A Kid's Review of The Lightning Thief Series

The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan, is probably my all-time favorite series.  I recommend this book to anyone at all, no matter how young or old.

The Lightning Thief

This first book introduces the Lighting Thief series about a boy named Percy  who finds out that all the Greek myths that he's read were real.  He finds out that his dad is Poseidon, god of the sea, and someone has stolen Zeus' master lightning bolt.

Zeus claims that the thief is Percy, so he must find the real thief and return it before the Summer Solstice when the gods have a big meeting.  This lightning bolt is important because it is Zeus' source of power, and if he doesn't get it back, there will be a big war between Zeus and Poseidon.

I like this mystery fantasy adventure, especially when Percy was sword fighting Ares, the god of war.  This was one of my favorite scenes because it was exciting fun.

This book does not refer to the Greek myths as much as the others in the series, but it does introduce the Greek gods who are just like what you hear from the Greek myths.  This book brings the ancient Greek myths to life.

The Sea of Monsters

This story relates to the myth of the cyclops, like the one in Ulysses.  In the original myth, Ulysses has to escape from Calypso's, the cyclops, island.

In The Sea of Monsters, instead of escaping, Percy has to get to the island to get the golden fleece (like the golden fleece in Jason and the Argonauts.) 

Percy needs this golden fleece to cure Thalia's tree because the tree makes the magic borders that protects his half-blood camp from monsters.  Half-bloods are kids who's one of their parents is a god.  Percy is a half-blood who lives at the camp because monsters attack half-bloods who don't live there.

This is an exciting addition to the Lightning Thief series.

The Titan's Curse

In The Titan's Curse, Percy finds out about two new half-bloods that don't know that they are demi-gods, Bianca di Angelo and Nico.

Artemis, goddess of the hunt, is captured by the Titans, the gods who existed before Zeus and Mt. Olympus.

Percy has to gang up with Artemis' hunters and save Artemis.  Bianca becomes a hunter, and joins Percy in saving Artemis.  However, this leads to problems between Percy and Nico.

The Titan's Curse is a very good addition to this series.

The Battle of the Labyrinth

The Battle of the Labyrinth is about Percy finding that there is an entrance to a giant labyrinth, bigger than the one in ancient Greek myths about the Minotaur, that covers the entire world.  If Kronos, Zeus' father and enemy, learns how to navigate the maze, then he could go straight under the magic borders that protect Camp Half-Bloods.

Kronos wants to take down Camp Half-Blood before he tackles the gods at Mt. Olympus.

Now, Percy must find the maker of the maze so he doesn't tell Kronos how to navigate the maze.

I think this is an amazing addition to the series.

Conclusion

This is one of my favorite series, but there is still one more book to come.  The final book in the series, The Last Olympian, is coming out May 5, 2009.  I can't wait!

For games, mythology bee, and more, follow these links:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Rick Riordan Books For Children

Review of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O'Brien, is about a mouse family who lived in a cinder block in a farmyard.  Every year the farmers come and plow, destroying their home.  So, every year they go to their summer home.

But, one year, one of the kids, named Timothy, is too sick to move.  So, Mrs. Frisby, the mother, has to visit the rats of Nimh, because they are the only ones who can move the house. They're called the rats of Nimh because they were abducted by a research lab that made them a lot smarter.

This book is about getting along, and making friends.

Protagonist: Mrs. Frisby, who is trying to save her son, Timothy.  She makes friends with the crow, and gets along with the crow and the rats.  Mrs. Frisby makes friends with crow when she finds him tangled up in wire, and she untangles him before the cat can get him.  The crow suggested that Mrs. Frisby go to the owl for help with her son, and the owl sent her to the rats. 

At first, the rats were unhappy and avoiding everyone.  They were unhappy because they had to steal grain to eat and live.  But, they helped Mrs. Frisby because her husband had helped rescue them from NIMH.  As they help Mrs. Frisby, the rats find out about a great danger, the exterminator.  They help themselves as they help her.  Finally, the rats learn to adapt to their environment in the tunnel under the farm and to live with their new friends.

Antagonist: Dragon, the cat makes it difficult for them to move the house, do anything, and to get along.

Links:

IQ Testing, Animal Geniuses, and More from Rat Tales: A Unit Study

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (Aladdin Fantasy): Robert C. O'Brien, Zena Bernstein: Books ISBN: 0689710682 ISBN-13: 9780689710681

The Story of Theseus and the Minotaur

Theseus and the Minotaur - written by James Ford and illustrated by Gary Andrews.

Crete and Athens, two Greek cities, went to war. Afterwards, Athens had to make a sacrifice so that they wouldn't get totally destroyed. Every nine years, they would have to send in seven girls and seven boys to be the Minotaur's lunch.

Theseus, the son of the King of Athens, volunteered to take the place of one of the people that was being sacrificed. Theseus went into a maze to kill the Minotaur, who is half bull and half human. Before he went into the maze, he found a girl that gave him some yarn. He used the yarn to navigate his way through the maze. In the end, he found his way through and killed the Minotaur.

On his way back home, he forgot to switch the colors of the sail, so when his father saw that it was still black, he thought his son had died, so he jumped off a cliff. When Theseus returned, he was made king because his father died.

I like this version of the story because of its gruesome but funny pictures.

My Review of Spore

Spore is a game about evolution. Every time you start a new game from the very beginning, it goes from when an asteroid crashes on a planet until your species develops to the point of a space age with a UFO.

This game rocks. It is very complex.

In it, you will design an alien and make choices that will affect the future of your alien. You can choose whether it will be a carnivore or herbivore. You can choose what body parts to give it. You can choose to befriend or attack other species. Each choice affects your other choices. For example, if you choose that your alien will be a herbivore, this affects what kind of mouth it can have.

In this complex game, it isn't easy to get your alien race to the space age. Will you be successful? Will your alien get to the space age?

Here is a link for the official Spore Website: spore

Review of The Phantom Tollbooth

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, was a really good book. I was so engrossed in reading it that I read it in one long morning. I recommend it for all ages.

It's about a kid named Milo who gets sent a tollbooth that leads to another world. The main characters' names are Tock, Milo, and Humbug. The whole book is basically a pun on words.

At one point in the book, when Milo has just gone through the tollbooth, he met this man called "the whether man." Milo asked him whether it was going to be sunny or rainy. The Whether Man answered, "How should I know?" Then, Milo said, "Well, you're the weather man." "I'm not the Weather Man, I'm the Whether Man. Don't you think it's a lot more important to know whether there is weather, rather than what kind of weather it is?"

 
Then, Milo asked him, "Is this the right road to Dictionapolis?" The Whether Man said, "I don't know if there are any wrong ways to Dictionopolis. If it's not the right road to Dictionapolis, then it's the right road to somewhere else."

I love this book because the verbal puns made me laugh.

Pictures On Poverty

Feel the sarcasm in the music?

Act now.  Do something about Poverty at Dosomething.org.

 

---

This post is part of Blog Action Day 08 - Poverty

A Famous Philosopher: Aristotle

A philosopher is a person who asks a lot of questions and studies things.  They ask why a lot.

Aristotle was a philosopher who lived long ago, 384-322 BCE.  He lived in Ancient Greece.  His father was a doctor, and Aristotle ended up studying the physical world.  He dissected more than 50 different species and wrote up descriptions.  Aristotle wrote a book called Physics and he also said that the reason a feather falls slower than a rock is that it is lighter and it has more air resistance.  I can see why Aristotle became so famous because he studied so much!

 

From Philosopher Jokes:

A boy is about to go on his first date, and is nervous about what to talk about. He asks his father for advice. The father replies: "My son, there are three subjects that always work. These are food, family, and philosophy."

The boy picks up his date and they go to a soda fountain. Ice cream sodas in front of them, they stare at each other for a long time, as the boy's nervousness builds. He remembers his father's advice, and chooses the first topic. He asks the girl: "Do you like potato pancakes?" She says "No," and the silence returns.

After a few more uncomfortable minutes, the boy thinks of his father's suggestion and turns to the second item on the list. He asks, "Do you have a brother?" Again, the girl says "No" and there is silence once again.

The boy then plays his last card. He thinks of his father's advice and asks the girl the following question: "If you had a brother, would he like potato pancakes?"

The three above jokes were contributed by Owen Herring.
He attributes the third to Elliot Sober.

Book Resource:

Great Scientists (DK Eyewitness Books): Jacqueline Fortey: Books ISBN: 0756632978 ISBN-13: 9780756632977