Gilgamesh the King (The Gilgamesh Trilogy)

From my ten year old: An interesting fictional book for young readers. The artwork is very detailed. The story tells about a rivalry turned friendship. I would recommend it.

Age Recommendation: 8 - up; Around eight children start to develop a taste in historical books, such as legends. Gilgamesh is a not as well-known epic about the Mesopotamia region. The picture book is also part of a three book series.Summary: Gilgamesh was sent by the Sun God to rule over the city of Uruk. He was part god, and part man. He did not have any friends, and was a cruel king. He decided to build a wall around his city. The people in his city originally supported his wall, but eventually grew tired and frustrated. His people prayed to the Sun God, and the sun god sent Enkidu. Enkidu lived with the animals, and was a good man. Enkidu prevented a man from killing an animal with his god-like strength. The man told Gilgamesh about Enkidu's strength, and Gilgamesh was furious. Gilgamesh sends a beautiful singer to the woods to lure Enkidu to the city. Gilgamesh wanted to kill him in front of the city to reinforce his reputation. The beautiful singer and Enkidu fell in love. Enkidu left the forest and his animal friends, and went to the city to challenge Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh and En kidu fought, but were equal in strength. Gilgamesh tripped, and would have died if Enkidu did not save him. After Enkidu saved Gilgamesh, they became friends. Once Gilgamesh had a friend, he stopped work on the wall, and there was peace in the city.Critical Review: Gilgamesh the King is written and illustrated by Ludmila Zeman. Zeman begins the picture book in the expected, "Long ago in the land of... " which sets the stage for a traditional folktale (p. 1). The illustrations also support the folktale, by using `ancient' looking images. The colors also look gold based, which makes the images look older. The images bring the words to life. For example, when the story is talking about all the men in the city building a giant wall around the city. You can see the magnitude of people, and the height of the huge wall (p. 3-4). Without any words, it would still be very easy to tell the epic of Gilgamesh based on the pictures. Although this story is part of a trilogy, it can stand alone. It has closure, and tells a complete story. Also, some historical information about the epic of Gilgamesh is included after the story. I appreciate the use of rhetorical questions throughout the text. For example, after Enkidu sees a man killing an animal, he asks himself, "Why would anyone want to do that?" (p. 6). The text includes both more complex sentences. For example, "The earth shook and lightning flashed across the sky, as if the gods themselves were fighting for control of the world" (p. 16). The text also includes short, simple sentences. For example, "He was no longer alone. He had found a friend" (p. 19). The longer sentences tell an elaborate story, while the shorter sentences focus on the meaning of the sentences. The book kept me engaged as a college student, and I think an intermediate reader would definitely be interested in the historical significance of one of the first epics ever written down, and the action of the folktale itself.

This is part 1 of 3 in a series telling the story of Gilgamesh. The series is a wonderful version for children. I think it is a little pricey but it is written in language a child can understand, tells the story in age appropriate detail, and the illustrations are absolutely wonderful. I was worried about how Shamhat and the relationship between her and Enkidu would be presented. Yes the book says they explored the ways of love but that is as close to explicit as it gets and that doesn't really imply anything specific (a parent loves a child; Enkidu and Shamhat simply learn to love each other and enjoy a loving relationship which, for Enkidu whose had little contact with people, brings him closer to being civilized and wanting to go to Uruk). My child loves folklore stories and this is perfect - a great retelling with intriguing visuals!My copy took literally months to ship and i received this part 1 about 2 months after Parts 2 and 3 arrived. My copy also arrived with no dust jacket. It's worth the wait and the dust jacket isn't a huge issue. Happy buyer here.

A very concise and well written story with beautiful illustrations. The Story of Gilgamesh, left my 10, 8, and 6 year old sons yearning for more. After we finished reading this story, we immediately decided to order the two other books in the series. My boys are fascinated by the story of Gilgamesh and this story led us down the deepest of rabbit holes which all great books do! Don’t neglect teaching the fairy tales, the myths, the fantasies...within these tales lie worthy lessons and here your children can meet and conquer some of life’s biggest conundrums. Definitely a worthy read.

The kids loved this trilogy and appreciated the message of friendship that it presents. I had bought all 3 thinking I would spread the story out over weeks, but ended up having to read all 3 within 2 days.This was used for the homeschooling of our two 9 years olds as we read the history of the Ancient World. As one of the first (if not the very first) pieces of literature ever recorded, it is important to read from a historical and messaging perspective as well as to give a glimpse into the universality of many stories found in religions.I hesitated buying this for 4th graders thinking it might be too simple, but actually it is not.Highly recommended version of the Gilgamesh trilogy.

This is a very well done series to make the Epic accessible to elementary children! It was a great supplement for our “ancient history study” this year (we home school).In this first book of the series, note that there is one page of Enkidu (an animal like man who never saw another human until now) and the woman kissing and the line reads “they explored the ways of love with each other”. I found that to be more explicit than just saying they liked each other or even that they fell in love. We chose to black that line out.Other than that, we can highly recommend all 3 of this trilogy!