Get to know the author! Rick Riordan's career started as a middle school teacher. He also wrote an adult mystery series, but when his son started asking for Greek myths as bed time stories, he soon ran out of myths to tell. It was then that his son asked him to make up new stories using the same characters, and the seed for Percy Jackson was born. He has won numerous awards including the Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel, Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original, Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original, Mark Twain Award, Rebecca Caudill Award, School Library Journal's Best Book, Children's Choice Book Awards: Author of the Year, Children's Choice Book Awards: Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year, Wyoming Soaring Eagle Book Award, Milner Award, Indian Paintbrush Award, Best Fiction Book for Children in Bulgaria, and Stonewall Book Award for Children's literature. What makes Rick Riordan truly special as a young adult author is his love for mythology that shines through his books. He creates a world that helps make students who might struggle a little academically connect with the magic reading can provide. Get to know The Lost Hero! School is never easy. It's even harder when you can't remember who you are let alone who anyone else is. Jason wakes up on a bus to a field trip holding hands with a girl he doesn't recognize and no memories to speak of. Even without his memories, something feels wrong and he is quickly proven right when things go crazy fast. Next thing he knows, he's diving off a cliff to save a girl he doesn't remember while his half goat coach fights off wind monsters. From there, things only get crazier. Difficult themes: Identity: Each of the major characters struggles with their identity from Jason who can't remember who he is or where he came from to Piper who struggles with what it means to be the daughter of a famous actor and daughter of Aphrodite to Leo who feels like an absolute failure. They all work together throughout the novel to help build their sense of self. Morality: Piper, in particular, struggles with morality. She's confronted with having to choose between her father and her friends. The forces pressuring her to choose make it seem like she has no choice, but the world isn't always so straightforward. On a broader view, the gods of Olympus each have their own idea of right and wrong. This becomes even more complex when their Roman alter egos come into play. Useful Resources and Homework: From the ReadWriteThink website, here are some tips to help encourage critical thinking while reading at home. I would like to encourage each of you to engage in this activity. Follow this link and use it as a template to help guide you in researching a Roman or Greek god to present to the rest of the class. This will help you practice for the research project we will do at the end of the unit.
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