The Lightning Thief

The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson & The Olympians 

Author: Rick Riordan 

Grade Level: 6-8

Genre: Fantasy

Awards: Hampshire Book Award

Summary: Percy Jackson is a twelve year old boy attending school for troubled youth.  During his twelfth year of life, Percy finds out he is the son of Poseidon, making him a half-blood (half man, half god).  This first book in The Percy Jackson series takes you on his journey of discovery and adventure.  Most of Percy's time is spent at the half-blood training camp, Camp Half-Blood, meeting people who are like him.  During his time here, he is taught how to defend himself and survive in the world as a half-blood.  In this book, Percy's is being accused of stealing the lightning bolt of Zeus.  This book takes you on his journey of finding the lightning bolt which ends up *spoiler alert* in the hands of his friend, Luke.  Luke attempts to kill Percy by having a scorpion sting him.  After surviving the sting, Percy makes the decision to live at home instead of the half-blood training camp for the rest of the year.  The books ends here, but leaves the reader in suspense for the next book.

Evaluation: As you can tell, my copy of this book is well-loved.  Many students have found themselves drawn to the tattered pages of this worn book.  This book is a must-have on my future classroom shelf.  The author draws the reader in with his unique writing style.  I definitely plan on using this book in my future classroom.

The grade level appropriateness is around sixth and eighth grade.  The book's readability seems geared toward sixth grade and enjoyable for eighth grade.  Your middle school students will love this book.

I plan to use this book in multiple ways.  The first way is to show students what a strong introduction looks like.  The author does a great job addressing the audience in a fun, taunting way at the beginning.  This introduction immediately hooks the reader in and dares them to turn the next page.  I also plan to use this book as an example of strong sensory detail.  All throughout the book, the author uses strong language that paints the scene for the readers.