Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods

Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson's Greek Gods is a laugh-out-loud tour of the Greek myths for 10 year olds, told by a demigod with LOTS of opinions about the family.

What happens

Percy starts at the very beginning. And at the very beginning there's pretty much nothing. Just Chaos, a gloomy, soupy mist (and no, he says, not the clothing shop).

Then along comes Gaea, the Earth, who can also walk about as a smiling woman in a green dress. She wishes herself a sky for a husband and gets Ouranos. It goes badly. VERY badly.

That's the joy of this book. Percy tells the old stories properly, but he tells them like gossip about a family down the road. Twelve Titan kids later, he reckons they're basically a reality TV show. When their mum wants a volunteer for a horrible job, the Titans all shuffle about and point at each other.

Kronos, the youngest, is the one who says yes. He gets a scythe and the promise of cookies with sprinkles.

Underneath the jokes it's all real mythology. You get the Titans, the Cyclopes, the Hundred-Handed Ones, the Furies, and baby Zeus hidden in a cave with nymphs and a magic goat. Your reader will come out knowing who's who, which is more than most of us grown-ups can manage!

Worth knowing before you hand it over

The Greek myths are grim, and Percy doesn't skip the grim bits. Kronos attacks his own father with that scythe, there's golden blood everywhere, and later he swallows his own babies whole so they can't take his throne. It's all played for laughs, and one joke is VERY cheeky about exactly where the scythe lands.

For a child who's easily upset by violence, even silly violence, it could be a lot. But if your reader already loves gross-out humour, they'll probably think it's hilarious. Percy even warns you when the next chapter's about to get worse.

He's also just great company. He admits when he doesn't know something ("I dunno," he says). He compares the gods to things your reader will know. And he's never once boring about it.

What to read next

Still hungry for more? Percy Jackson and the Greek Heroes is in the library too. Percy does the same thing for Perseus, Medusa and friends, and he opens by moaning that the publisher liked his book about the gods so much they asked for another.