The Lightning Thief/ New York Times Bestseller

Plot Summary:

             Percy Jackson is a troubled teen with dyslexia and ADHD. His best and only friend, Grover, walks with a limp, and his favorite teacher uses a wheelchair. Percy has to go to boarding school and when he is home he suffers under the thumb of a disgusting pig of a step-father. In addition, Percy can’t seem to stay out of trouble, it follows him and he struggles with avoiding it due to his fiery temper and impulsive nature.  All of these little “accidents” that no one else seems to acknowledge (such as the fact that he has to fight and defeat his algebra teacher, who no one remembers after she is gone) are getting to Percy, he thinks he might be a little crazy after all. Everything changes after school is out and he and his beloved mother go to the beach for the weekend. Grover finds them there and says Percy is in danger. Off they go to Camp Half-Blood. They face a Minotaur who steals Percy’s mother before he defeats it.

 Percy finds out that he is the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. He also finds out that someone has stolen Zeus’s lightning bolt and that he is the main suspect. In order to prevent war amongst the Gods and thus the end of the world, Percy must find the bolt and return it to Zeus. So Percy, Grover, and Annabelle (another camper) set off on a quest to find it. They are plagued by trouble and have to defend themselves repeatedly. They go to the Underworld to see Hades, only to find that they have been set up by the god of war, Ares who is acting on behalf of an unknown. In the end, Percy returns the lightning bolt to Zeus and no one lives happily ever after because there is a sequel.

Personal Reaction:            

            This was a great book, very Harry Potteresque in the set up and plot line. A sad and misunderstood boy finds out he is magic and goes off to a place to learn about it. There he develops two major friendships one with a boy who messes up all the time and one with a girl that does everything perfectly… That is okay, I like it, but if a romance develops between Grover and Annabelle, I’ll worry. At any rate, the book was great with lots of action and very nice usage of figurative language. The characters are believable and I love the allusions to Greek gods. Mythology was always one of my favorite subjects. In addition, I should probably address the disability factor here. I love it that Percy and his friends have disabilities because it not only makes them relatable, it helps readers relate to people with other kinds of disabilities (I am a big believer in everyone being disabled in one way or another.).  One thing that bothered me was the fact that Percy does not seem to know much about his disability. Dyslexia is not letters floating off a page, which is a common misconception. In addition, I would appreciate it if Riordan used people first language. Instead of Percy saying “’I am dyslexic and ADHD,’” Percy should be saying “’I have dyslexia and ADHD.’” That way we are not defining people by their disability. (Pretty sure this soap box is going to break if I don’t step down.)

Riordan, R. (2005). The lightning thief. New York: Miramax Books/Hyperion Books for Children.