Parent reviews for The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1

I think this book is for twelve years and up. I think kids would love this book so they can read all the thrillers. In this book because it has many accidents. Also about Percy figuring out that he's a Half-Blood. Percy Jackson is a son of Poseidon but he doesn't know it...yet. Percy Jackson is a normal boy with dyslexia he is in middle school. He doesn't know that he is the son of Poseidon. He figures out later on in the book. He starts to figure it out when he is attacked on a school field trip. Also when one of his teachers ends up telling him but he was straight confused and scared. The teacher that told him was a demi-god. Half of his body was a horse and the rest was human. He was human in the real world but when he was in Camp Half-Blood his legs where like horses legs. Percy started to figure it out more when he was attacked on his way to Camp Half-Blood. He was traveling with his mother and his friend "Grover." He was also a demi-god. He was half goat and half human, but he could not hide he had to wear jeans and use cruches. On there way to camp they were attacked by monster sent from the underworld. Grover and Percy made it to the camp. Lots of monsters wanted Percy dead. The monsters that wanted him dead were sent by Hades. They wanted him dead because Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades made a deal to not have any more kids. So they wont take over they spot because they would grow to be powerful. So they figured out the Poseidon had a kid so they wanted him dead. So when Percy arrived at camp he woke up in a little hospital they had at camp. Because he had been knocked out. Trying to get in to camp with the monster chasing them to camp. When he was in camp the one of the Half-Blood leader "luke" was there to tour him around the camp. Luke was the son of Hermes which meant he was a messenger. Percy didn't know that Luke would end up framing him. So Percy met everyone around. Chiron which was the camp leader. He was sent there by Zeus for a punishment. Percy went to the prophecy teller which told you if you had to go on a quest. Which Percy did go on one but getting a quest was rare. So the next morning he would go his quest he took Grover and Annabeth. Percy met Annabeth on one of the challenges they do at the camp. Luke helped Percy by giving him a shield and a pair of shoes that had wings which made you fly. The quest was about "To go to Mt. Olympus and go to the gods and give Zeus back his lightning bolt. But they did not have it well they did not know.

My 7 yr old son and I have been enjoying this series for a few months. Some times we read it together, but more often than not we sneak off and both read ahead. (He is quite the advanced and voracious reader for 7!) We've gotten so into them we moved onto Heroes of Olympus and are now reading the Kane Chronicles while anxiously awaiting the next HoO book. In an effort to test my son's reading comprehension and the overall educational value I looked up a few Greek Mythology quizzes. I actually had to use the middle school ones, as they don't learn this material in elementary. He knew all of the Greek Gods names, roles, lore, interrelationships and thanks to Heroes of Olympus, their Roman equivalents. He also did pretty well on the Greek heroes (Hercules, Perseus, etc.) and didn't miss a single monster/beast. (Of course!) We got into the series to get some extra mommy/son time but I love that he's picked up this subject matter and truly understands how all of the pieces fit together. Before reading this series, I'm not sure I could tell you who was married to who, whose children were whose, etc but now both my seven year old both understand the complex interrelationships of all of the Olympian Gods and Goddesses. The book is an adventure series and they do spend a lot of time fighting monsters. Demi-gods do get injured but fortunately they always carry a magical food that cures their injuries. It does subtlety address more mature content, as other reviewers mentioned, but in a way that a seven year old doesn't even raise an eyebrow. (For example, one camper will tell another camper "Zeus is my dad." He will not say "Zeus is my dad. He had an elicit affair with my mom in the 90s, left us and went back to his goddess wife, Hera, who now hates us." It's really the more mature reader who is reading between the lines in those situations.) There is next to no consumerism. There isn't a toy line or Lego series (much to my son's disappointment) and very few collectors/fan items out there. They occasionally reference Diet Coke, but there really isn't any branding or merchandizing. Fortunately, we've been recreating scenes and weapons with legos, cardboard and lots of gold duck tape! If you are continuing with the series, it is important to note it is much like Harry Potter. The children start off as pre-teens and then grow up. So by the the Heroes of Olympus books, the girls are starting to take more of an interest in the boys and are sometimes dating but relationships aren't really a factor in the Percy Jackson series, which comes chronologically first. Another point of note - the books and the movie are not at all aligned. Plot, character appearances and even geographic locations and quest purposes are changed. I didn't like the movies and think they are a poor representation of the series. I am hoping Disney will consider a reboot in the future.

I have some concerns that the concept of faithfulness in marriage and the family unit are not values espoused here, however I did enjoy the book and think, given the background of having read it myself, my son will enjoy the action and we can discuss the worldly concepts and how they differ from our Christian values and the subsequent consequences that come from this lack of family values.

Although the story is easy to follow, the book itself is not very well written and if you are looking for books to boost your child's vocabulary, this is not the one.

you all should read it. it is awesome and you should have the series at home if you don't already!

My daughter read this when she was seven and she loved it. She did not need help at all! Im not saying this is a childish book because it certianly isn't. She could not stop reading. I reccomend this to ages six and up because all those parents who are saying the kids arent ready because there is drinking, just let your kid think for themseves! Kids need to know about that kind of stuff.

The lighting thief The lighting thief is about a boy named Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson is a 6th Grader who gets in a lot of trouble at school he has a friend and an enemy.Percy Jackson has a mom and a step dad his mom is really nice to him but his step dad is really mean and treats him like a slave. Percy Jackson doesn't know that he has powers like a god. He is half blood human and half blood god. He finds these things after he faces a monster after he faces the monster after he fought the monster strange things started to happen to him and other things around started to change. Percy ended up finding all of these things out. He found these things out when him and his mom went to his favorite place the beach. When they slept at the the beach it was a storm. His best friend walks in at midnight because he's say they have to go and that something chasing them. His best friend is a satyr and the guy that is chasing them is minotaur Once they run away something bad happens after they kill the minotaur they leave to a camp where there are half gods and half human. Then Percy adventures start to happen when he is with the gods and his best friend.

Percy Jackson is struggling with weird monsters but wants to find out who is the lightning thief. This book wasn't what i expediting it to be because when i began reading it, my mind was like whats going on. I really would recommend this book to someone i hate. This book would probably be for a 10 year old because they will maybe like it. They really should change the conflict to something you can really under stand because when i read this book it was confusing. But i really think Percy was a great role model for little kids because he wanted to help someone.