Lightening Thief
Learning Objective:
• RL. 6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis
of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
• RL.6.3 Describe how a particular story’s or
drama’s plot unfolds in a series of episodes as
well as how the characters respond or change as
the plot moves toward a resolution.
• W.6.9 Draw evidence from literary or
informational texts to support analysis, reflection,
and research.
AIM
• How can identifying the traits of a hero
support our understanding of our novel
Lightening Thief?
• What is a hero?
Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling
author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
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… the Kane Chronicles, and the
Heroes of Olympus. He is also the
author of the multi-award-winning
Tres Navarre mystery series for
adults.
His Tres Navarre series went on to
win the top three national awards
in the mystery genre - the Edgar,
the Anthony and the Shamus.
Riordan turned to children's fiction
when he started The Lightning
Thief as a bedtime story for his
oldest son.
Author
• For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public
and private middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area
and in Texas. In 2002, Saint Mary’s Hall honored him with
the school’s first Master Teacher Award.
• He was a middle school teacher who taught mythology.
While teaching full time, Riordan began writing mystery
novels for grownups.
• Today over thirty-three million copies of his Percy Jackson,
Kane Chronicles, and Heroes of Olympus books are in print
in the United States, and rights have been sold into more
than 35 countries. Rick is also the author of The 39 Clues:
The Maze of Bones, another #1 New York Times
bestseller. In 2011, Rick received the Children's Choice
Book Award for Author of the Year.
Percy Jackson
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Like being under water – only place he could think
Dyslexia - gift
ADHD – gift – battle reflex
Peruses – father Poseidon, god of sea
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Father forced to leave earth by Zeus
Was turning human
Did not allow him to return again
Cannot see children
Married to mother Sally
Must return lightening bolt by summer solstice
Water Gives him power
• Has to find lightening bolt and return to Zeus otherwise war by summer
solstice
• Travels across the united states to find it
Fantasy Background
• Brothers
– Zeus
– Poseidon
– Hades
• Overthrown father Kronos
• Rivals ever since
• Threaten war
Greek Heroes: Hero I Period
• Being half-mortal and half-immortal, the
Greek heroes bridged the gap between the
human world and the divine world in a
number of ways:
– their ability to interact directly with the gods.
– Perseus obtained assistance from Athena only
after spending the night in her temple praying
– reinforcing to people the central importance of
the gods' temples as sites of religious communion.
Gods
Zeus – God of Gods
Olympus
Demi Gods
Percy
Earth
Son of
Poseidon
Demi God
Anabeth
Daughter of
Athena
Hades
Persephone – wife
Forced to marry
Has pearls to take you to
location
Demi Gods
• Half god half human – children : half bloods
or demi Gods
• Live on earth
• Receive instruction from parents through their
minds
• Do not ever see Gods
Creatures
Fury:
Medusa:
Minotaur:
Full of anger;
flies, fire
Gorgon,
Athena
condemned her
to hair of
snakes and turn
people to
stone.
Fighting
monster
Goddess of
vengeance.
Head of bull.
Minos – Greek,
taur - half
Creatures
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Centaur : half man, half horse
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Satyr - Greek Mythology
Roman Mythology - faun
– Half man, half goat
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Pegasus: Winged Horse
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Unicorn: Mythical Horse with Horn on the Forehead.
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Sphinx: It had the body of a lion and the upper part of a woman
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Dragon: a mythical creature typically depicted as a large and powerful serpent/reptile
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Pygmies: were a nation of dwarfs
Phoenix: a mythical bird that dies in flames and is reborn from the ashes
Focus
Information
Point of
View
traits
Conflict
Central
idea
Percy Conquers
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Fury
Minotaur
Medusa
Perseus: First hero of Greek Mythology
Percy: fatal flaw: dyslexia, ADHD
Athena
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Father Zeus
Favorite daughter
Patron Goddess of Athens
War Goddess with focus on strategy rather
than bloodshed
• Goddess of wisdom and courage
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Zeus swallowed Metis, his wife whole, and Athena was born out of his head
Zeus
• Passed law God cannot have contact with
children
• Poseidon was becoming human
• Son of Kronos
– Kronos who swallowed children whole so they would not kill
him for power
• Zeus was spared by sister Rhea who hid him
away in the island of Krete
– Rhea fed Kronos a stone, forcing him to throw up his other children.
Grover
• Protects Percy
• Earns horns for staying behind in Hades.
Luke
• Wants to bring Olympus down
• Percy is return lightening bolt to Zeus
• Luke Wants it
– Son of Hermes
– Wants Gods to destroy themselves
– Create a new world
• Lightening Theif
Setting: Goes back and forth from
reality to fantasy
• Reality
• Fantasy
Hades
• Comes for lightening bolt
• Will come back
• Sent minotaur to abduct her
– Minotaur
• In underworld
• Banished by Zeus and Posideon
Plot
• Needs to go to Zeus to convince him he did
not steal lightening bolt
• Finds pears to guide him
Medusa’s Liar
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Medusa killed uncle Fernindad
Turned him into stone when look at her eyes
Has snakes for hair
Was turned to snake with hair by Athena
Tried to turn Percy to stone
Demi -Gods
• Anabeth, Daughter of Athena, Goddess of
Wisdom
• Daughters of Aphrodite's, Goddess of love
• Luke, son of Kermes
Fury
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Teacher turned into a fury
Teacher in wheel chair
Gives him a pen to defend himself
God of war
Half man half horse
Harness powers
Las Vegas
• Lotus Setting
– Eat lotus flower and cannot leave