July 27, 2022 - BCPL Children's Series of the Month

Welcome back! We're in the middle of Summer Reading and halfway through our profiles on our young readers' favorites.

For July 2022, we are featuring the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riodan. This beloved mythology and fantasy fiction series is popular with middle schoolers but really readers of all ages!

Percy Jackson & the Olympians is a pentalogy of fantasy novels written by Irish-American author Rick Riordan, and the first book series in the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles. The novels are set in a world with the Greek gods in the 21st century, and follows the protagonist Percy Jackson, a young demigod who must prevent the Titans from destroying the world.

Richard Russell Riordan Jr. (/ˈraɪərdən/; born June 5, 1964) is an American author. He is known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million copies in the US. 20th Century Fox adapted the first two books of his Percy Jackson series as part of a series of films. His books have spawned related media, such as graphic novels and short story collections.

Riordan was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from Alamo Heights High School, and first attended the music program at North Texas State University, wanting to be a guitarist. He transferred to the University of Texas at Austin and studied English and History. He received his teaching certification in those subjects from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He taught English and Social Studies for eight years at Presidio Hill School in San Francisco.

He conceived the idea for the Percy Jackson series as bedtime stories about ancient Greek heroes for his son Haley. Haley had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, inspiring Riordan to make the titular protagonist hyperactive and dyslexic. Riordan published the first novel in the series, The Lightning Thief, in 2005. Four sequels followed, with the last, The Last Olympian, in 2009.

Prior to Percy Jackson, Riordan had written the Tres Navarres series, a series of mystery novels for adult readers.

Set in the mid-2000s, the series follows the story of Percy Jackson, a boy who discovers he is a demigod son of Poseidon. He was abandoned by his father because of an oath made by the Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon and Hades), the sons of Cronos, to not father any more children after World War II. The oath was sworn since the demigod children of the three gods are too powerful and have potential for great bloodshed (in-universe, World War II had been a fight between children of the Big Three). Percy's journey turns even more electrifying when he discovers that numerous people and ancient monsters are trying to kill him due to his status as a demigod, latent strength, and growing influence in the Greek world. Percy also finds out that there are even more demigods like him in Camp Half-Blood, a training camp in Long Island.

With his friend Annabeth Chase, and his best friend and companion Grover Underwood (a satyr who Percy finds out is actually his protector), his journey across the frightening mystic worlds begins. Percy soon finds himself fulfilling extraordinary quests, prophecies, and fighting battles with and for the gods against the rising threat of the Titans. He also finds himself at a crossroads: either he helps in the destruction of the world, or in preserving it.

Are you a fan of Percy Jackson? What's your favorite book in the series? Let us know in the comment section or on any of our social media pages! We'd love to hear from you.

Intrigued by this series and this author? Check out some of the titles we have available from WV Reads!

 https://wvreads.overdrive.com/wvreads-wvlc/content/search?query=Rick%20Riordan