The Lightning Thief: Reading Skills 2

    The Lightning Thief is a great book that you could make a lot of connections with, especially with Greek mythology. A text to world connection that I could make with this book was how Rick Riordan, the author, brought up all the Greek Gods and parts of their ancestry. I thought it was interesting how he incorporated ancient history into a novel like this (the picture below is the Parthenon, a temple built by the Greeks) . A text to text connection that could be made from this book was to another novel called The City of Thieves. These books are similar because they both are about a group of kids that are on a journey risking their lives. The City of Thieves is set during the time of World War II and the two main protagonists, Lev and Kolya, had to find a dozen eggs for their command general, otherwise they would be killed. Similarly, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, the main protagonists of The Lightning Thief, have to find a lightning sword otherwise they would be killed. Both of their paths were deadly and both groups of kids came face to face with death multiple times. A text to self connection that I could make to The Lightning Thief, was that Percy and his group had to travel all over the country. My family and I also love to travel and have been to some of the places that Percy had been too, such as New York City and Las Vegas.

The Lightning Thief: Reading Skills

          Overall, I would rate this book an excellent rating of 10/10.  As I was reading The Lightning Thief, in the beginning of the book, Percy talks about how he always gets kicked out of many schools because he has the worst of luck. I could relate to this because when I went to elementary school, I would also have bad luck with my teachers. I remember in second grade when I dropped my pencil, but my blind teacher thought I had taken my partners pencil, and thrown it on the floor. Like what?! Another conection I made from The Lightning Thief was to the Harry Potter series. I could connect these books together because they both had the same types of conflict, man vs society (Harry Potter also had a bit of man vs man). In The Lightning Thief, the conflict was man vs society because he was faced with the problems of having to find a lightning scythe within a certain amount of time. He faces many problems along the way creating tension between himself and the environment around him. Harry Potter was a man vs society conflict because Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione, have to get through their dangerous school without dying, as well as having to beat Lord Voldemort. This is actually pretty hard to do considering they're being attacked by death eaters, trolls, and even their classmates when they duel. A text to world connection from The Lightning Thief was that the Greek Gods that were mentioned in book also show up in Greek and Roman religion. They both believed in the same Gods that were brought up in the book, and they also have the same powers. The book also has mythical creatures like Medusa and minotaurs that were believed to have existed by the Greeks.

The Lightning Thief: Book Recommendations

         The Lightning Thief is one of my favorite books and if you like it, you should try reading the Harry Potter books. They both have two boys and one girl go on a mission to accomplish something. Whether it be finding a stolen lightning scythe, or defeat a dark, evil wizard, both books are great and deal with fantasy and adventure. They are also both fantasy fiction books. Anyway, both this book and Harry Potter are great and filled with figurative language, allusions, sensory details, and a lot of connections you could make to other texts, to yourself, and to the world.

The Lightning Thief: Theme and Summary

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is about a courageous teenager named Percy Jackson. He has been kicked out of many schools simply because he has the worst of luck. Most of the time he was kicked out of a school, it was just really bad luck. When Percy arrives at his new school, Yancy Academy, in New York, he meets a new friend named Grover. Anyway, one day, he's on a school field trip and his whole life twists within minutes. He is called on by one of his grouchy teachers and out of nowhere, she starts flying and ambushing Percy! She was actually a Fury from Hell and had come after Percy to snatch away a sword, which was said to be stolen by Percy. Percy had actually not stolen it and he was rescued using a pen-sword called Riptide, which later became his weapon. Later, Percy goes home and his mom takes him to a place called Camp Half-Blood. This is a camp for special demigods who have one God parent and one normal parent. Afterwards, Percy goes across the country to discover more about his dad, save his mom, find the lightning sword, and to go on an adventure.

            One of the themes of The Lightning Thief  is that you can get betrayed by anybody, even people you trust very well or loved ones. This theme showed up in The Lightning Thief when Percy talks about how his father had abandoned him and his mother. This action by Percy's father had caused Percy's life to be somewhat miserable. Percy had to live with a super  lazy, annoying, commanding, bossy, fat, horrible "dad" named Gabe who was around to "protect" Percy. Percy's father leaving had also made Percy go to Camp Half-Blood. This had prevented Percy from being able to live a normal, everyday life. In the book, Percy had many troubles through school. We could infer that Percy may have had these issues because he had only one parent to help him through his tough times.