I Am Hermes! opens on Mount Olympus, the cloud-covered home of the Greek gods. Hermes, the son of Zeus and Nymph Maia, has just been born. It’s not long before he utters his first word: “Gimme!” That same day, the mischievous young god tricks a turtle out of its shell, invents the world’s first instrument, and steals a herd of enchanted cows from Apollo, god of poetry.
Greek mythology is a collection of stories first told by the ancient Greeks around 2,700 years ago. Their myths helped them make sense of the world around them. I Am Hermes! is a graphic-novel retelling some of those stories. Author Mordicai Gerstein told TFK that myths about Hermes and other Greek gods can even help us understand the world today. “These gods are still part of our lives and culture,” he says.