We are very proud of [J] as he has finished all 5 of the Olympians books by Rick Riordan. Once he got going, there was no stopping him. And what we love most of all is that he has finally discovered the joy of reading for pleasure. Last year, and the years before, his school days were long, as they didn’t end when the bell rang. He was usually strapped with about 2+ hours of homework each night and the thought of picking up a book when that was finished was not appealing to him. We encouraged him. We bought any book that we thought he’d take even a slight interest in, but nothing helped. Now that we are homeschooling, we have a completely different schedule. We finish “school” much sooner and there is literally no homework, well all of it is homework, but you know what I mean. When we’re done, we’re done. I built in free reading time into each day but truth be told, it just happens now without me having to “assign” it. In fact, when he feels a little bogged down after a tough assignment, he takes a bit of time to himself to unwind with his favorite book. It’s such a relief to see this happen. Bookstores are among my favorite places, and to see him develop a love for reading (and bookstores) too is awesome!

So, I sat down with [J] after putting together some questions about the books. Here’s a little Q&A book review for you (hopefully not giving away too many details of the plot and characters.) Oh and we are all VERY excited about this series being made into movies. The first movie, The Lightning Thief, is due out in February 2010. I’ll link you to the trailer at the end of the interview.

Q: What did you enjoy about this book?

A: I enjoyed how it was an adventure book but was also informative about Greek mythology.

Q: Who was your favorite character? What did you appreciate about him/her?

A: Percy Jackson, the main character, is the son of Poseidon. I wish I had his lethal ballpoint pen, Riptide. If you read the book you’ll find out what that is and what it does. I appreciate how he risks his life for his friends at least 50 times per book.

Q: Did you find this book a quick read?

A: I’d have to say it was in between. I couldn’t put it down but there are like 300 pages in each book so it took a while to get through them. There was a total of 1,708 pages in the 5-book series.

Q: Are any of the events in the book relevant to your own life?

A: Percy Jackson has ADD, which I also have. He also has dyslexia and I have dysgraphia. You find out in the book that his dyslexia is really a hidden talent.

Q: What did you think of the style of the writer?

A: I loved the style of the writer.. never a dull moment. I think that he couldn’t have made it more perfect. Rick Riordan is the greatest children’s book writer ever.

Q: Would you recommend this book to friends? Why?

A: I would recommend this book to friends because it has given me a reason to read freely. Before I found out about these books, I could never get myself to sit down to read for enjoyment. Now I’m finishing 300 page books in a week. Plus it taught me all about Greek mythology. I can name half of the Greek gods from memory. My favorite god is Zeus.

Here is the trailer for The Lightning Thief… oh, also check out Rick Riordan’s website for more good stuff!

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