Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes

A hero's work back in ancient Greece had quite a body count. Much of the worst of the recounting comes with a quick "gross-out" warning from Percy, the narrator. The worst of it includes killing one's own family in jealous rages. (Worst: Medea kills her own sons to punish Jason; Theseus kills his son out of jealously; Hercules takes out his family in a sudden rage more than once.) Heads (including Medusa's) and body parts are hacked off on about five occasions. (Worst: Daughters are tricked into hacking up their father.) A necklace is made of ears, noses, and hands of enemies, and there's a rumor Amazon warriors cut off one of their breasts so they could shoot a bow and throw a spear better. Some people are killed with scalding water or poison on the skin, many are clubbed to death by Hercules' metal club, some are pushed off cliffs or sacrificed, many are killed in wars (especially with the Amazons), Atalanta stabs to death hordes of men in a contest to win her affections, the Minotaur (after growing up being tortured) gets his horn torn off and is gored by it. Some receive horrible news and either hang themselves or throw themselves off cliffs. Talk of a village of women who kill all their husbands that led to warriors being called Amazons. And many mentions of babies left in the woods to die.

Plenty of talk of gods falling for mortals and having affairs with them without much detail. Mention that Hercules took women as "spoils of war." A mention of "godly body fluid" on a hankie that gave birth to a god. A big "gross-out alert" from Percy about Pasiphae's affair with a bull (Aphrodite tricked her into it). A couple rolls around and kisses in front of Zeus' altar. The Amazons "got chummy with" Gargareans at a "sleepover party" once a year and had babies nine months later.

"To Hades with it" comes up a few times; "airhole," "butt-brain," "hella," "hussy."

A few times, heavy drinking leads to fighting and killing. Theseus goes out drinking with the wrong crowd. Centaurs get drunk and fight. Talk of the wine god and his followers.

Parents need to know that Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes is a hefty gift-size volume that profiles 12 heroes, as narrated by Percy Jackson from the bestselling series. It helps a little to read the Percy Jackson books first and the companion gift-size book Percy Jackson's Greek Gods. If they do so, readers will instantly connect with the narrator and get his sometimes sardonic, sometimes goofy sense of humor. As in Greek Gods, Percy's wit helps smooth things over when the content gets mature. These heroes are not flawless mortals -- far from it. The body count is high. The worst of it includes killing one's own family (Medea kills her sons to punish Jason, Theseus kills his son out of jealously, Hercules takes out his family in a sudden rage more than once). Heads (Medusa's and others') and body parts are hacked off on about five occasions. (Worst: Daughters are tricked into hacking up their father.) Many are killed in battle, and there's talk of babies left in the woods to die (although a she-bear found baby Atalanta and raised her). There's plenty of talk of gods and mortals having affairs without much detail and a big "gross-out" alert from Percy about Pasiphae's affair with a bull (Aphrodite tricked her into it). The Amazons "got chummy with" Gargareans at a "sleepover party" once a year and had babies nine months later. There's some drunkenness that often leads to fighting and killing with later regret. Kudos to author Riordan for the extra effort to include four female heroes in the dozen, while pointing out that at the time they didn't get their due. Parents should definitely read along with kids for a great refresher on all these legendary characters. You can talk about the hard lessons the heroes learn along the way, as well as each hero's fatal flaw and how it often leads to his or her undoing.