Myth-o-mania: Where it All Began

It all started with a bedtime story.           

Rick Riordan, an award-winning, bestselling author of the famous Percy Jackson & the Olympians series was an English and Social Studies teacher back then. He taught Greek mythology to middle schoolers, particularly.  He never thought that it will lead him to a new booming career. He wrote adult novels at that time but writing children’s book series was never part of the plan. Until one day…

His oldest son, Haley, asked him to tell some great Greek myths as bedtime stories. So he did. The time came when he ran out of myths to tell. So Haley asked if Riordan could make up some new characters instead. And in a snap, Percy Jackson came into existence.

Percy was a demigod who had a quest to get back Zeus’ lightning bolt which was stolen by another demigod. Riordan based this main character to his son, who at that time was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. Just like his son, this Percy guy also has ADHD and dyslexia, which to the Greek world are so-called signs and symptoms of being a demigod. Riordan added this detail to the story to sink into Haley’s mind that being different will not affect what talents, potentials and dreams he has.

 After Riordan told Percy’s story to him, Haley liked it and suggested that he should write it as a novel. Fuelled by his son’s request despite his hectic schedule, he was motivated to finish the book for him. Before he submitted his manuscript to the publisher, he let his middle-school students critique it. They even helped him in naming the book and how Percy’s sword works. Then his first modern-day Greek mythology book entitled The Lightning Thief was out in the market. His work caught the public’s interest for creatively making mythology light and child-friendly.

                The humorous and adventure-filled novel was succeeded by four more installments to make up the whole series. After the Percy Jackson series, Riordan released a trilogy based on Egyptian mythology and named it The Kane Chronicles. The story revolves around the siblings, Carter and Sadie Kane who try to awake the Sun God Ra to fight against Apophis, the God of Chaos. At the same time that he was making The Kane Chronicles, he also made other installments for the Percy Jackson series in which Roman and Greek Mythology were fused into one. The latest series was entitled Heroes of Olympus where the story revolves around seven teenage demigods who were prophesied to save the world from destruction by defeating the earth deity, Gaea. The series already have four published books and the final installment is still in the making.  Just because of a bedtime story…

                All these fast-paced, humorous, modern-day mythologies surely grabbed the kids’ attention. Even adults enjoy his book series. Riordan’s works made mythology fascinating and child-friendly by writing it in a witty, light mood. The mythology fans out there will surely drool over these novels. Even the lazy readers will love to read them.