Your online guide
to the world of children's books. Reviews, author interviews, and
stories to read online. Plus guides to publishers, authors, and
illustrators.
Title
The
Lightning Thief
Author
Rick
Riordan
Age Range
9 - 12
Brief Description
Grade
5-9–An adventure-quest with a hip edge. At first glance, Perseus Jackson
seems like a loser (readers meet him at a boarding school for troubled
youth), but he's really the son of Poseidon and a mortal woman. As he
discovers his heritage, he also loses that mother and falls into mortal
danger. The gods (still very active in the 21st-century world) are about
to go to war over a lost thunderbolt, so Percy and sidekicks Grover (a
young satyr) and Annabeth (daughter of Athena) set out to retrieve it.
Many close calls and monster-attacks later, they enter Hades's realm
(via L.A.). A virtuoso description of the Underworld is matched by a
later account of Olympus (hovering 600 floors above Manhattan). There's
lots of zippy review of Greek myth and legend, and characters like
Medusa, Procrustes, Charon, and the Eumenides get updates. Some of the
Labors of Heracles or Odysseus's adventures are recycled, but nothing
seems stale, and the breakneck pace keeps the action from being too
predictable. Percy is an ADHD, wise-cracking, first-person narrator.
Naturally, his real quest is for his own identity. Along the way, such
topics as family, trust, war, the environment, dreams, and perceptions
are raised. There is subtle social critique for sophisticated readers
who can see it. Although the novel ends with a satisfying conclusion
(and at least one surprise), it is clear that the story isn't over. The
12-year-old has matured and is ready for another quest, and the villain
is at large. Readers will be eager to follow the young protagonist's
next move.–
