The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)

By Rick Riordan

1151 ratings 1555 reviews 1763 followers
Interest LevelReading LevelReading A-ZATOSWord Count
Grades 5 - 8Grades 3 - 8W4.787223

Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school... again. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to stay out of trouble. But can he really be expected to stand by and watch while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself against his pre-algebra teacher when she turns into a monster and tries to kill him? Of course, no one believes Percy about the monster incident; he's not even sure he believes himself. Until the Minotaur chases him to summer camp. Suddenly, mythical creatures seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. The gods of Mount Olympus, he's coming to realize, are very much alive in the twenty-first century. And worse, he's angered a few of them: Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now Percy has just ten days to find and return Zeus's stolen property, and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. On a daring road trip from their summer camp in New York to the gates of the Underworld in Los Angeles, Percy and his friends -- one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena -- will face a host of enemies determined to stop them. To succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of failure and betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
ISBN-13: 9780786838653
ISBN-10: 0786838655
Published on 3/21/2006
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 416

Book Reviews (1485)

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I have read all the Percy Jackson books and I am now on a similar series called The Heroes of Olympus. It actually connects to the Percy Jackson series and is just as good.

It is amazing. You should try it.

If you like fighting, Chacrters you already know then this is the book for you.

Imagine seeing a minotaur chase you well that happened to Percy Jackson. In the book Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. The book starts in school where he starts seeing creatures appearing in front of his eyes. No one believes that his teacher turned into a monster; he doesn’t even believe it himself! When he gets in Camp half blood he finds out someone stole Zeus's Lightning bolt and Percy is the prime suspect. He has until summer solstice (10 days) to go and find it with his accomplices Grover and Annabeth. If they don’t the gods will start a war possibly killing millions of people. He has to go through this journey all the way down to the gates of the underworld in Los Angeles. This journey will face many challenges will Percy Jackson retrieve the thunder bolt and find the true thief before summer solstice or will he not. I think this book is good for people who like action,mystery and fantasy. I recommend this book for 5th graders and above.

Wow, Long, but entertaining.

I loved this book. Totally recommend it.

This book is cool and I recommend it.

as you can tell by my username, I am a HUGE Percy Jackson fan. as soon as I picked up this book I couldn’t put it down. i love all the mythology and fantasy . it’s an action packed book with friendship and courage. definitely recommend to those who love fantasy and especially greek mythology.

"All those times I've gotten into fights, and the nights I lost sleep worrying about how he would survive without me next year, and he was acting like he was the one protecting me." Just great. Really. Percy Jackson is about to get the boot, getting kicked out of Yancy Academy. And just because of a little kind of majorly disturbing incident with a man-eating winged math teacher!! But there is good things,. Percy will get to see his mom...and put up with smelly Gabe, his stepfather. One night when he goes to Montauk with his mom, things get strange. After meeting Grover and suffering through losing his mom to the Minotaur, all Percy wants is a spark, a flame even of hope. But fate has its own choice. Percy is going to be at Camp Half Blood, for kids like him with a godly parent. And guess who he is after a deadly capture the flag? The son of Poseidon, god of horses, earthquakes, and the ocean. After finding out that he must go on a quest with Annabeth Chase and Grover to retrieve Zeus's master bolt, things get a little wacky.

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