Dancing with the Lion: Becoming

Two boys, one heroic bond, and the molding of Greece’s greatest son. Before he became known as Alexander the Great, he was Alexandros, the teenage son of the king of Makedon. Rather than living a life of luxury, as prince he has to be better and learn faster than his peers, tackling problems without any help. One such problem involves his increasingly complicated feelings for his new companion, Hephaistion. When Alexandros and Hephaistion go to study under the philosopher Aristoteles, their evolving relationship becomes even harder to navigate. Strength, competition, and status define one’s fate in their world—a world that seems to have little room for the tenderness growing between them. Alexandros is expected to command, not to crave the warmth of friendship with an equal. In a kingdom where his shrewd mother and sister are deemed inferior for their sex, and his love for Hephaistion could be seen as submission to an older boy, Alexandros longs to be a human being when everyone but Hephaistion just wants him to be a king. Word count: 92,000; page count: 282

Review ** "[A] well-told, if unexpected, coming-of-age story." --Publisher's Weekly** "Becoming is an excellent fictionalization of Alexander's childhood...written with strong attention to detail and reads as credible in nearly every way. We know Alexander as one of the greatest military leaders of all time, but in Becoming, the author has given readers a genuinely engaging look at the boy before he became the man." --Joyfully Jay** It's the perfect summer read for anyone interested in classics--discover Alexander before he became "the Great"! --Bolchazy-Carducci [Classics educational] Publishers Twitter From the Author Dancing with the Lion: Interview with the Author at Ancient Heroes Dancing with the Lion: Interview with the Author at The Second Achilles From the Inside Flap Although born a prince, nothing guarantees that Alexander will become king. Yet if he doesn't, he won't live long under whomever does.On the edge of thirteen, Alexander is told by his father, King Philip of Macedon—nemesis of the Greek south—that he's getting a special tutor: an up-and-coming philosopher named Aristotle. It seems Philip might be training up an heir-apparent after all. Alexander is sent to Mieza to study, along with other boys from the court.Among those boys is Hephaistion, the only one who sees Alexander, not the prince. In Mieza's idyllic gardens, cocooned from both palace politics and his father's many wars, the two develop a lifelong devotion that will become the stuff of legends. Yet first, Alexander must prove himself and remain Philip's successor.Meet Alexandros before he became Alexander the Great. About the Author Mother, writer, history professor, Homer fangirl and Alexander the Great geek.Born and raised in Florida, Jeanne Reames counts Lakeland as herhometown.She attended the University of Florida (Go Gators!) where shemajored in English with a focus on creative writing. She still harbors a certain affection for the state because she knows it intimately, having been to virtually every county except a few in the panhandle, butdoesn't missthe unremitting humidity, or the crazy-big bugs.Besides English, she has two other degrees from different schools in twodifferentsubjects (albeit all in the humanities). Currently, she's amember of the History faculty at the University of Nebraska, Omaha,where she teaches Greek, Macedonian and Ancient Near Eastern history.She's served as graduate program chair for the department, and acts asdirector of their Mediterranean Studies Program.She lives inmidtown Omahain a neo-Tudor built in 1939. With her son grown and on his own, she shares her little house with two impertinent black cats,Licorice and Cecilia Iphigeneia, a Siamese named Kleopatra (afterAlexander's sister), a polite garden bunny dubbed Summer, and a feistyfox squirrel who argues with her over who has rights to the garden atwhat time of the day. In warm weather, her front porch will be occupiedby a key lime bush named Cyrus the Great, because she's still a FloridaGirl at heart.