5 Reasons to Read the Percy Jackson Series

If you are looking for a great series to engage your teen reader, give the Percy Jackson series of books by Rick Riordan a try. Here are 5 reasons why this series of books have both kids and parents stamp of approval.

1. An Engaging and Fulfilling Read for Teens and Parents
Foremost the Percy Jackson books are engaging-not only for teens but for adults. I'm in my mid thirties and the series had me hooked so that I had to read one after the other until I crossed the finish line with The Last Olympian. The last two were particularly hard to put down as the series came closer to its ultimate conclusion.

2. Wonderful Teen Role Models
Percy and his friends are great role models for adventurous teens who are somewhat rebellious but who retain a sense of ethics and responsibility. They protect each other and have their eye on a greater goal-like saving the world!

3. Wonderful Parent-Teen Relationship
Percy's only parent is his single mother (as his father is the God, Poseidon) and she has faith in Percy to do what he feels is right. Percy contacts her when facing a challenge and she offers advice but trusts he knows the right thing to do. This kind of mother-son relationship is a welcome contribution to popular teen literature.

4. Powerful Storytelling That Gets Better With Each Book
There is a point in book three, The Titan's Curse, when the villain is revealed that hooked me onto the rest of the series and I read the last two books within 48 hours (they just kept getting better). The reveal fit so perfectly into the story and all the clues being left in the first half of the book finally made sense. The ability to do that and not lose either the reader's interest or the plot threads of the story is indeed the work of a skilled writer.

5. Exposure to Mythological Archetypes
Obviously the series references Greek Mythology, as Percy Jackson and his friends at Camp Half-Blood all have a Greek God as a parent. For the casual reader, these references invariably incite interest in the classic mythological stories of Ancient Greece. The more readers learn about the myths, the more they can read into the story and the characters motivations. By imbuing his story with these ancient archetypes Rick Riordan has given depth to his story and applied these old myths into a modern context, giving both texts a longer life on the shelves.

Inger loves stories and loves to write. She has been writing words on paper for quite some time so when the Internet came along she started writing online too. You can see her latest website which helps people to choose the best cotton mattress at http://www.cottonmattress.org.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Book Series Review

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a book series by Rick Riordan aimed for young adults; however this series could easily charm readers of any age. I only began to read the stories because I heard it was suppose to be made into a movie and to me, if a book is good enough to be put into film, no matter how bad Hollywood undoubtedly would ruin it, then it would probably be worth some attention that I am willing to give. When I bought the first book however, I didn't expect to be so drawn into the storyline, which although is written in a way that is easy for a younger generation to comprehend, gives detail after detail about what is going on.

The series begins with Percy Jackson and the Lightening Theif, during which Percy, a 12 year old boy who suffers from ADHD and dyslexia discovers he is a demi-god and son of Poseideon, Greek God of the sea. He is joined by his friends Grover, a satyr, and Annabeth, another demigod and a daughter of Athena, on a quest to retrieve Zues' lightening bolt which has been stolen before a war between the Gods erupts.

The characters face challenging obstacles and use the friendships they have acquired with each other to overcome a greater evil then they originally foresaw, battling the feared Titans, that their world could and will one day face. if you enjoy reading about Greek Mythology the way i do then you will enjoy this book. Readers encounter many fantastic creatures such as satyrs, like Grover, harpies, centaurs, pegasi, demons, cyclops and dozens of other creatures. not only do you have the creatures we can only dream about but also the powerful Greek Gods who still exist today and who currently like atop the Empire State Building in new York. and if the mythology isn't enough to draw you in, think of the nonstop action of Percy and his always present sword, Riptide which turns into a pen when not in use and always returns to his pocket if lost, which happens a lot. He and his friends have to battle demons trying to kill them around every corner and eventually are faced with the biggest fight of time when he has to fight Kronos himself.

Tune into Percy Jackson and his mystical world of magic and fantasy and learn that all though you may have limitations like his dyslexia and ADHD, you can still grow to become something bigger than you originally thought.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson or any of the Olympian books, they are all property of Rick Riordan and this is just my opinion of his series***