935-0 | December 4, 2012 |
| 10 | Pheme the Gossip | 978-1-4424-4937-4 | April 12, 2013 |
| 11 | Persephone the Daring | 978-1-4424-4939-8 | August 6, 2013 |
| 12 | Cassandra the Lucky | 978-1-4424-8817-5 | December 3, 2013 |
| 13 | Athena the Proud | 978-1-4424-8820-5 | April 5, 2014 |
| 14 | Iris the Colorful | 978-1-4424-8823-6 | August 5, 2014 |
| 15 | Aphrodite the Fair | 978-0-6063-6101-9 | December 2, 2014 |
| 16 | Medusa the Rich | 978-1-4424-8830-4 | April 28, 2015 |
| 17 | Amphitrite the Bubbly | 978-1-4424-8832-8 | August 18, 2015 |
| 18 | Hestia the Invisible | 978-1-4814-4998-4 | December 1, 2015 |
| 19 | Echo the Copycat | 978-1-4814-5001-0 | April 26, 2016 |
| 20 | Calliope the Muse | 978-1-4814-5004-1 | August 9, 2016 |
Characters
The Goddess Girls
- Athena is a brainy girl who never quite fit in at her junior high school. She finally discovers her father is Zeus, King of the Gods and Ruler of the Heavens, and her mother is a fly. In Aphrodite the Diva her mother leaves and Aphrodite finds Zeus a new wife, Hera. She has a step sister, Pallas, who is Athena's best friend back on earth before she is summoned to Mount Olympus Academy. Athena has wavy brown hair and gray eyes, and she usually wears a blue chiton. Athena makes friends with the most popular girls at school—Persephone, Aphrodite, and Artemis. She is the youngest of the Goddess Girls but is the smartest girl in the Academy and always makes "A"s. She can shapeshift and she usually shapeshifts into an owl, her favorite animal. Athena becomes the goddess girl of wisdom due to her intelligence and good judgment. In Athena the Wise she develops a crush on Heracles, a strong mortal who transfers to the Academy.
- Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, the goddess of fertility, loves flowers and can make them grow with a single touch of her finger. Persephone is described as having pale skin and frizzy red hair, and she always wears a yellow chiton. Her mother encourages her to "go along to get along", but when she meets a boy named Hades, she begins to live by her own opinions, instead of just following others. Persephone helps sort things out and is very calm. Persephone becomes a dog-lover because of Cerberus, a three-headed dog in the Underworld, the dog is owned by her boyfriend Hades.In Persephone the Daring, she has her first kiss with Hades. In The Girl Games she realizes she also loves cats, when Aphrodite finds a stray cat in the girls' local mall, the "Immortal Marketplace".
- Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty and one of the most popular girls at school, is obsessed with her looks. She has long, curly blond hair, usually wears make-up, and wears different colors of chitons, but often wears a pink one. She loves matchmaking mortals and helping mortals in love. In Aphrodite the Diva she made a Lonely Hearts Club, a club to help mortals in love, to raise her grades. Not surprisingly, her beauty attracts a lot of attention, especially from god boys. She has an on-and-off relationship with Ares. Aphrodite has no parents.
- Artemis loves animals and sports. She is the best archer at Mount Olympus Academy, along with her twin brother, Apollo. She is best friends with Aphrodite, Persephone, and Athena. Artemis cares nothing for fashion. Artemis is the goddess girl of the moon and the hunt. She wears a short red chiton, is dark skinned, and always carries her bow and her silver arrows. She has three dogs, Amby, Nectar, and Suez, and four white deer who pull her chariot. In Artemis the Brave, Artemis has her first crush, on Orion, but later realizes that he only cares about himself. In The Girl Games, Actaeon kisses her on the cheek.
Recurring characters
God boys
- Apollo is the god boy of truth and prophecies. He is Artemis's twin brother. He is part of a band called Heavens Above. He appears in Artemis the Brave and Artemis the Loyal, where he argues with Artemis. In Cassandra the Lucky, Apollo develops a crush on Cassandra after cursing her.
- Ares is the god boy of war and is the Academy's fastest runner. He is the cutest god boy in MOA according to Aphrodite. In Aphrodite The Beauty, Aphrodite becomes jealous because he pays attention to Athena. In Aphrodite the Diva he writes a song for Aphrodite. He is in the band Heavens Above with Dionysus, Poseidon, and Apollo.
- Dionysus is the god boy of wine. Dionysus appears in the eighth book Medusa the Mean where he has a small major role. Medusa is Dionysus's crush and they like each other after that.
- Poseidon is the god boy of the sea. He always carries a trident around and is always dripping wet, like he was just got out of swimming. He is one of the popular god boys. Medusa likes Poseidon in the beginning, but realizes he is mean and cruel. Pandora likes him too, but in Pandora the Curious, she likes Epimetheus, the Titan boy. In "Amphitrite the Bubbly," it is revealed that Poseidon just wants to make great achievements like his friends. Poseidon's crush is Amphitrite.
- Hades is the god boy of death and first appears in Persephone the Phony. He is dark, gloomy, and he does not talk much until he meets Persephone. Persephone is the first to judge by his character and not the fact that he is from the Underworld. In The Girl Games, he coaches Persephone for the long jump. Hades has a three-headed dog named Cerberus in the Underworld. Also in Persephone the Daring he stands in for Poseidon on the drums in Heavens Above, and he also had his very first kiss with Persephone.
- Hephaestus is the god boy of metalworking. He first appears in Aphrodite the Beauty. He is scrawny, clumsy, and lame in both legs. Aphrodite doesn't like his looks but she thinks that he has "inner beauty". He has a crush on Aphrodite at first and gives her roses, but later in the series he develops an interest in another MOA goddess girl named Aglaia.
Mortals
- Orion is a mortal that had a crush with Artemis.
- Medusa is the "mean girl" at Mount Olympus Academy. In the first seven books, she is the archenemy of the four most popular goddess girls at the Academy. She is famous for her stoneifying gaze, which was accidentally caused by one of Athena's inventions. Snarkypoo, or as Athena misspelled it, Snakeypoo, dripped in Medusa's eyes when she was showering and ended up making her gaze able to turn mortals into stone. Snarkypoo was originally made to turn snarky words into stone.
- Medusa has two twin immortal sisters, Stheno and Euryale. They are goddess girls, but Medusa is mortal. In Medusa the Mean, the real part of Medusa is exposed—what she actually wants is immortality and popularity. One of her big secrets is that she actually has to study extremely hard to keep up. In Medusa the Mean she gets to be immortal for one day because of her "present" to Principal Zeus's wedding. Not many mortals get to go to MOA but her sisters sneaked her in, and when Zeus found out he let her stay.
- In the early book, Medusa has a crush on the selfish Poseidon, but she later realizes that another god boy, Dionysus, really likes her.
- In Greek mythology, the three Gorgon sisters—Medusa, Stheno, and Euryale—were all children of the ancient marine deities Phorcys (or Phorkys) and his sister Ceto (or Keto), chthonic monsters from an archaic world. In the Goddess Girls series, Ceto and Phorcys are mentioned as a sea monster and sea hog.
- Pandora is a mortal who is very curious. She has a crush on Poseidon, but changes to Epimetheus in Pandora the Curious. Her friends are Athena, Medusa and Pheme. As a symbol of her great curiosity, her blue-and-gold streaked bangs are in the shape of a question mark. She is very nice, but it is very hard for the other goddess girls to actually have a conversation with her because of her lack of attention. When she talks to them she just keeps on asking questions without giving them a chance to answer.
- Heracles first appears in the fifth book of the series, Athena the Wise. He is described as a mortal boy with dark, curly hair, wears a lion-skin cape, and carries a big club with him. Aphrodite makes cutting comments about the cape, but Heracles's friends think it is cool. In the book Athena the Wise, Heracles must complete 12 labors in one week or else be expelled. The principal secretly asks his daughter Athena to watch over Heracles, and they develop a crush on each other.
- Actaeon is mentioned at the end of the book Artemis the Brave and in Artemis the Loyal, where he plays a minor role. He is friends with Apollo, who thinks that Actaeon likes Artemis. In The Girl Games he shows interest in Penthe, a mortal Amazon girl competing against Artemis in the games. Artemis becomes jealous but in the end, Penthe and Artemis become friends.
- Cassandra first appears as a bridesmaid at Hera's and Zeus's wedding. She used to be a princess in Troy. In Cassandra the Lucky, she is angry with Athena, Aphrodite and Apollo for starting the Trojan War. Like Apollo, she can tell fortunes—but no one believes her predictions.
- Ariadne is the princess of Crete and daughter of King Minos. She first appears in Athena the Proud.
Supporting Characters
- Zeus is the principal of Mount Olympus Academy, aside from being king of the gods and ruler of the heavens. Athena is his daughter by his first wife Metis. In the sixth book, Aphrodite the Diva, Zeus marries Hera. He is seven feet tall, and has a red beard and red hair. He has an electric touch.
- Demeter is Persephone's mother and goddess of fertility. Demeter does not like her daughter's crush Hades at first, but changes her mind when Persephone says that Principal Zeus likes him. She owns a shop in the Immortal Marketplace called Demeter's Daffodils and Floral Delights.
- Hera is first introduced in Aphrodite the Diva. She is Zeus's new wife, goddess of marriage, and owner of a shop called Hera's Happy Endings.
- Pheme talks fast, spreading the latest news and gossip, and while she talks, small clouds form and words fill the air. She has spiky short orange hair, brown eyes and orange glossy lips. Although Pheme is not a "popular girl" like the Goddess Girls, she is on-and-off friends with them. Pheme's crush is Eros, the god boy of love.
- In Pheme the Gossip, Pheme earns orange wings from Zeus after she saves the world from burning in fire.
- Iris is the goddess of the rainbow. She has wings and hair that changes colors based on her mood, and rainbow earrings. Zephyrus is Iris's crush.
- Amphitrite is goddess of the seas. She is a mermaid with coral mermaid fins and blue hair decorated with seashells. Poseidon is Amphitrite's crush.
- Hestia is the goddess of the hearth. She wears a long red cape and has freckles. She has the power to set things on fire with a simple wave of her hands. In Hestia the Invisible, she feels unseen to everyone at first, but she loves to cook. In the end, Hestia made a new recipe for the MOA's dessert, flambosa, which is made with chocolate cake, meringue, nectar flavored frosting, ambiosa ice cream, and for a special effect, flames. And Pheme placed it in the cooking column of Teen Scollzine.
- Echo is a forest nymph who copies all of the students in Mount Olympus Academy, just to make friends and to fit in. She has dark skin, green hair and green eyes, a green chiton, and is decorated with pink flowers all over hair and her dress. In Echo the Copycat, she is a new girl at Mount Olympus Academy, and she is really anxious to make new friends and become popular with the rest of the god boys and goddess girls. So she mimics their words, their movements, and their phrases, but everyone finds her copying everything annoying. In the end, the Goddess Girls help her to be herself in her own way.
Plot summaries
Athena the Brain
Athena has always been smart but never knew she was a goddess. Mount Olympus Academy promises to be a new start, but she has to deal with the meanest girl in history—Medusa.
Persephone the Phony
Persephone often "goes along to get along" instead of doing what she really wants. But when she meets Mount Olympus Academy bad-boy Hades, she finally feels she has found someone with whom she can be herself.
Aphrodite the Beauty
Aphrodite delights in helping mortals in love but finds the constant attention from the god boys at Mount Olympus Academy annoying. However, when she gives Athena a makeover, she is surprised to find she is jealous of all the interest Athena's new look gets. When the hottest god boys at school start ignoring Aphrodite, she learns that some boys are nicer and more sensitive than others—including a mortal youth who has requested her help in winning the heart of a young maiden.
Artemis the Brave
Artemis's friends and classmates see her as the most courageous goddess girl at school, but she is secretly afraid of the smelly Geryon, the ring-nosed Minotaurs, and the scorpions in Beastology class. She is also scared to speak to her crush Orion.
Athena the Wise
When a mortal named Heracles transfers to the Academy, Athena understands his problems as she was new a few months ago herself. Not only does Heracles need help in fitting in, he also has to complete 12 "labors" or leave the Academy. Athena and Heracles work together to complete the tasks.
Aphrodite the Diva
Aphrodite is failing Hero-ology. To raise up her grade, she concocts a brilliant plan—an extra credit project for matchmaking mortals called the Lonely Hearts Club. This takes her to Egypt and face-to-face with fierce competition—a goddess named Isis. Now a race is on to see who can find the perfect match for the most annoying mortal boy ever.
Artemis the Loyal
It is time for the annual Olympic Games at Mount Olympus Academy and the four goddess girls are not happy-especially Artemis, because the Games are for boys only. Artemis fails to persuade Zeus to allow girls to enter the Olympic Games, but concocts a brilliant plan—a girls-only Olympics. Zeus decides to name the games after his new wife, Hera.
Medusa the Mean
All Medusa wants is to be more like her two sisters and the other kids in her class: immortal. As the one of the only mortals at Mount Olympus Academy, Medusa is sick and tired of being surrounded by beautiful, powerful, immortal classmates. It isn’t easy making friends, especially when you have snakes for hair and a reputation for being mean.
Immortality, she thinks, will solve everything. So when Medusa finds out about a necklace that promises just that, she’s sure it will help her get the two things she covets most: to be as popular as the four Goddess Girls, and to have her supercrush, Poseidon, finally notice her...
The Girl Games
Artemis, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Athena—the four most popular goddess girls at MOA—are finally getting a chance to hold a girls-only Olympic Games. But organizing visiting athletes like those crush-stealing Amazons is not easy. Artemis is trying too hard to do everything herself, Athena is in trouble over a winged horse named Pegasus, and Aphrodite and Persephone are fighting over a lost kitten named Adonis. Will these Olympics be memorable for all the wrong reasons?
Pandora the Curious
One of the few mortals at Mount Olympus Academy, Pandora is famous for her curiosity, which is aroused when a Titan god boy named Epimetheus brings a mysterious box to school. He is the nephew of an MOA teacher in whose class Pandora once opened another box that sent a few weather disasters down to Earth. Still, Pandora cannot resist taking a look inside this new box when it unexpectedly lands in her lap.
Pheme the Gossip
Pheme prides herself on knowing all the gossip at MOA. But when she is caught snooping, she is challenged to go a whole day without gossiping—and is put under a unique spell to make sure she doesn't. But when a mysterious stowaway hints that he is about to do something that could threaten the safety of the entire world, Pheme has to find a way to warn Principal Zeus.
Persephone the Daring
Orpheus is a mortal rock god and charms all the girls at Mount Olympus Academy, especially with his latest song about the girl he loved and lost, Eurydice. He asks Persephone to help get her back from the Underworld.
Cassandra the Lucky
Cassandra is determined to help people make their own luck—but no one believes her prophecies. She is not even allowed to write the fortunes that go into the cookies her family sells at their Oracle-O Bakery. Determined to prove herself, Cassandra sends some special fortunes along to MOA.
Athena the Proud
Athena plans to improve the Labyrinth for King Minos, but her efforts have unexpected results.
Iris the Colorful
When Principal Zeus asks Iris to fetch some magic water from the Underworld's River Styx, she discovers a new ability to travel via rainbow. Soon everyone wants her to deliver their messages. Also, she wonders if her crush Zephyrus prefers her best friend, Antheia.
Aphrodite the Fair
When Ares's sister Eris, the goddess of discord and strife, visits on his birthday, she brings a shiny golden apple trophy that reads, "For the fairest." The contest for the trophy threatens the goddess girls' friendship.
Medusa the Rich
Medusa develops the Midas touch, suddenly becoming able to turn objects into gold just by touching them. Gold, gold, everywhere! But when it is not just objects but food and even people that become golden, she realizes the dangers.
Amphitrite the Bubbly
Amphitrite, a mergirl in the Aegean Sea, has only one wish: to see the world. Unfortunately, unlike her sisters and other merpeople she cannot shapeshift her tail into legs to walk on land. When her twin sister Thetis is invited to join Poseidon in the Temple Games, Amphitrite takes her place. She has fun and adventure during the Games, until Gae and her giants crash the party.
Hestia the Invisible
Hestia, feeling unseen at Mount Olympus Academy, decides to become more noticeable.With help from Pheme, the goddess of gossip, and a godboy named Asca, she decides to step further.
Echo the Copycat
Echo, a forest-mountain nymph, is new at the Academy and tries to fit in by imitating the cool girls.
Calliope the Muse
Forthcoming
Calliope is full of clever ideas for enlivening the Academy.
Pallas the Pal
Forthcoming
Pallas, the daughter of Triton, enrolls at the Academy.
Nyx the Mysterious
Forthcoming
The Goddess of the Night enrolls at the Academy.
External links
- Simon and Schuster: Goddess Girls books
- Interview with Goddess Girls authors
- Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams at Fantastic Fiction