The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan
Rating: **** (4 stars)
Book Length: 377 pages
Genre: Children's Chapter, Mythology, Middle school, Urban Fantasy
Percy Jackson is a sixth grader in a boarding school for troubled kids. He seems to be the most troubled of the troubled kids. Yet, like every child fantasizes, he is not really troubled he is special. He is a half god - and not just any god, he is the son of Psydon god of the ocean.
The book is a tale about Percy Jackson finding himself and world for him to belong to. He does this in true mythological fashion by completing a quest that will save the world.
The story is a fun read. I think the success of the series shows that it will connect with a lot of kids. However, I have two gripes with the book. My first is the flippant use of ADHD and Dyslexia. I get that Percy has these diagnoses because Riordan's own son was diagnosed with them. I get the appeal of having a child with ADHD featured in the book. Except that Percy didn't really have ADHD or Dyslexia. He was a half-god with heightened battle skills and a brain attuned to reading ancient Greek. The book discounts these diagnosis and then continues to throw the terms around almost as an excuse. As a parent of children who have their own diagnosis (including ADHD) it is great to see characters they can relate to. Yet having my own diagnosis it irked me the way that it was presented in the book.
My second gripe is that there are three twelve-year-old kids running around the country and no one really thought this was odd. I mean they bought their own train tickets and no one questioned it. The only people in the novel who questioned them wondering around were monsters. I find this a bit unrealistic. Maybe I am just too old.
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