Doug Cornelius .com

I finally got The Son to listen to chapter books for bedtime reading. I had no success with the Harry Potter books. His babysitter recommended the Percy Jackson books.

The premise of the Percy Jackson stories is that Greek mythology is true. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades and the rest of the gods are still with us. Percy’s full name is Perseus. Like him, he is also the child of Poseidon and a mortal woman.

The Son loves the books. They are more lighthearted than the Harry Potter books. Instead of taking place in a gloomy castle, the action takes place in more recognizable locations across the United States.

Last night, we finished the third book in the series: The Titan’s Curse.

The Son saw the trailer for movie adaptation for the first book: The Lightning Thief. It just opened this weekend and he wanted to see it.

I wrote a review of the movie from the parent’s perspective. You can read it on GeekDad: 10 Things Parents Should Know About The Lightning Thief.

One of the challenges of parenting is finding activities that you enjoy and that your kids enjoy. The same is true with reading. There are books you like and there are books your kids like, but there are very few that you both like. The Lightning Thief is one of those few books.

Percy Jackson is a misfit at school, having been kicked out of school after school. At first it seems that he is just another New York kid diagnosed with ADHD. It turns out he is half-blood offspring of one of the Greek gods and that Mount Olympus has migrated to the 600th floor of the Empire State Building

It’s easy to compare Percy Jackson to Harry Potter. Both take kids and immerse them in a fantasy world with some friend to help them out. With Harry Potter, it was magic and wizards. Percy Jackson substitutes ancient Greek mythology.

Instead of Harry’s Ron and Hermione, Percy’s friends are a disguised satyr and the half-blood daughter of Athena. Percy has to travel from New York to Los Angeles to prevent a war between Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon by finding the lightning thief. Along the way they encounter the Minotaur, the Furies, Medusa, and Ares, the god of war, decked out as a motorcycle thug.

The characters are not as interesting as the Harry Potter characters, but the storytelling is more light-hearted. Percy is more rebellious and snarkier than Harry Potter.

The true test was that when we finished the book, I thought it was good enough that I wanted to read the second book. Even better, my son asked me to read the next book. I’m heading tomorrow out to get The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2).