My friend from New Orleans chose Percy Jackson, Lightening Thief for what became our March Mardi Gras book club meeting. You may be wondering about the correlation between Mardi Gras and Olympians, and I was surprised that the connection is that New Orleans Mardi Gras Krewe names come straight out of Greek/Roman mythology! As I understand it, the Kewes are the parade groups and organizers for Mardi Gras and there are numerous Krewes including a Krewe of Muses!
How to host a Mardi Gras Book Club:
(taken straight from our fabulous New Orleans Hostess)
MENU: Jambalaya and red beans and rice, King Cake and Chicory coffee
PARTY FAVORS: Mardi Gras Beads and Masks (just for fun)
Book Club Discussions included:
• the Krewes and their mythological history
• how many of the book clubbers did research/looked up mythology
• how tweens and teens would be encouraged to look up the mythology stories
• chasm between the book and the movie
• the preteen humor in the writing
It was immediately clear that all enjoyed this book and many will pursue the rest of the books in the Percy series. Needless to say, the socializing was cut short as the first order of business was tucking into the delicious New Orleans-style food.
A Review: Percy Jackson & The Olympians, The Lightening Thief
I knew I would like this action adventure book when the first chapter was about vaporizing the pre-algebra teacher. Who wouldn't love that and why didn’t I ever have those powers? This book was written and is classified for young adults, but if you liked Harry Potter or know a bit about Greek mythology, you need to read the Percy Jackson series.
Percy is a difficult child, one with ADHD who has been kicked out of every school he’s ever attended. Now that he is eleven he starts seeing and dreaming odd things. Some things cannot be real and are beyond imagination, or are they? With the gods speaking to Percy in dreams, Percy is soon immersed in another world, one that he never knew existed, that of the Greek gods. Of course, once the real-world Percy has vaporized his algebra teacher, he realizes that something about his life has been missing. Percy will soon learn that he is a half-blood—the son of a God and a human.
Percy soon meets and befriends other half-blood children and mythological creatures. The skies are dark and angry, the seas are large and looming and the earth is quaking, the Gods are getting ready for war. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are in-fighting and since Percy is a magnet for trouble, he is soon accused of stealing Zeus's lightening bolt. To clear his name, Percy must go on a quest to find the real lightening thief and to return Zeus’s master lightening bolt. In order to complete his quest, Percy must become a hero and defy the mythical creatures determined to destroy and defeat him.
Enjoyable for everyone, a very easy fun read for adults, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightening Thief was 375 paperback pages and can be found in the Young Adult (YA) section. Another YA plus, the paperback price was $6.75 at Wal-Mart. And, the 2010 movie is now available on DVD.
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