Percy Jacksons "Greek Gods"

 I read a ton of books. There are always new books arriving at my house and a stack of books somewhere waiting to be read. Every so often a book comes into the house and one of my boys picks it ups and runs off to read it before I discover it is gone. This book is just one such book.

Airborne, who is almost as much of a reader as I am had never been a fan of the Percy Jackson novels. He loved the Red Pyramid series by Rick Riordan but not the Lightening Thief series. So imagine my shock when I found him curled up with this book. I was surprised and pleased that he was curled up with this book reading over the summer. Then I saw the pictures and couldn't imagine anyone being able to pass this one by. It is beautiful.  He is now going back and reading the other novels in the series. WINNING!

If your son or daughter is a fan, go buy this. If they have never read a Lightening Thief Book, go buy this. If you are just trying to get your kid to read, GO BUY THIS!


 About the Book:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Disney Publishing Worldwide

Presents

               

Percy Jackson’s

GREEK GODS

By Rick Riordan

New York Times #1 best-selling author of

the Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series

Illustrated by Caldecott honoree

John Rocco

           What do you get when you cross a 12-year-old boy who has dyslexia, ADHD, and an uncanny ability to get kicked out of every school he’s ever attended with the half-god, half-mortal son of Poseidon? One of kid lit’s most original, engaging, relatable, and beloved boy heroes: Percy Jackson—teen demigod star of the New York Times #1 best-selling series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Now, taking a quick breather from his own heart-thumping adventures in The Heroes of Olympus series, Percy offers a personal take on the myths and characters that shape his distinctive family tree in PERCY JACKSON’S GREEK GODS (Disney-Hyperion; ISBN 978-1-4231-8364-8; 8/19/2014; $24.99). Author Rick Riordan delivers, once again, the pitch perfect voice young readers have come to trust and adore—sarcastic, funny, and otherworldly-wise—in an encyclopedic who’s who of the ancients and their stories, from Apollo to Zeus. Percy introduces the volume in typical style:

“There’s like forty bajillion different versions of the myths, so don’t be all Well, I heard it a different way, so you’re WRONG! I’m going to tell you the versions that make the most sense to me. I promise I didn’t make any of this up. I got all these stories straight from the Ancient Greek and Roman dudes who wrote them down in the first place. Believe me, I couldn’t make up stuff this weird. First I’ll tell you how the world got made. Then I’ll run down a list of gods and give you my two cents about each of them. I just hope I don’t make them so mad they incinerate me before I—AGGHHHHHH! Just kidding. Still here. Anyway, I’ll start with the Greek story of creation, which by the way, is seriously messed up. Wear your safety glasses and your raincoat. There will be blood.”

In chapters ranging from “The Olympians Bash Some Heads” to “Hera Gets a Little Cuckoo,” Percy does not hold back as he describes his relatives and their epic antics:

•  On Zeus: “Why is Zeus always first? Seriously, every book about the Greek gods has to start with this guy. I know he’s the king of Olympus and all—but trust me, this dude’s ego does not need to get any bigger. You know what? Forget him. We’re starting with Hestia.”

•  On Hestia: “If you walked into a party on Mount Olympus, Hestia wouldn’t be the first girl who caught your eye. She wasn’t flashy or loud or crazy. She was more like the goddess next door.”

•  On Persephone: “I never understood what made Persephone such a big deal. I mean, for a girl who almost destroyed the universe, she seems kind of meh. Sure, she was pretty. The thing is, Persephone didn’t have much else going for her. She wasn’t all that bright. She wasn’t brave. She didn’t really have any goals or hobbies.”

•  On Kronos: “At first, Kronos wasn’t so bad. He had to work his way up to being a complete slime bucket.”

•  On Hades: “I feel for the guy. No, seriously. Hades might be a creep, but there’s no doubt he got the short end of the universe. He was always counted as the youngest, since the gods went by the order they got barfed from Kronos’s gut. If that wasn’t bad enough, when the gods rolled dice to divide up the world, Hades got the Underworld.”

•  On Demeter: “Oh yeah, Demeter! Try not to get too excited, because this chapter is all about the goddess of wheat, bread, and cereal. Demeter just flat-out rocks when it comes to carbohydrates.”

•  On Hephaestus: “He was born so ugly that his loving mother Hera tossed him off Mount Olympus like a bag of trash. If somebody had taken a baby picture, it would’ve shown homely little Hephaestus plummeting through the clouds with a surprised look on his face like, MOMMY, WHY?”

•  On Poseidon: “If you’re going to have a Greek god for a parent, you couldn’t do better than Poseidon. He’s amazingly cool, considering how hard it was for him as a young god. He was the middle boy. He was always being compared to his brothers, like: Wow, you’re almost as handsome as Zeus! Or sometimes: You’re not as much of a loser as Hades!”

With a solid foundation in actual myth, this breezy, hilarious retelling renders the distant world of the ancients up-close and personal for readers of all ages. Accompanied by dramatic, full-color illustrations by Caldecott Honoree John Rocco, this volume is a must for home, library, and classroom—as beautiful as it is entertaining.

About the Author

Rick Riordan is the New York Times #1 best-selling 
author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the Kane Chronicles, and The Heroes of Olympus series. He is also the author of The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones, another New York Times #1 best-seller. For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Texas. While teaching full time, he began writing mystery novels for grownups. His Tres Navarre series went on to win the top three national awards in the mystery genre—the Edgar, the Anthony, and the Shamus. Riordan turned to children's fiction when he started The Lightning Thief—the first book in the Percy Jackson series—as a bedtime story for his oldest son, after whom Percy is modeled. Rick Riordan now writes full-time. He lives in Boston with his wife and two sons.