Greek Mythology Books and The Lightening Thief Movie

An addendum to Percy Jackson: The Movie and Edith Hamilton’s Mythology.

It’s always sad when a really great series ends, so there are always “add-on” books to prolong the experience but are not really the same as the book series. My daughter LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the Percy Jackson series so much that she also got really into Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. She’s been begging for the “add-on” books. I got her The Ultimate Guide through Scholastic at school and she told me that it helps her to understand the series better. Now she wants the other two. Will I buy them? Of course! It is really sad when a great series ends so why not?!

An addendum: The Ultimate Guide is a great book and it also has this magnetic half-cover that kids love. The Demigod Files just arrived and she is loving it! Rick Riordan wrote both and they are actually great books on their own.

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We just saw The Lightning Thief movie, my 4th grader and I, after both of us had raced through the 5 book series. It was a nice bonding experience because we both loved the series and were sad when it ended although we are hopeful that the last prophecy has set up a new series with six new half-bloods?… [note to self to email author Rick Riordan and beg him to write more books]. My 4th grader is 10-years-old so we are beginning to get those first offshoots of teenage temperament: stomping off, slamming of doors, rolling of eyes, etc. But at this movie, we both thoroughly enjoyed it though we both agreed that the book was much better than the movie which is always music to my ears. While the movie needed to strip down the plot into a more streamlined and film-able version losing many characters along the way, there were also elements of special effects that brought the book to life: Poseidon emerging from the sea and turning into a mortal, Percy controlling the water from the water towers, and Hades emerging from the campfire.

My daughter was also disappointed that Annabeth didn’t look like the character in the book with grey eyes. Still, Percy Jackson looked like a young Zac Efron and that’s never a bad thing. But the biggest surprise to me was my daughter’s deepened interest in Greek and Roman mythology. After trying to construct a list of the gods by trolling the internet, I finally remembered the mythology books from my childhood that I loved and gave it to her, not exactly knowing if the books were too advanced for her. I think because the stories are all short, it holds her interest and is appropriate for 4th graders up to adults.

I have included a link about Edith Hamilton, (12 August 1867–31 May 1963) was an American educator and author who was “recognized as the greatest woman Classicist.” I’m not sure why they had to say greatest “woman” Classicist… but she really is great and her work has stood the test of time.