The latest book I’ve been “selling” to students with a lot of success is The Lightning Thief, the first installment of one of my favorite new young adult series, written by author Rick Riordan. The premise of the books is that the Greek gods and goddesses were real, and as immortals, are still around, along with all the monsters, heroes, and exotic locations that are part of their mythology. The gods continue to get up to all sorts of shenanigans, and at the beginning of the first book, Percy Jackson, the main character, learns that he is a demigod, the result of a union between god and mortal.One of the great things about these books (and why I think we’ll be seeing The Lightning Thief in a lot of school curricula soon) is that they are a fun way to learn the mythology that is still a part of most middle and high school English curricula.
Another aspect of the books that I love is that Percy has ADHD and dyslexia, which has given him a pretty checkered school career. What he finds out, though, is that ADHD helps demigods survive in battles with monsters, and his dyslexia in English is because his brain is hardwired for speaking and reading Ancient Greek. It has been my experience that many of the students I work with who have learning disabilities also have some remarkable talents and abilities that set them apart from their peers, and that will serve them well in the “real world,” even if they aren’t helping them get through high school. My hope is reading these books will help kids recognize and appreciate their own special strengths.
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