Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief is the first in a series of five books by Rick Riordan. The book is about a boy named Percy Jackson who is a demigod, his mother is a human and his father is Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. Percy grows up unaware that he is so special until he is forced into reality when someone has stolen Zeus' lightening bolt. Zeus claims that only the son of one of the "Big Three", Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, have the power to do so. Since it was Zeus who had something stolen and Hades is an unlikely suspect all attention is turned to Poseidon's son Percy, who has no idea his father is the god of the sea. This information has been hidden from him for his protection since it is rare that one of the "Big Three" has a child on Earth. When Percy's mother and protector find out he is in danger they bring him to Camp Half-blood for demigod training. On their way to the camp they are attacked by a Minotaur, sent by Hades in an attempt to get Zeus' lightening bolt, and Percy's mother is taken. Percy eventually sets out on a quest with his protector, Grover, and the daughter of Athena, Annabeth. Does Percy and his friends save his mother, find the lightening bolt and prevent a war between the gods?
This book was excellent. I watched the movie first and was happy with how much better the book was. The book went into so much more detail. When I was young I had an obsession with Greek mythology and I would have loved if a book like this was available for me to read. I think it would have definitely sparked my interest. I think that his book along with the others in the series would be a great book to have in the classroom library available to students. I think that students with an interest in mythology and/or fantasy adventure would love this read.
I also think that this book would be a good book club book to assign my students. With the choices between the series children could read any one they want or have an ongoing series book club where they read the whole series over the year.
This sounds like a great book that you could use to motivate uninterested students or to enhance a unit on Greek mythology. I know that I have always had a difficult time keeping Greek mythology straight. This book would be great to entertain your students and help them learn about the mythological characters.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a great book! I think it would be great to use as a read aloud during a unit on the greek gods and goddesses. This is a book I am going to have to add to my list of books to read. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI agree - I would have been so fascinated by this book growing up. Have you seen Riordan's other series? Around the time that I was first reading The Lightning Thief with 6th graders (about 4 years ago), I noticed that there are a lot of books out now that draw from mythology. For example, Tera Lynn Childs' Oh. My. Gods. (and it's sequel), Carolyn Hennesy's Pandora Gets... series (the first one is Pandora Gets Jealous), and the Goddess Girls series - just to name a few.
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