As a huge fan of the fantasy genre, including the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, I take these words very seriously, but I may have a new favorite book series...Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Over Spring Break, I started and finished both The Lightning Thief, Book One and The Sea of Monsters, Book Two.
This series is for middle schoolers, but is appropriate for most students that can read at a six grade reading level. The protagonists, include a male and a female, both of whom are strong characters. Oh, and one of their parents is a Greek god.
I've never been a big Greek mythology buff, but through this series I have learned many stories and of various creatures and characters. This book would be a great read aloud to accompany learning about Greek mythology. As a read aloud, the first two books would whet students' interest in learning about the Greek gods and introduce the Greek gods and other creatures from Greek mythology. The author does a great job of introducing novices to Greek mythology, since Percy is something of a novice himself. Read this book and you will get no more complaints about Greek myths and better yet, you may hook a few students on the series.
