The Story of Pallas (1961)

Bertha Tilly • Cambridge Elementary Classics
ISBN: — • Condition: Very Good
Sold by: Crappy Old Books

Crack the covers and out swoops an owl. Not literally (health & safety), but Bertha Tilly’s spry little classic makes Pallas Athena—goddess of wisdom, craft, and the good kind of mischief—feel as alive as a bell in a marble temple. Written for bright young minds (and secretly for curious grown-ups), this Cambridge Elementary Classics volume is the kind of book that slips Greek myth into your brain so gently you don’t notice until you’re suddenly quoting epithets at breakfast.

Tilly keeps the prose clean and quick while letting the stories breathe: the clang of the forge, the whisper of olive leaves, the stern glare that turns foolishness to stone. It’s a primer, yes, but also an elegant little time machine—a tour through the moments that made Athena Athena, and the choices that earned her that watchful owl and that impeccable helmet.

Inside, you’ll find:

• A birth like no other: thunder, headache, pop—fully armed reason strides into the world.

• City smarts: the contest for Athens, with an olive tree that beats a splashy sea-horse any day.

• Good trouble: heroes guided, monsters solved, and hubris gently (or not so gently) corrected.

• Needle & shield: crafts and strategy, weaving and war—why wisdom is both thread and spear.

• Clear signposts: the series’ trademark plain explanations, maps and name guides—the handrails you wish every myth book had.

Why it still charms

Because it’s friendly without being fluffy. Tilly respects young readers enough to trust them with real stakes and real ideas, then tucks in glossaries, pronunciations and tidy summaries so nobody trips on a dactylic hexameter. It’s classroom-ready, bedtime-safe, and pub-quiz lethal.

For readers who:

• Like their gods clever, not just loud.

• Want a single, slim volume that explains why owls are academic, spears are symbolic, and olive oil is basically divine Wi-Fi.

• Appreciate a book that can live in a schoolbag, a satchel, or the pocket of a very serious cardigan.

About this copy (Very Good, from Crappy Old Books)

Pages clean and bright, binding tight, covers with only light shelf-rubbing—nothing that would faze a goddess who wears bronze. No wild underlining, no sticky lab disasters, just a neatly kept vintage school classic eager to report for duty on your shelf.

Adopt The Story of Pallas from Crappy Old Books and keep a little wisdom by the door: one part owl, one part olive, and just enough polished helmet to make your day shine.

This is an ex-school book from Old Palace school in Croydon.

Its a hardback with printed cover.

Keep browsing: See more Ancient Classics books Other books by Bertha Tilly