The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Young Adult Fantasy/Adventure
ISBN: 0786856297
384 pp.
Suitable for 12+

Readers Annotation: Percy Jackson is just another 12 year old boy diagnosed with ADD who gets into trouble until he finds out that he is a demigod and trains at a camp to fight his biggest challenge yet.

Plot Summary: Percy Jackson is a 12 year old boy with ADD who gets into trouble at school to the point that he's been going to different schools all his life. His father is dead, and therefore lives with his sweet mother and her awful husband. Percy and his mother decide to go on their annual trip to Long Island. However, once there, they run into trouble, especially when Percy's friend, Grover, reveals himself as a satyr who warns that mythological creatures are out to harm them. They drive to Camp Half-Blood where demigods train to fight. Percy's mother is unfortunately disintegrated but Percy finds out that his father who died is very much alive and a god! He trains for his biggest challenge yet: to find Zeus' lightning bolt that has been stolen from him. However, there is miscommunication among the gods, which ends up getting Percy in even more trouble. But at least he's used to it and up for the challenge.

Critical Evaluation: This fast-paced story is loaded with plot and corny, attempted humorous dialogue. At first, I thought it was aimed for reluctant male readers with its simple language, fast-paced scenes, and black and white characters. It then evolves into using Greek mythology concepts within a modern setting, which is a creative angle for teen readers. There is much more gray, which complicates things and that keeps for an interesting read. Unfortunately, since the fast-paced writing seemed to go even faster during this evolution as the action became absurd. It was simply quite hard to keep up with way too much action and not enough character development. Percy is the only one developed since he is the main character and the author spends much time on his exposition. But the counselor, his peers, the gods, they all seem like patchwork. By the end, it was a tiresome read loaded with action and ridiculous dialogue; quite incredible how sequels came afterward. I'm relieved I finished the first.

Author: Rick Riordan is a young adult author, most notably for the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series. Born in San Antonio, Texas, Riordan graduated from the University of Austin with a double major of English and history. He actually taught English and history for the San Francisco Bay area and San Antonio before writing his first novel.

The story of his first novel is quite interesting. He would tell his son, diagnosed with ADD, stories and eventually incorporated Greek mythology. He ran out of stories and made up one about Percy Jackson and his hunt for Zeus' lightning bolt. His son told him to write a book on it, which Riordan did and succeeded. Many sequels have come from this bedtime story.

Booktalking Ideas:
1) Greek mythology
2) Camp Half-Blood
3) demigods

Challenge Issues: There are no challenge issues present in this book.

Why Included: I really have no idea. I just wanted to see what the big fuss was. I was not amused and this was a brutal reading but at least now I know.