Stephanie Kimmey. Weber State University. stephaniekimmey1@weber.edu

The book, especially the physical format, is in its Wish List era. TBR (to be read) lists and independent bookstores are seeing a revival, especially due to the attention given to fictional books on BookTok and other social media influencers. The Romantasy genre has taken off. One genre that has quietly continued to produce books is the reception of mythology. These books saw main-stream interest with Madeline Miller’s Song of Achilles and Circe, but now there is a wide range of authors and stories to choose from. It is not surprising since pop culture’s interest in Greek mythology and the ancient world has always remained: sometimes just under the surface or more in your face. Many people first experience the ancient world through mythology, often in elementary or middle school, or most famously, through Percy Jackson. Just look at hype surrounding Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey set for release this summer. Time will tell if the movie has been overhyped, under-hyped, or appropriately hyped. It is within this context that I taught my “Art and Mythology” course this past Spring Semester. 

I teach at a dual-enrollment, open-enrollment state university in northern Utah. The art history courses I teach primarily support our art and graphic design majors. Over the last several years, I’ve developed a course that focuses primarily on the canon of Greek myths, but traces each myth’s depiction in art through time: from ancient depictions to contemporary ones. Each work is analyzed within its specific historical context, thus the class focuses on the art more than the primary sources, relying on OERs¹ and journal articles as the readings. The name of the class has changed over time but currently is “Art and Mythology” and is taught as an upper-level, medium-format offering primarily to art and graphic design majors and art history minors. It counts as an elective, and while I had a few English and Anthropology majors, the class is not a large enrollment nor fulfills any GenEd requirements. This semester I decided to try a new assignment as a way to incorporate these popular and more easily digestible contemporary retellings into an art history course: Book Club!

The first time I taught this course at Weber (Spring 2024), I had included some stories from Nina MacLaughlin’s Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung (2019) as well as used Natalie Haynes’ non-fiction book, Pandora’s Jar (2020), as assigned readings to integrate contemporary works into the class. These books also seemed like a good option as class readings for a more general audience because these students had very little familiarity with ancient topics. Unfortunately, I found that they weren’t being used to their potential because there was little time to break down the readings in class, which felt disconnected from the rest of the class that primary focused on the works of art rather than textual sources. Instituting a formal Book Club could bring in more fictional options, but also be intentional with the time for students to discuss the books. I removed a few group projects and in-class activities that didn’t really work and replaced it with the Book Club assignments. Book Club assignments and meetings were woven throughout the semester and in tandem with the Semester-Long Project, which allowed students to research and explore a myth of their choosing from any culture other than Greek.

I had my fears. What about the students that “hate” reading? Would art students resent a heavy reading workload? Could I make this assignment meaningful within the learning outcomes of the class?² The resounding answer, from the students themselves, was that this was a great addition to the class. Many of them shared in final reflection that that Book Club made them want to return to reading for fun (no small feat in an increasingly AI-dominated world). And it was inspiring to walk into class early and see students reading! If your courses allow, I would highly recommend considering incorporating this assignment. What follows is a breakdown of how I structured the assignments over a 15-week semester as well as a discussion of the ways in which the students engaged and their feedback on the project. 

The Inspiration

I have to admit that a friend recommended this assignment to me. While I’ve always considered a book club assignment, I wasn’t sure how to make it work within the context of an Art History course. This is where Dr. Lindsay Alberts, Professor of Art History at SCAD Savannah, comes into the picture. She presented her book club assignment for her Renaissance Art History course at SECAC in 2025. She presented the books, how the assignments were structured, and changes she would make. I was able to use this as a basis for how I designed my own Book Club, primarily in building upon and altering the assignments to better align with my course. But what stood out the most was that she was able to build this assignment with books specifically set in the Renaissance and in an art history class. It was with this inspiration (and confidence) that I built a book club for myth, which is more easily supported by the abundance of books on the topic.

The Book Selections

The course enrollment was just under 30 students. To form a true book club, I wanted small-scale groups of about 4-5 students and each group to have their own book, rather than having the whole class read the same book. This resulted in needing to select 6 books. There is no shortage of choices, but I also wanted to anticipate students having already read some of the books, especially the more popular ones. In order to avoid students selecting books they had already read, I surveyed them on the first day of class, having them write down any ancient myth books they had read. Not surprising, Percy Jackson was the most popular, and thus not used for the class. While a few had read some of Miller’s books, many had not. In the end I selected the following books:

• Madeline Miller. 2011. Song of Achilles

• Madeline Miller. 2018. Circe
• Nina MacLaughlin. 2019. Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung
• Natalie Haynes. 2023. Stone Blind
• Rosie Hewlett. 2024. The Witch of Colchis
• Hannah Lynn. 2024. Queens of Themiscyra

I had already read Miller’s books, as well as MacLaughlin and Haynes’ books. As I was vetting other books for this list, I read at least the first quarter of the book to ensure that the book could sustain my own focus and interest. On these parameters, I also selected Hewlett and Lynn. I also tried to ensure that the books were of roughly equal length, available on various platforms and formats, and were around the same price (for students that chose to purchase them).

My selections were curated around specific goals. First, I wanted the books to address different myths. While there is some overlap, none of the books tell the same myth. Second, I wanted to include more recent publications. Third, I wanted a range of stories to allow for the most variety for the students. Students were given all six options with brief descriptions and asked to select their top 3 books. In the end, students received their first or second choice, and thus were grouped by the book they selected. Not surprising Miller’s Circe and Hewlett’s The Witch of Colchis (Medea’s story) were the most popular. 

The Assignments & Pacing

Over the course of the semester, students were responsible for seven assignments and corresponding Book Club Meetings. All meetings were held during a class period to avoid the dreaded “group work” and concomitant coordination of schedules. This also allowed me to observe the discussions. These in-class meetings were scheduled for the full class period (1 hour and 45 minutes), but students could use as much of the time as they wanted and were allowed to leave once they finished their discussions. I am happy to report that discussions usually averaged over an hour, but usually not longer than 90 minutes. The assignments were also built to allow for both individual work/grades and group grades. 

1. Acquiring the Book: Low-stakes, 5 points. This class does not use textbooks, so their book club book was the only thing they had “purchase” for the course. Students could get the book in their chosen format: print, kindle, or audiobook. For this first assignment, in Week 3, students had to submit evidence of acquiring the book. 
2. First Impressions, 25% of book: Medium-stakes, 15 points. By Week 5, students had to read the first 25% of their book. To prepare for their first book club meeting, they individually wrote a 2-3 page essay with their first impressions. The essay was open ended, but I provided a few questions for them to consider: How do you like the book so far? Is it what you expected? Why or why not? Where do you think the book will go from here?  What you want the book to address moving forward? How do you feel about the writing style or approach of narration? They were instructed to provide their opinions but to support them with specifics from the book. 

Additionally, as a class populated primarily by art majors and art history minors, they all had to create a draft of a cover for the book. This draft was meant to redesign the current cover, given that books are often judged by their covers! The prompt for this part was as follows: “Given the current cover, is it what you expected given the content? This is your chance to redesign. Note this is a draft. You are not being graded from an art/creation standpoint, but more about content. Given what you’ve read this far, how would you design the cover of the book?” Students would return to this cover redesign throughout the semester. The essay and draft cover were due before class began and served as the guide for that day’s discussion. 

3. Reflection & Meeting, 50% of book: Low-stakes, 5 points. In Week 7, students were required to complete the next 25% of the books. In conjunction with the meeting, they submitted a short reflection addressing what occurred in the next quarter of the book as well as reflection on what aspects of the book had or had not changed from their first impressions. Again, this provided students with a foundation for their in-class meeting and discussion. 
4. Reflection & Meeting, 75% of book: Low-stakes, 5 points. In Week 9, which for us was after spring break, students were responsible for completing the next quarter of their book. These reflections included a short summary as well as two questions they had about the book. These questions would serve as the basis for their research essay. Thus the questions had to be centered on plot or characters, something that might be answered by the primary sources, rather than authorial choices. In this meeting, the students shared their research questions and divided the topics among them so that each student was researching a slightly different topic.

Below are example of research questions that students submitted. I worked with them during this meeting to flesh out or focus the question, while also steering them to questions they could answer within a short research period.

• Song of Achilles: How does the depiction of Chiron in the novel differ from the depiction in the original Greek mythology? What is Chiron’s role in the story pattern of the Greek hero?
• Circe: How does Circe depict witchcraft as a form of power unique from traditional divine authority, and how does this compare to depictions of magic in Ancient Greek myth?
• Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung: How does MacLaughlin’s interpretation of Alcmene’s story change the message of the story?
• Stone Blind: Hesperides – What is their story? Why don’t the gods trust them? What was their purpose in the ancient greek culture?
• The Witch of Colchis: I want to know more about Atalanta, what happened to her after her journey with the Argonauts? What did she do with the rest of her life?
• Queens of Themiscyra: What happens in the original myths to the Amazonian kingdom after they are defeated in Athens, and how does it compare with what will happen in Queens of Themiscyra? 

5. Research Essay: High-stakes, 50 points. Stemming from their previous meeting, students individually conducted their own research on their question. This 3-4 page essay was due in Week 12, in conjunction with their next book club meeting. Students were tasked to answer their research question through the primary sources, using at least two, either texts or works of art. 
6. Reflection & Meeting, 100% of book: Low-stakes, 5 points. In Week 12, students met to discuss the end of their books. In addition to finishing their books, they also had conducted their research, which allowed them to discuss the plot and content within a larger context. For this meeting, in addition to completing their book, they were also asked if there was anything they would change – plot, character, even authorial choices. For some students, these changes stemmed from their research; for other students, changes were more about pacing or character development. 
7. Presentations: High-stakes, 50 points. At the end of the semester, each group presented on their book and the various components of book club. Each group was given 15 minutes and presented on the following: book summary and review; research; cover redesign; and book revisions. After their presentations, students individually submitted a 2-page reflection on the whole assignment. This allowed them to address any concerns that might have stemmed from the group work or any unseen hurdles. 

Reflections

From a teaching perspective, I found the pacing to work well for a 15-week semester-long course. Spreading it out over the semester allowed for students to work on other assignments for the course as well as to balance out the amount of reading. On Book Club meeting days, there were no additional readings assigned. The presentations themselves were a great way to end the class, and inspired students to read some of the other books. The balance between reading fiction, conducting primary source research, and building team working and oral presentation skills led to the success of the assignment. While there are things I will change next time (book choices, slight pacing tweaks, and assignment details), this is something I will absolutely do again!

From the student perspective, here’s what they had to say:

• Book Club was one of my favorite parts of this class. I learned so much doing the research paper about Circe. It got me excited to read more primary texts in the future and expand my knowledge of Greek myth.
• The book club was something that I really enjoyed for a lot of reasons, but one of the main reasons was that it was nice to read a more conversational version of the myth and then come back to the myth at some point in the class.
• When it was introduced, I was afraid the Book Club assignments would add a lot of extra work to the class. However, I found it to be a nice break from the regular assignments, and it was interesting to compare Rosie Hewlett’s retelling in The Witch of Colchis to the ancient story of Medea.
• Book Club was a nice mental break. We learned so much with our pre-class readings, lectures, and individual semester projects, it was nice to have a day to sit down with classmates and discuss interesting books.
• The Book Club project was a big part in my deeper understanding. Reading Wake, Siren allowed me to delve into stories not covered in class. As for the Book Club experience itself, I really enjoyed the collaborative aspect. It was helpful to discuss these heavy themes with peers because Wake, Siren can be quite intense.
• The book club we had to be a part of was one of the biggest contributing factors in why things clicked for me. Wake, Siren was a heavy book to read. It was real and uncomfortable but that’s why it was impactful. It made the myths feel more personal and less detached from my reality. Instead of reading about the characters, I was thinking about their perspectives and what their stories were trying to say.
• Besides the fact that I loved my book and book club group; getting to read a modern retelling of myth through the course made me that much more excited to consume and interact with the material. 

*If you are interested in adopting this assignment or discussing further, please reach out. I’m happy to share assignments and suggestions.

Notes

1. Minniti, K. et al. 2001. Mythoi Koinoi. University of British Columbia, Pressbooks. https://doi.org/10.14288/2vm2-wx30 and Mellenthin, J. and S. O. Shapiro. Mythology Unbound: An Online Textbook for Classical Mythology. Pressbooks. https://uen.pressbooks.pub/mythologyunbound/
2. In our department, we have course-level specific learning outcomes. For an upper-level course, they are the following:
   • Utilize conceptual frameworks, ethical reasoning, and critical thinking skills in the making of visual media (Mastered)
   • Assess, Analyze, and synthesize historical and contemporary information regarding visual art and design (Developed)
   • Communicate effectively and ethically about visual media through written or oral means. (Developed)
   • Recognize and identify historically influential styles, movements, periods, theories, and practitioners of art and design in a global context. (Developed)
   • Demonstrate the ability to work cooperatively, ethically, and effectively with peers (Introduced)