Plot

Percy Jackson is a twelve year old boy, diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, who has been expelled from six schools, the latest being Yancy Academy. During a school field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, his pre-algebra teacher, Mrs. Dodds, attacks Percy, revealing that she is one of the three Furies. Percy's stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, a man whose smell is so repulsive, mistreats both Percy and Percy's mother, Sally. To get away from Gabe, Sally takes Percy on a trip to Long Island for a threeday vacation. In the middle of the first night, Percy's closest friend and former classmate at Yancy Academy, Grover Underwood, who is revealed to be a satyr, comes and warns the two of them that Percy is in danger. Sally drives them both to Camp Half-Blood, a camp for demigods, where he can train and be protected. On the way there, they are attacked by the Minotaur, which grabs Percy's mother by her throat. She then dissolves into a golden shower of light. Percy, angered by the Minotaur for killing his mom and then going after his best friend, goes after the Minotaur and defeats him using the Minotaur's own horn. Percy then stumbles into the camp carrying a semi-conscious Grover. Upon waking up, Percy is moved into the Hermes cabin, under the care of Luke Castellan, the cabin's counselor. During a game of capture the flag, the Ares cabin attacks and injures Percy. He steps into the adjoining river and is healed by the waters. After the game is won, Percy gets attacked by a hellhound, which gets shot by arrows and dies. To heal himself, he steps into the water, while Poseidon's trident appears above his head, revealing him to be the son of Poseidon. Poseidon has broken an oath taken with Hades and Zeus to refrain from having any more children with mortal women, as their children can become too powerful and become a threat. It is revealed that Zeus's master bolt has been stolen. Because Percy has been claimed, Zeus believes that Percy was the one to have stolen it. To clear his and his father's name, Percy is granted a quest to find Zeus's master bolt which Chiron, believes Hades has stolen. Percy has to find the bolt before the summer solstice, ten days from then. Luke gives magic flying shoes to Percy before leaving on the quest with Annabeth and Grover. Percy has to travel west to reach the entrance to the Underworld in Hollywood. They encounter Greek monsters, including the Furies, Medusa, Echidna, the Chimera, and Ares, the god of war, who tells Percy that his mother is alive. As they approach Hades' palace, Lukes shoes try to drag Grover over the edge of Tartarus, but he manages to slip free. Percy confronts Hades, who believes Percy stole his Helm of Darkness, an object that allows him to become a shadow. Percy discovers that the bolt had appeared in the backpack Ares gave them and flees from the Underworld, forced to leave his mother behind. Percy fights and defeats Ares, obtaining the helm, which he asks the Furies, who witnessed everything, to return to Hades. Percy flies to New York, risking his life by entering the sky, the realm of Zeus. He arrives in New York City to give the master bolt to Zeus at level 600 of the Empire State Building, where Olympus is now located. Zeus accepts the master bolt, and Percy returns to camp. Luke reveals that he stole the bolt for Kronos and summons a poisonous pit scorpion which stings and nearly kills Percy. Chiron cures him, and Percy leaves to attend another school that his mother has found. Annabeth returns to live with her father, and Grover embarks on a journey as a "seeker" to try to find the great god Pan.

From New York to Los Angeles, CA, and all the stops along the way
Are you ready to travel around America, following Percy on his quest? This story takes place everywhere: in the sky, in the sea, underground, and all across America. It takes place in the present, and so you'll probably recognize a lot of the places that Percy visits, both from the world you live in and the Ancient Greek stories you may have heard about.

New York: Yancy Academy, Sally's Apartment in Queens, and Montauk Beach
Percy is from Queens, NY. His mom lives in a little apartment with Percy's stepdad, Smelly Gabe. Percy always seems to feel homesick for this apartment. This desire to go home tells us a lot about how much he loves his mom, because going home also means confronting the worst stepdad in the world. Here is a good description of what it's usually like at home: Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer were strewn all over the carpet.(3.14) Gabe uses Percy's room as his "study," littering his magazine and dirty clothes everywhere. Percy and his mom have being going to Montauk Beach since Percy was a baby, and this beach is also the place where Sally fell in love with Poseidon. When they visit, all of their fears seem to melt away, and Sally seems to get younger and more carefree. They tell stories and forget the real world for the weekend. Percy later realizes that when he was little, he used to see the faces of smiling women in the beach waves these were Nereids, keeping watch over him. Here, Percy describes their rental cabin at Montauk: Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in. (3.83) Now, doesn't that kind of sound like cabin #3 at Camp Half-Blood? Yancy Academy is "a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York" (1.8), and it is a boarding school. There, Percy is surrounded by kids very different from him: they're kids from very affluent families, but whose parents don't necessarily care much about them. When Percy discovers at the end of his sixth-grade year that he will not be invited back, he tells us that he will miss, "the view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees" (2.15).

Camp Half-Blood
Camp Half-Blood isn't your normal camp where the campers learn skills like swimming, canoeing, and arts and crafts. It's a camp for young demi-gods and demi-goddesses (a.k.a. the children born of Olympian gods and their human boyfriends/girlfriends). There, half-bloods train in the art of killing monsters and of surviving in the mortal and immortal worlds. Dionysus a.k.a. Mr. D is the camp director, and Chiron, a famous hero trainer, helps out. Percy tells us that, "in all there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads" (6.109). Check out Percy's map of Camp Half-Blood as you read his description of it: The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecturean open-air pavilion, and amphitheater, a circular arenaexcept that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings (5.57) Here, the weather is always nice, and it never rains. That is, unless Zeus decides to make it rain. Here are the cabins at Camp Half-Blood (check out our "Characters" section to learn more about who these gods are and what they are like). Imagine them in a U-shape with Zeus and Hera's cabins at the head. Percy describes them as "without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen" (6.50). We found a map of the cabins for you too if it helps. Cabin #1: Zeus Cabin #2: Hera Cabin #3: Poseidon Cabin #4: Demeter Cabin #5: Ares Cabin #6: Athena Cabin #7: Hermes Cabin #8: Artemis Cabin #9: Hephaestus Cabin #10: Aphrodite Cabin #11: Hermes Cabin #12: Dionysus Camp Half-Blood's boundaries are enchanted so as to protect the campers from any monsters or outside forces. However, we learn that anyone within the camp can summon a monster. This is how a hellhound from the Underworld is able to penetrate the camp boundaries. Thalia's tree on HalfBlood Hill is an enchanted pine tree infused with the spirit of a demi-goddess named Thalia (Zeus's daughter) who died battling the Furies on that hill a few summers before. The pine tree provides huge magical enchantments that help keep Camp Half-Blood even more safe and secure.

Stops Along the Way: Auntie Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, the Woods, St. Louis Gateway Arch, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles
The Lightning Thief takes us on a wild tour of America. We spend the night in the New Jersey woods, we encounter a scary roadside curio-shop, we watch the Midwestern landscape roll by from an Amtrak train window, we visit the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, we hang out in Denver, we get sucked into a Las Vegas casino, and we wander around the streets of Los Angeles in search of an entrance to the Underworld. In short, we get a pretty detailed, but unusual tour of the United States. But why do the gods live in America, anyway? Well, let's let Chiron take it away: "Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or notand believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, eitherAmerica is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here." (5.191) The spirit of Western Civilization lies in the waterparks, casinos, monuments, and architecture of the United States.

The Underworld
Let's start with the facts. The Underworld is a vast world underground ruled by Hades, where the dead go to, well, hang out for eternity. The Underworld entrance is located in Los Angeles (West Hollywood), and it is divided into three fields: the Elysian Fields (prime real estate), the Asphodel Fields (neither good, nor bad; just so-so), and the Fields of Punishment (torture central). Percy describes the Underworld as being like one giant concert with no light and no beach ball floating around just spirits milling about for miles on end. The dead are kind of transparent when you look at them directly, and they aren't very cheery. There's a stalactite ceiling far above. To get to the fields, Percy and his friends have to bribe Charon to ferry them across the River Styx: We were standing in a wooden barge. Charon was poling us across a dark, oily river, swirling with bones, dead fish, and other, stranger thingsplastic dolls, crushed carnations, soggy diplomas and guilt edges. (18.84) Charon explains that the river is "polluted" with human "hopes, dreams, wishes that never come true" (18.84). The shoreline of the Underworld features a black sand beach and a huge wall stretching as far as the eye can see in either direction. Percy tells us, "the entrance to the Underworld looked like a cross between airport security and the Jersey Turnpike" (18.97). There are metal detectors, security cameras, and tollbooths everywhere. The dead have two options: the "ATTENDENT ON DUTY" line

and the "EZ DEATH" line. For those who'd like a chance to make it to Elysium (prime real estate), they need to pass through the long ATTENDENT ON DUTY line, so that they can be evaluated by three judges (judges are spirits like Shakespeare, King Minos, and Thomas Jefferson). For those who wouldn't like to be judged (for fear of being sent to the Fields of Punishment for bad deeds they might have done), they can simply take the EZ DEATH line and spend eternity in the Asphodel Fields (not bad and not good, just so-so). Cerberus guards this part of the Underworld he's a giant, three-headed Rottweiler who is able to sniff out the living among the dead. So far, the Underworld sounds perfectly gloomy. Which, we guess, must be the point. Once past the security check-point, Percy and his friends can see spirits being tortured in horrible ways over in the Fields of Punishment to the left. To the right, the Elysian Fields glow like a beautiful gated community, with a lake and luxurious houses. And stretched out for miles in front of them is the concert-like scene of the Asphodel Fields spirits drifting about aimlessly over dead, trampled grass, as far as the eye can see. Hades's palace looks like Zeus's palace, only with black stone walls and bronze floors perhaps Hades is making a statement about how the Underworld can be just as cool as Mount Olympus. His house is big, to put it mildly. His gates are engraved with images of famine, trench warfare, nuclear bomb devastation, and more. His front yard features a garden of jewels, Medusa's statues (people Medusa has turned to stone), and Persephone's dangerous pomegranate orchard (dangerous because, if you take a bite of her pomegranate, you are stuck in the Underworld forevermore). Overall, we're impressed by the sheer size of the Underworld. It truly is a world of its own. The fact that Hades is having problems with overcrowding tells us a lot about the way in which the human population is growing, and perhaps it also tells us a bit about the state of things in the world above.

Mount Olympus
Found on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building, one accesses Mount Olympus by elevator. When up top, one must walk across a very narrow bridge hanging thousands of feet above the Manhattan streets. On the other end of the bridge is a huge mountain of clouds that features a beautiful Ancient Greek community: Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multileveled palaces a city of mansionsall with white colored porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze barriers glowing with a thousand fires. (21.30) Mount Olympus is the home of the gods, so it's only right that it look like the ritziest and most decadent place you can imagine. Gorgeous minor gods hang out here and there, merchants sell beautiful replicas of Ancient Greek treasures in the streets, the muses give a concert in the park, and naiads flirt with passers-by. Just a normal day in Olympus. Everyone is calm, peaceful and beautiful. Once inside Zeus's palace on Mount Olympus, Percy makes his way to the room where the Olympians' thrones are located:

Room really isn't the right word. The place made Grand Central Station look like a broom closet. Massive columns rose to a domed ceiling, which was gilded with moving constellations. (21.37) Each throne personifies its ruler. For example, Poseidon's throne looks like a deep-sea fisherman's chair, while Zeus's throne is very sleek and minimalist, solid platinum. The gods live well and luxuriously on Mount Olympus.

Annabeth Chase
Character Analysis Annabeth is Percy's friend and sometimes competitor. Her mom is Athena, so you can imagine that she is one smart cookie. Thanks to Annabeth, we learn pretty quickly that Athena and Poseidon don't get along very well. Athena once caught Poseidon and his girlfriend in her sacred temple, getting busy. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be patrons of the city of Athens, and Athena won. Once, though, Athena and Poseidon collaborated together inventing the chariot Athena building the chariot part and Poseidon creating horses from ocean waves. Like her mom, Annabeth is really good at strategizing, and she nearly always has a plan. That's why she is captain of her Capture-the-Flag team she knows how to anticipate what the other team will do and what their weaknesses are. She also loves to study architecture. When the trio visit the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Annabeth is super-excited. She has learned everything about how the Arch is constructed and why it is special. Her mom, too, shares a passion for building, inventing, and crafting things.

Chiron
Character Analysis Mr. Brunner is Percy's favorite teacher, and teaches Latin. Later, Percy realizes that Mr. Brunner is Chiron, a very smart centaur who has trained many heroes before Percy's time, including Hercules. At Yancy Academy, Chiron helps Percy learn about Ancient Greece (the history of the gods and the Titans). He tells Percy, "what you learn from me [] is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson" (1.66). Percy describes Mr. Brunner/Chiron for us: Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair. He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep. (1.14)

Sally Jackson
Character Analysis Sally Jackson is Percy's mom. She works at a candy shop in Manhattan and lives in an apartment in Queens, NY with her smelly, mean husband, Gabe. She has a love of life, and she loves her son more than anything else in the world. She doesn't coddle or spoil Percy, though. Percy imagines what it would be like if he were to run away from his boarding school and go home:

Gabe Ugliano
Character Analysis Gabe is Percy's stepdad, and, as his last name indicates, he is ugly in body, mind, and soul. Gabe hates Percy's guts. All he likes to do is sit on his booty all day, eating chips and dip, and playing poker with his buddies. He takes money from Percy and from Percy's mom, Sally. We learn that the primary reason why Sally married Gabe was for his stench. His smell is so strong and overpowering that it helps mask Percy's demi-god smell from monsters.

The Lightning Thief Theme of Identity

The Lightning Thief is all about identity and about discovering identity. At the beginning of our narrator's tale, Percy Jackson doesn't yet know who his father is or that he has any special powers of any kind. He thinks of himself as a "bad kid," one who always gets into trouble. Over the course of the story, however, he learns things about himself that he never thought possible.

The Lightning Thief Theme of Isolation

Isolation leads to anger, hatred, and violence in The Lightning Thief. In the beginning, we learn that our narrator, Percy, is a lonely dude. He's often kicked out of schools because he's not "normal." Trouble seems to find him wherever he goes, and he has two learning disabilities (dyslexia and attention deficit disorder), making him truly feel like an outsider. Even when he has discovered that he has special powers and when he has found a place full of kids just like him, our narrator is still isolated and must stay in a cabin all by himself (thanks to his dad). When Percy feels alone in the world, he can be cold and angry. When he feels as though he has a place in the world, our he is full of courage and possibilities.

The Lightning Thief Theme of Love

Amid battles with venomous monsters and angry gods, one thing becomes perfectly clear about Percy Jackson: he loves his mom more than anything. It is this love that keeps Percy strong, that motivates him to complete his quest, and that helps him to do the right thing. This love contrasts heavily with the violence that Percy experiences in The Lightning Thief, and it is what makes life

worth living for him. During his quest, Percy has access to some of the most powerful weapons and magic in the history of Western Civilization, but he doesn't give a hoot about this kind of power. He is not tempted to steal anything for his own gain. He seems to understand that love (having a mother who loves him for who he is) is more important and more powerful than any master bolt or helm of darkness.

Luke Castellan
Luke Castellan is a demigod, the son of Hermes and May Castellan. Introduced as the friendly head counselor of the Hermes cabin in The Lightning Thief, he is soon revealed as an antagonist and a servant of Kronos. Luke held a grudge against the gods after his father didn't help him when his mother would shake him because she could see his future after trying to become the oracle but was driven insane in the process. After running away from home at age nine, he arrived in Camp Half-Blood with Annabeth, Thalia, and Grover. Subsequently, he stole Zeus's master thunderbolt, poisoned Thalia in her tree form in The Sea of Monsters, and kidnapped Annabeth in The Titan's Curse.

Perseus "Percy" Jackson (nicknamed Seaweed brain) is a demigod, the son of Sally Jackson and Poseidon. Percy is the protagonist and narrator of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. As a child of one of the "Big Three"Greek gods (Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon), Percy fulfills a major prophecy of the Oracle, which foretold that the next half-blood child of the Big Three to reach the age of sixteen would have to make a decision that would mean the destruction or preservation of Olympus.

Poseidon
Character Analysis Percy's father rules the sea. He is a member of the Big Three, the three sons of Kronos, along with Zeus and Hades. Just like the sea, Poseidon can be difficult to read and interpret Percy doesn't know if his dad loves him or cares about him. But, over the course of the story, we realize that Poseidon is very proud to be Percy's dad.
Grover Underwood is a friend of Percy Jackson and a satyr. In the series, satyrs are charged with identifying demigods living in the mortal world. Grover has found four of the most powerful ones: Percy Jackson, Thalia Grace, and Nico and Bianca di Angelo, all children of the Big Three. After serving as Percy's protector in The Lightning Thief, he became a searcher, a coveted job among satyrs enabling him to seek the lost god Pan. Before leaving, he forms a psychic bond with Percy, allowing them a limited degree of telepathic communication across great distances. In The Sea of Monsters, Grover is captured by Polyphemus and uses this ability to guide Percy to his rescue. He joins Percy's quest to find Artemis in The Titan's Curse, and in the process falls in love with a tree nymph named Juniper. He eventually finds Pan and gains recognition from the elder satyrs for his courage in battle against the Titans. Grover is described as having curly brown hair and brown eyes, with white skin, a brown chin beard, and brown goat legs. In the film, he is portrayed by Brandon T. Jackson.

Kronos found this follower in Luke Castellan, a son of Hermes. Kronos contacted Luke in his dreams and manipulated him to his cause, ordering him to steal the Master Bolt and the Helm of Darkness, the legendary weapons of Zeusand Hades, respectively, which would start a civil war amongst the gods.

Percy was a twelve year old boy, who had been expelled from school seven times because he had an attention problem which makes him difficult to concentrate. Grover was Percys best friend, he was a satyr, (a searcher, environmentalist, half horse half human, and a protector) he helped Percy tons of times, he is supposed to protect Percy through his quest to get his searchers license. Annabeth helped Percy on his quest, she met him when he was unconscious fighting a Minotaur. Her mom was Percys dads ex-girlfriend. Luke was the main enemy of Percy. He was Percys counselor but he turned into Percys enemy when he saw Kronos, the titan in his dream and was brainwashed. This story took place in America, New York, it lasts about half a year. As the story unfolds, it happened at Percys school in the busy city. He went to a dangerous camp, got his quest and trained his fighting skills. He battled Furies in a huge bus. He experienced the fun of his life in a hotel which he thought it was few hours but it was actually five days. He paid millions of dollars for a long ride in a small cab. Percy jumped in the sea to escape from a monster. He fought the Underworld God in the underworld. Last, he went back to camp after he finished his quest. The main idea is that you must always be ready for the challenges life has for you, and never give up no matter how hard youre trying. In the book Percy had to suddenly become a fighter by going to a camp, which is a dangerous camp only for people like him, a half-blood. Percy and his friends have to go on a quest that is the matter of the World War III. Once I was doing homework and piano when one of my friends called me and I had to go swimming but I didnt plan to go so I had to hurry. Percy Jackson was a twelve years old, who had been expelled from seven schools. On a trip with his mom and his friend Grover, Grover told Percy he was

a satyr and Percy had to go to a camp for half-blood demi-gods because Percy was a one of them. When they got to camp, they were attacked by Minotaur which grabed Percys mom. She disappeared into a golden shower of light, while Grover escapes carrying Percy unconscious. Percy wakes up and found out that he arrived in Camp Half-Blood, a training ground for demi-gods. After, Percy is moved into the Hermes cabin. In the middle of Capture the Flag, Percy was attacked by Ares cabin mates. He got healed when he stepped into the river and was found out he was Poseidons son. Then, Percy was given a quest to find Zeuss master bolt which Chiron thought Hades had stolen. But Zeus thought Poseidon sent Percy to steal the bolt. Percy had ten days to complete the quest. Luke gave Percy flying shoes before Percy left. Percy, Annabeth and Grover, have to travel west to reach the entrance to the Underworld in Los Angeles. They fought seven Greek monsters, and also the war god, Ares, who told Percy that his mom was alive. When they reached the pit of Tartarus, Lukes shoes tried to pull Grover into it, but he slipped the shies off. Percy fought Hades who also thought Percy stole the Master Bolt as well as his Helmet of Darkness. Percy found out that Ares has tricked him when he found the bolt in his backpack Ares gave him. He escaped from the Underworld, forced to leave his mom. Then, Percy won the fight with Ares by hurting Ares heel. Ares gave Percy the Helmet of Darkness. Then, Percy returned it to Hades. Percy reached Olympus to return the Master Bolt. Zeus thanked Percy and then he returned to camp, after, he knows his mom is alive. He met Luke, who was the real thief that stole the Master Bolt for Kronos. Luke called out a poisonous scorpion which stung Percy. Chiron cured him after and Percy was set out on another adventure. I liked the story because this book had tons of thinking, action, and adventure. I read the back of the book and it was already very interesting to me. I also like this book because Percy thought he was just a not so smart kid but really, he was one of the most important people on the planet.

I think the best part of the book was when Percy does his high dive act when he jumped of a building about the size of the CN Tower, his clothes were on fire, and he had poison on him. In the water the fire went out, the poison was cured, he felt dry, and he could breathe under water. This was really cool and impossible. When Percy discovered he was important, that made me feel excited about what was going to happen next. When he got cured by jumping into the water, this made me feel like I was invincible too. When he entered the underworld, it made me feel like he could beat all the monsters. I would recommend it to friends because this book is amazing how the author wrote it with expression. When I was reading the book, it was like the pictures were in my mind. I would also recommend other books by this author to my friends. I would read other books by this author because, all his titles seem really interesting, and he put lots of effort in this book. I learned if you want to be smart, and active, you have to try your hardest and never give up on anything. Conclusion I think what makes this book interesting is because the author mixed up Greek Myth history stories with the fiction he made up. I think the author could have added more monsters and enemies so Percy would have more stress on him and that would make it more exciting. I want others to know this is a fun story and educational as well. The fun comes from the settings of cities, oceans, mountains, and the sky. It fills with adventures and action. It also teaches you the story of Greek Gods and Greek Myth history.
Quote #1 Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways. (1.3)

Rick Riordan Born: June 5, 1964 Place of Birth: San Antonio, TX Education: Attended Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio. Worked as an editor for the school newspaper and won third place in state for UIL feature writing. Also got in trouble for publishing an underground newspaper that made fun of the school, especially the losing football team. (The football team later egged my car). Began college at North Texas State (because I thought I wanted to be a guitar player and they had the best music program), but then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin. Graduated with a double major in English and history. Got certified to teach English and history from UT San Antonio. Did my student teaching in the San Antonio Independent School District. Childhood influences: The first book I remember reading for fun was the Lord of the Rings. I probably read it ten times. I also liked Greek and Norse mythology since I was in middle school. I read mostly fantasy and science fiction in high school, then got interested in mysteries when I got to college. My parents were both teachers. My mom was a musician and an artist, too. My dad was a ceramicist (he made stuff out of clay), so I grew up in a very artistic family. I started writing when I was in middle school. The first story I submitted for publication was when I was 13. It wasnt published. My first published works were two short stories in the UTSA literary magazine. Work experience: When I was in college, I worked for three years as the music director at a summer camp, Camp Capers. This is where I got the idea for Camp Half-Blood. My first full-time job was teaching middle school in New Braunfels, Texas. After that, my wife and I moved to San Francisco. We lived there for eight years and I taught at Presidio Hill School. Then we had our two sons, Haley and Patrick, and we moved back home to San Antonio. I taught at Saint Marys Hall (English and social studies, grades 6-8) for six years, then stopped teaching to become a full-time writer. I taught mythology almost every year that I was a teacher. It was always my favorite thing, and the students always liked it, too! Family: I live with my wife and two sons, Haley and Patrick. Pets: one dog (a Golden Labrador mix) and two black cats. Favorite book I wrote: Thats a hard question for a writer. Its like asking which of your children is your favorite. I like them all for different reasons. Favorite character in my books: Also hard to answer! Probably Grover or Tyson because theyre so much fun to write about.

In my spare time: I like to read, swim, play guitar, and travel with my family. I also play video games with my kids (World of Warcraft or games on the Wii).

Richard Russell "Rick" Riordan (/rardn/), Jr. (born June 5, 1964) is an American author best known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. He also wrote the Tres Navarre mystery [2] series for adults and helped to edit Demigods and Monsters, a collection of essays on the topic of his Percy Jackson series. He helped develop the ten books in The 39 Clues series, published by Scholastic [3] Corporation, and wrote the first book in the series, The Maze of Bones. He recently completed a trilogy that focuses on Egyptian mythology, The Kane Chronicles, and is working on The Heroes of Olympus, which is the sequel to the Percy Jackson series and focuses on Greek and Roman mythology.

[1]