Page 41 - Cornice_Grade 7

Book Review

Title: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief
Author : Rick Riordan
Illustrator: John Rocco
Genre: antasy fiction based on Greek mythology

The author of this book is Rick Riordan.This
famous series also has a movie series based on it.It is
a famous book among children.It is related to Greek
mythology and found in most bookstores and libraries.
It is a fantasy book with mythical creatures and Greek
gods such as Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena,etc. It
is one of the most recommended and best selling books.
The author Rick Riordan was interested in mythology
and fantasy and was a teacher who loved teaching Greek
mythology. The story about how it started is almost as
interesting as the story itself. Rick used to read stories to his son that he wrote, and his son recom-
mended him to publish it and when he did it, it was a hit! This story focuses on friendship, betrayal,
love, adventures, loyalty and trust.

This book is about a young teenager boy suffering with an abusive step-father and is dyslexic
and has problems learning in school . But when they were on a school field trip, Percy learns that he
is actually the son of the god Poseidon and he is a demi-god (half human half god). He is in danger
because somehow the gods heard news that Zeus’s lightning bolt was stolen and that he stole Zeus’s
lightning bolt which is the most powerful thing ever and can wipe off the living on earth if it gets in
the wrong hands. In order to protect Percy from all the gods who wanted Zeus’s power, his friend who
is a half goat and a part of the gods, goes to the camp for demigods to train himself for his new life.
Percy loses his mom while going to the camp after she gets ripped open by a buffalo-like creature. In
the camp he meets the daughter of Athena and son of Hermes. Annabeth and Groover (his centaur
friend) travel to the underworld to get Percy’s mom back with the help of Luke.They need to go to
different locations to find 3 pearls and then they will be able to will free his mother.The first location
they go to was already a trap itself, it was Medusa’s lair and so, in order to get the pearl they shouldn't
look her in the eye and they finally do it somehow and cut of her head to stop her from killing anyone
further and take it for later on, in case they need to petrify(turn into stone) a creature.

Percy, the main character, is a brave and honest boy where as the other gods are mostly known
for being unfaithful and narcissistic.The author has succeeded in creating stories that feel so real as
if you are a character in the book and it's very easy while reading it and understanding from the first
person, Percy’s view.

The book is written in a way that children will enjoy it and so will the parents while reading it
to their children. Percy, the main character, was actually based on Rick Riordan’s dyslexic son who also
suffered from anxiety. From this book we learn that your past decisions will affect your future.Some-
times you will need to lose something to gain something. Honesty is the best policy and there are two
types of bad people,the one doing the bad thing and the one seeing them do it and don't do anything
about it. Percy’s disorders are represented as a power instead of something that brings him down
which I think the other is trying to highlight in the story.
Overall, I give this book a ⅘. I think it is really good and I would recommend this to anyone the same
age or young/older and anyone interested in it. Feel free to borrow this book from me or you can find
it in the library.

- Aakarshan Khadka