The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1

I am an adult reader (and teacher) who enjoys good YA books. I read them for my own enjoyment and to be able to recommend good reading material to middle school students. I have finished the PJ series and decided to return to book 1 to write a review.Many reviewers appear to try to compare this series to Harry Potter. Frankly, other than its ability to make the reader want to keep turning the page and anxiously await the next book, I can't begin to compare the two! HP is pure fantasy with magic as its foundation. PJ, on the other hand, has its basis in Greek mythology. To me, this alone places PJ into more of an "historical fantasy" genre rather than pure fantasy. Magic certainly plays a role but it is actually a very small part compared to HP. The emphasis here is on the abilities humans attributed to the gods of ancient Greece and Rome and the fantasy part is how those abilities might affect modern offspring of those immortals and modern mortals, children known as demigods. The fact that so many cultures of ancient times in so many places had similar gods with similar attributes has to make one wonder if there isn't some factual basis as to their existence.That said, Mr. Riordan clearly has done his research into the lives of the gods and goddesses and all of the associated monsters, creatures, and peoples of legend and history. He brings them to life in the 21st Century with believable characters and situations that are well-developed and that allow the stories to flow from one exciting adventure or quest to another without confusion or frustration on the part of the reader. Face it, how many of us remember the hierarchy, attributes, and tales of even the top 12, nevermind all the minor deities and various creatures from our high school classes and mandatory reading of Homer, The Odyssey, and even Shakespeare? Probably not many, mainly because most of us had no real frame of reference to hang all that ancient stuff in. I had more exposure than most because I took several years of Latin (which sadly is taught in very few schools today) and yet I learned a great deal I didn't know reading this wonderful series of books I had difficulty putting down! As a teacher, an avid reader, and hopefully future author I have deep admiration of Mr. Riordan's word crafting, ability to challenge YA readers with expansive vocabulary without overwhelming, his characters to whom we can all relate in a variety of aspects, and his creativity in bringing ancient mythology alive for this generation of readers. I also appreciate his highlighting some of the positives of two common learning difficulties, ADHD and dyslexia, that plague so many people in our inactive, word-oriented society. Many of our greatest minds and most creative inventors dealt or deal with one or both of these alternate ways of viewing the world, yet instead of embracing and developing these special thinkers and their skills we call them "learning disabled" and make them feel stupid when in reality these particular "disabilities" tend to be accompanied by higher than normal intelligence!Many reviewers have synopsized this and other books in the series so I have deliberately avoided doing so and have instead focused on WHY young readers should be encouraged to read this book and the entire series. It's fun, imaginative, exciting, interesting, has male and female heroes who are well-developed characters, teaches without the reader feeling taught, shows that good and bad aren't always black and white, and has good values such as loyalty, honesty, and the value of friends, family, and community without preaching. Besides, it's just plain a darn good read for kids of nearly all ages!

I held off buying THE LIGHTNING THIEF for a couple years. The market seems glutted with YA fantasy at the moment, and I read quite a bit of it with my 9-year-old. We've discovered several good series, but THE LIGHTNING THIEF seemed too long to hold his attention when it first came out.This year we noticed it in the book fair at school, then saw that it was an Accelerated Reader book. So I picked it up and read a couple chapters to try it out. I was 50 pages into it when I realized I needed to be reading this to my son.I did read it to him. We FLEW through the book (375 pages!) in 6 days because he kept pestering me to read it to him. We finished it up in a 5-hour marathon yesterday, hanging onto every page as Percy and his friends tried to save the world and put things to rights in their own lives.THE LIGHTNING THIEF is a great book for adults and kids. I've already recommended it to a couple of adult friends who experienced the same kind of can't-put-it-down pull that I did.Percy Jackson, the hero of the book, comes across as every kid you'd ever meet or ever would. He's no brainiac (he has dyslexia and ADHD) but he has friends who are. But he is courageous and clever, stubborn and loyal. He is the best he can be, and he's getting even better.Riordan works in many of the Greek myths in the novel. There was a time when knowing Greek mythology was a pre-requisite for having a "classical" education. Many morals and philosophies are presented in the tales.From the very beginning of the novel, we find out Percy is different when he ends up fighting a harpy in the museum while on a school trip. He's been kicked out of 6 schools in 6 years, lives with his mom and step-dad, Smelly Gabe, an evil guy who deliberately makes Percy's life hard.Then, when he's on a well-deserved vacation with his mom, he finds out he's a Half-Blood, the son of one of the Greek gods. But his mom doesn't know who his dad was and that's just one of the mysteries Percy ends up solving.The cool part of the book is peeling away all the mysteries of Percy's life and who really took Zeus's magic thunderbolt. Along the way he gains powers that set my son's head to spinning with hope and delight. Percy's a superhero without the costume, and there are plenty of villains in his world.Riordan is a teacher who obviously loves kids as well as the subject matter. The Greek gods were a cantankerous lot, and Riordan delivers them well. Not only does he give his readers the stories, but he also brings the gods on stage and gives them personalities.The series is supposed to run for 5 books. I think it will go on longer. I hope so. I've already ordered books 2 and 3, and my son and I are looking forward to them. The books take a while to read outloud to younger readers, but the effort is well rewarded. The story is rich and deep, and will keep your child's attention. In addition, you'd be surprised how much you can talk about even when you're not reading. And your child may just want to wander around the internet learning more interesting facts about Greek mythology.THE LIGHTNING THIEF is well worth reading and is probably in most public and school libraries.