From Percy Jackson: Camp Half-Blood Confidential: Your Real Guide to the Demigod Training Camp
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this book.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that From Percy Jackson: Camp Half-Blood Confidential: Your Real Guide to Demigod Training Camp is a slim illustrated companion to Rick Riordan's Trials of Apollo series. Readers well versed in Percy Jackson's world -- the Percy Jackson series, the Heroes of Olympus series, Percy Jackson's Greek Gods -- are the best equipped to get the fun and jokes here. There's a glossary in the back if you need a refresher. As this is a guide instead of a stand-alone story, most violence is in memories about past adventures. Before many-eyed Argus joins the camp as a security guard, he's "brained" with a rock but survives. Old campers come to save new ones when hundreds of monsters attack the camp, with no mention of deaths or injuries. In the camp's Combat Arena, "the hits are real, and so is the blood." New campers are warned to stay away from Peleus, the guardian dragon; the cursed corner of Bunker 9; and the Myrmekes' Lair (because of giant ants).
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What's the Story?
In PERCY JACKSON: CAMP HALF-BLOOD CONFIDENTIAL: YOUR REAL GUIDE TO THE DEMIGOD TRAINING CAMP, you can find out how the camp came into being and what the cabins, dining pavilion, and other living spaces are like; visit the magical landmarks; find out why lava flows down the climbing wall and what the curse in Bunker 9 is; and visit the wild places around camp, such as the geysers and the strawberry fields. For kicks, Percy includes snippets of Apollo's original ham-it-up orientation video, complete with variety acts, canned laughter, bad poetry, and Percy's sardonic take on it all.
Is It Any Good?
It doesn't take much to make a Rick Riordan book a big seller, as this slim but entertaining-for-fans volume proves. Pick it up for car trips when it's hard to concentrate on a real story, but don't have high expectations. Readers of the Trials of Apollo series that this volume complements have usually already read the other Percy Jackson series -- plural -- and know all about what's at camp, who they wish their godly parent was, and why they'd love to go there. The laughs at Apollo's showboating are fun, but the fun is over quickly.
For much meatier reads -- that are admittedly way too big for car trips -- try Riordan's excellent and well-researched Percy Jackson's Greek Gods and Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the appeal of Camp Half-Blood Confidential. Did you learn anything new about the camp? Is it fun to imagine you're headed there for the summer?
Many famous people are mentioned as former campers. What do you know about James Dean? Joan of Arc? Napoleon? Frank Lloyd Wright?
Does this book make you look forward to more Trials of Apollo? The first edition contains a preview of The Dark Prophecy. Does that draw you in further?
Book Details
- Author: Rick Riordan
- Genre: Fantasy
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy, Brothers and Sisters, Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
- Publication date: May 2, 2017
- Publisher's recommended age(s): 8 - 12
- Number of pages: 192
- Available on: Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
- Last updated: July 20, 2018
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