Helping Hercules

Written by Francesca Simon and Donald E. Stanford

Narrated by Mark Perry

Here are the Greek myths as you've never heard them before.

Susan is whisked back through time to Ancient Greece, and finds that helping Hercules clean the Augean stables is much, much worse than tidying her room. One hair-raising experience follows another as she goes down into the Underworld with Orpheus, just misses being turned to stone by Medusa, and rides on the winged horse Pegasus.

This is both a fabulously funny story and a brilliant way to introduce children to eight of the best-known Greek myths. Susan meddles in each of the myths - taking a dim view of the gods and goddesses and heroes she encounters - but gets out in the nick of time, so the myths themselves remain unchanged and will be remembered vividly by their readers.

Read by Mark Perry

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Children's Group
• Release date: May 15, 2006
• ISBN: 9780752885636

Francesca Simon

Francesca Simon MBE spent her childhood on the beach in California and started writing stories at the age of eight. She wrote her first Horrid Henry book in 1994. Horrid Henry has gone on to conquer the globe; his adventures are published in 27 languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Francesca has won the Children's Book of the Year Award and been a judge for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. In 2009, in one of the proudest moments of her career, Francesca was awarded a Gold Blue Peter badge. She was appointed MBE in the 2023 New Year Honours. Francesca is also a passionate ambassador for children's literacy and is a trustee of the World Book Day charity. She lives in North London with her family. Visit Francesca's website at www.francescasimon.com and keep up-to-date with Horrid Henry at www.horridhenry.co.uk. You can also follow her on Twitter @simon_francesca