Emma Hanmer
The Lightning Thief
Rick Riordan
Fantasy
Holiday
84
1. For my independent reading, I'm reading The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. The main character, Percy Jackson, is a demigod or half-blood. That means that one of his parents, in this case his dad, is a god and the other parent is human. Percy's best friend Grover is actually half boy half goat but disguises himself as a human to protect Percy from harm. Percy, Grover, and his mom were driving to Camp half-blood, which is a place where demigods are protected from monsters that try to hunt them down and kill them. Percy was attacked by a monster at school so Grover told his mom and they left for the camp. On their way, Percy and his mom encountered a bull-like monster called a menataur. Percy and Grover made it to the camp safely, but his mother was killed by the monster.
2. I really enjoy this book. It is action packed and intriguing! Books about Greek gods are interesting because they can have so many stories and legends extending off other stories that you never get bored. This isn't a new author for me, because I accidentally read the second book first this summer. I really like the way the author incorporates each character's powers and special abilities. The second book is mainly based on Grover because he gets stuck on an island guarded by a monster and Percy has to go find him. The other thing I enjoy about this book is that it is a fun, easy read to go to while we read To Kill A Mockingbird together. Since To Kill A Mockingbird is more of a deep, thinking novel, it's nice to have a relaxing book to read on the side.
3. A popular theme in this book is good vs evil. Percy and all the people in camp half blood are good. They train to protect themselves and learn how to use and control their powers under the watchful eyes of the gods and the creatures in the camp. The evil is the monsters. The camp is protected by a magical shield that only demigods and other camp members can penetrate, so the monsters can't get in. The monsters hunt down and kill demigods if they can't make it to the camp. The theme also occurs between the gods. Hades is the god of the underworld, and he is always disturbing the peace between the other gods like Zeus and Poseidon. He was banished to the underworld because he was evil and tried to overthrow mount Olympus. I'm sure this theme will continue on throughout the novel, and I hope to see it a lot when the lightning thief is discovered, because there will be a lot of evil coming along with that.
4. My favorite character in this novel is Percy's mom, Sally Jackson. She devoted her life to keep Percy safe and make sure he doesn't know about his secret. The more he knows, the more descent he gives off which monsters can detect. Since he had no idea, he didn't have a strong, detectable odor. Also, his mom married a man who was bad to her, was always drunk, and didn't respect their property just because of his odor. His scent covered up Percy's demigod scent, keeping monsters away. His mom sacrificed so much, her own well being and her happiness, just to protect her son and let him have a normal life for a while. I really admire how selfless she is.
5. My least favorite character is Gabe Ugliano. He is Percy's stepdad. He is the one that covers up Percy's scent and protects him from monsters. Even though he protects Percy, I still do not like him. All he does is sit on the couch all day eating chips and playing poker with his buddies. He takes money from Percy and his mom, and hits her on occasion. He also bosses Percy around. When Percy asked him to let go of his mom before they left for the camp, he started to pouch him around and tell Percy he could do whatever he wants. He's an awful man that goes around making messes and causing misery in the Jackson's home.
6. I predict that Percy will not be the lightning thief. On the cover, it shows him holding the bolt, but I think that is just him returning it to Zeus. I also think this because Percy is a good kid. Even though he has been expelled from a lot of schools and causes trouble, he just figured out that he is the son of a god. He had no idea about this greek world or the lightning bolt until he got to the camp. There is no way that he could have been lying and stolen it. And why would he? Also, I predict that Hades stole the bolt. I think this because he wants the gods to turn against each other so he can overthrow Olympus. I hope that Percy isn't the thief and that he finds the bolt and who has it before something terrible happens.
P.S.- Sorry for my late blog! I had to post it in school today because I have been having non-working wifi but it is being fixed this week. Sorry again! -Emma
Dear Emma,
ReplyDeleteI have listened to this book on tape and really enjoyed it. I thought it was packed with adventure like you said. The Lightning Thief (italics)has been one of my favorite fantasy books. I thought your post was very well written and full of details. You explained the book well without confusion even though the book is hard to understand with all of the characters and gods. I agreed with almost all of your blog post. I especially agreed with why you liked it. I would have rated that book like that too. The one thing I did disagree with was how the monsters were evil. I thought the gods were the ones who were evil. The gods would have commanded the monsters to attack them. Overall, I thought your blog post was one of the best I've seen!
Sincerely,
Cloe
Dear Emma,
ReplyDeleteI have read this book and I really enjoyed it. I liked all the action and each interesting power that each halfblooded has. I like your blog post a lot too. I thought that you put a lot of details into it and did good on explaining how you felt about the book. Lastly, I think that you chose a good theme for your blog, and I think that it fits into the story well. I agree with your least favorite character. I don't like Gabe either because he ins't nice or caring to Percy or his Mom. Also, he pushes around Percy which makes me also not like him. I understand how Sally could be your favorite character, but my favorite character is Grover. I think that he protects Percy throughout the book well and he isn't self-centered. I also like how he is a "half-goat thing".
Cloe- I liked your comment on Emma's blog because it is very thorough. The one thing I disagree with is that just because somebody else sent the monsters, it doesn't mean that the monsters arn't evil. I think that the monsters are also evil.
Louis