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Twelve-year old Percy Jackson seems to be plagued by bad luck.  Constantly in trouble at his upper New York state boarding school, hounded by a nasty classmate named Nancy Bobofit, and struggling with both dyslexia and ADHD, it’s like he’s an accident waiting for a place to happen.  And it happens inside one of the galleries at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which Percy and his classmates are visiting on a field trip.  Attacked by Mrs. Dodds, his math teacher, he finds himself killing her with a sword tossed to him by Mr. Brunner, his wheelchair-bound latin teacher.  Mrs. Dodds’ body turns into dust before Percy’s stunned eyes and, stranger still, no one, including Mr. Brunner, remembers anything about the incident or the math teacher.
In the weeks following the trip to Metropolitan Museum of Art, Percy’s marks plummet from C- to F, as he relives Mrs. Dodds’ death, and wonders if he’s lost his mind.  Even his friend Grover, an awkward, rather hesitant kid made lame by muscular disease, can’t cheer him up or help him to put the nightmares behind him.  Then, just as the school year is winding up, Percy decides to pay a visit to Mr. Brunner’s office, and overhears the latin teacher in conversation with Grover.  They are talking about him, about the summer solstice, about protecting him, and about keeping him in the dark just a little longer.
When Grover turns up on the same Greyhound bus bound for New York City, after the school year ends, and makes it clear that he wants to escort his friend safely home, Percy gets mad and ditches him as soon as they reach the bus station.  He heads home to the apartment shared by his loving mother, Sally, who works in a candy store but dreams of becoming a writer, and his loutish stepfather, Gabe, who lives to play poker, verbally abuse his wife, and make Percy’s life unbearable.
Fortunately, Sally has organized a weekend away for just her and Percy to a cottage at the end of Long Island Sound.  There they spend an idyllic day at the beach, a place both of them love because it is where Sally met and fell in love with Percy’s father, who was lost at sea when the boy was only a baby.  But nightfall brings a bad storm and an anxious Grover, who demands to know if Percy has told his mother about the incident with Mrs. Dodd.  When she learns of it, a very alarmed Sally packs things up and the three of them head off into the storm to get Percy to safety at a nearby summer camp.
Just as they reach the camp, Sally’s car swerves off the road, and Percy and Grover are injured.  Sally orders Percy to get to the camp, and takes off through the storm to intercept the creature that has been sent to stop him.  But Percy cannot leave Grover behind, and manages to drag him from the car.  Together, they reach the camp’s boundaries, where Percy collapses.  When he awakens, two days later, Percy discovers that he has lost all that he has ever loved, and that most everything his mother told him about his father was a lie.
Camp Half-Blood, where he now finds himself, is a safe place, and a training facility, for the children of Greek gods.  These gods are fond of entering into relationships with humans and the half-blood children that result from these unions are both blessed by special abilities and cursed by the dangers that their unusual parentage attracts.  Percy is at first sceptical about this revelation, certain that his father was human, but Grover and Mr. Brunner, who are both far more than Percy could ever have imagined, assure him that his very ability to enter the camp grounds is proof of his parentage.  What no one knows, however, is exactly which of the Greek gods fathered Percy, so he is placed in the cabin of the Hermes, the god of travellers, until his parentage can be determined.  The boy settles into camp life, and rapidly finds himself involved in a variety of camp activities, such as metalwork, where you can forge your own sword, arts and crafts, where you can sandblast a Grecian statue, ancient Greek lessons, archery, foot racing, wrestling, and capture the flag.  But just as he begins to enjoy his new life, Percy is attacked and the camp directors realize that the boy has an enemy inside the camp.
Concerned that he is no longer safe at Camp Half-Blood, the directors send Percy to the Oracle of Delphi, who prophecies that the boy will find what was stolen and see it safely returned.  It is then that Percy learns that Zeus’ thunderbolt, the symbol of his power, has been stolen and that he, Percy Jackson, is the prime suspect in the crime.  If a terrible war between the gods is to be averted, and Percy is to clear his name, the thunderbolt must be found and returned to Zeus, and by the summer solstice, now only days away.  Accompanied by his friend Grover, and Annabeth, a fellow camper who eyes the boy with considerable suspicion, Percy sets off on a quest that will test his mettle and pit him and his companions against greatest and most terrible monsters of Greek mythology.
Written by Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief is the first of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, which currently number five.  Steeped in mythology, yet action-packed and full of tense moments interspersed with humour, this novel is sure to appeal to boys and girls, and eager and reluctant readers, alike!
FernFolio Editor