Mrs. Metz
5-17-11
Pd 6 & 7
SUMMARY OF THE LIGHTNING THIEF BY RICK RIORDAN
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is a book about determination. The
main character is Percy Jackson; a teenage boy who finds out he is the son of
Poseidon. Percy is constantly getting kicked out of schools and causing trouble until
he makes his way to Camp Half-blood, a camp for demigods. At Camp Half-blood,
Percy finally feels like he fits in as he trains in sword fighting and learns about Greek
culture and monsters with other teenagers who are part human and part god.
Percy is determined to become a hero because he needs to save his mom. His
troubles began when he was on his way to camp where his mom, who has been his
constant support and encouragement, vanishes in a cloud of golden dust. Percy
believes that she has died and been taken to The Underworld. While training at the
camp, Percy finds out that the most powerful god, Zeus, has had his lightning bolt
stolen. Zeus blames Poseidon and accuses Percy of stealing the bolt and taking it to
his father. Zeus has threatened to start World War 3 if Percy does not return the
bolt. So to prove his innocence, and save his mom in the process, Percy decides to
begin a quest to find the master bolt.
Percy’s quest leads him across the United States. He is attacked by monsters
and falls into several traps along the way but despite all of these obstacles, he is
determined to keep going. Finally he reaches The Underworld where he hopes to
find the master bolt. While in The Underworld he is sucked into a deep pit and
hears an evil voice that tries to talk him into turning against the gods. When he gets
out of the pit, he finds the master bolt in his backpack and realizes that he has been
set-up. Percy uses Poseidon’s magic to escape from The Underworld and make his
way to Olympus where he returns the master bolt to Zeus. As his reward, Percy’s
mother is returned safe and unharmed.
It isn’t until Percy returns to camp as a hero that he finds out Luke, a camp
counselor, was behind the entire situation. He is working for Kronos, the king Titan
who hates the gods and vows to cause destruction to Western Civilization. Luke
escapes but Percy is determined to eventually find him and stop his plan.
Throughout the book, Percy was constantly put in dangerous situations and
faced many people, gods, and monsters that wanted to stop him on his quest. It
would have been easy for Percy to give up when things were tough but he didn’t. He
realized that determination is the one thing that got him through challenging times
and also helped him achieve his goals.