THE WIDELY UNKNOWN MYTH OF APPLE & DOROTHY

A dual-perspective story of friendship, grief, and the pressure of familial expectations.

Dorothy is a modern-day descendant of Pandora of Greek myth. “Nearly perfect” Apple’s illustrious forebears are the famed gods Zeus and Hera. Growing up, the two sixth graders’ mothers were very different people yet still best friends: “kind of wrong but still somehow right.” In their community of near-gods, everyone must climb a silver ladder to Olympus each winter solstice to take a bite of a golden apple and guarantee their immortality for another year. However, when Dorothy’s mother decides to stay below, renouncing her immortality and dying just a month later, the tradition is upended. In retaliation, the gods decide that everyone must choose on the next winter solstice: either join them on Olympus or remain mortals on Earth. While Apple and Dorothy are complete opposites, they find comfort and solace in each other after Dorothy’s unexpected loss. But as the deadline approaches, Apple makes a hasty decision that affects everything. This story is tender, complex, and full of hope—emotionally messy in the best ways. Apple and Dorothy are intricately written characters who express relatable feelings of fear, love, and loss. Apple has curly dark hair, and Dorothy’s hair is red-blond and wavy; the near-gods are diverse in appearance.

A refreshingly character-driven take on Greek mythology retellings.