It's All Greek To Me

Recently, Luke read a book that sparked an obsession with reading. It is called Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief. I have very vivid memories about the first book I read that turned the switch for me from someone who knew how to read into someone who loved to read. I was in fourth grade when I read A Wrinkle in Time, and I can remember where I set it down on the book shelf in the living room when I needed to stop reading and eat dinner. And I remember being in the backyard thinking about the characters, and imagining the book in my head. So it has been very fun for me to watch Luke have a similar experience with his first book obsession. When I read the Amazon reviews of the first book, it seemed targeted at older kids, so I read it too, because I am a good parent. I liked it! There is a lot of adventure, and Greek Mythology, and it's exciting, and funny. I love that Luke is learning so much about Greek Mythology. I used to have a book called, It's Greek to Me, because I always thought I would be a better person if I knew about Greek Mythology. But I don't recall reading it, just sort of occasionally noticing it on my shelf. I told Luke about it and he was quite annoyed that I don't still have the book. Although now that I am reading the description, I think I probably got it to study up on my greek roots as SAT prep. (Lame!) But I know more about Greek Mythology now, from reading just one Percy Jackson book, and discussing the rest with Luke every day, than I ever did. And that is very cool.

The funny thing is that I kept saying Luke was too young for Harry Potter. But one of the reviews I read on Amazon described Percy Jackson as something like a less earnest Harry Potter. I found that to be funny. I let the whole Harry Potter phenomenon pass me by, so I think it will be fun to read the books with Luke when he finishes this series. He had the last book checked out from the school library, and he was forced to return it because I guess the library starts to close down a month before school ends. He was devastated and convinced that when he gets another copy (friends have promised to loan it) it will take his entire independent reading time to find the page he was on. We might have to head to the regular library (or Main Branch as Jack says) to get the last book and get a head start on figuring out where he left off.