Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can?t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse?Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy?s mom finds out, she knows it?s time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he?ll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends?one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena?Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.
Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school . . . again. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to stay out of trouble. But can he really be expected to stand by and watch while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself against his pre-algebra teacher when she turns into a monster and tries to kill him? Of course, no one believes Percy about the monster incident; he's not even sure he believes himself.
Until the Minotaur chases him to summer camp.
Suddenly, mythical creatures seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. The gods of Mount Olympus, he's coming to realize, are very much alive in the twenty-first century. And worse, he's angered a few of them: Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.
Now Percy has just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property, and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. On a daring road trip from their summer camp in New York to the gates of the Underworld in Los Angeles, Percy and his friends–one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena–will face a host of enemies determined to stop them. To succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of failure and betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.
Child Magazine "Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him." For Percy, a wisecracking 12-year-old with ADHD, discovering his teacher is really a centaur is just another clue that the Greek gods are alive, well, and causing all kinds of mayhem in modern-day America. Accused of stealing Zeus's master lightning bolt, Percy must prove his innocence while battling a Minotaur and a host of other celestial thugs. Best for older, action-loving kids, this book offers nonstop adventure and terrific exposure to Greek mythology. (ages 8 to 12)
Child magazine's Best Children's Book Awards 2005
More Reviews and RecommendationsBiography Rick Riordan is best known for his bestselling YA series Percy Jackson and the Olympians and for a series of award-winning adult mysteries featuring San Antonio P.I. Tres Navarre.More About the Author
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Customer ReviewsReader Rating: Ratings: 971Reviews: 468See All ReviewsAWESOME!by Anonymous Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings February 05, 2010:
This book was so good! I had to read it for school and I didn't like it, but when i read it again before the movie came out I loved it! I can't wait to buy the others! The movies will be great, but he looks too old to be Percy!A New Twist on an Old Settingby Serlyn Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings February 02, 2010:
The Lightning Thief is told from the perspective of twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, who embarks on a quest to recover Zeus's stolen "master bolt". His adventure gets him involved with Greek gods and goddesses and many other beings from that mythology. Percy doesn't believe in gods at the beginning of the book, but as the story is told, he finds his sense of atheism gradually eroding as the plot moves on. I admit I was skeptical about the The Lightning Thief the first time I heard of it, but once I started reading the book was difficult to put down. Rick Riordan did a fantastic job of taking an old concept and putting a new twist on it. The story itself is fairly easy to follow, I think, due to the modernized dialogue. Most fantasy stories in some way involve a pantheon of divine beings or gods, as does this book. Greek gods are common knowledge for the most part; everyone at some point or another becomes familiar with names such as Zeus, Athena, Ares, Poseidon, etc. Riordan's use of these gods to tell a new story with old characters is refreshing. Riordan also uses a fair amount of humor presented through Percy's personality, which surprisingly fits a stereotypical middle-schooler. Even the chapter titles are for the most part, enough to make anyone age twelve and up crack a smile or two. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who finds ancient Greek mythology, high adventure, and plain good, clean humor entertaining.
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