Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief

by Rick Riordan
AR book level:  4.7

As I said before I really really really like Greek mythology.  So my mom thought that I would like this book which I did. 

Percy Jackson is a sixth grader who has dyslexia and ADHD.  He gets in trouble a lot in school so he gets kicked out of a different school each year.  At the end of his field trip, his teacher grows wings and talons and attacks him.  He fights her off with the help of his favorite teacher who gives him a pen that turns into a sword. After this, no one knows it happened or even remembers the teacher.  Percy overhears his favorite teacher and his best friend talking about him and the teacher he fought. 

After being chased by monsters again, his mom takes him to a camp for half-bloods, kids who have one parent who is a Greek god/goddess and one mortal parent.  Percy's mom is killed taking him to the camp and he does not know which god is his father.  At camp, Percy learns who his father is and is sent on a quest to prevent the gods from fighting and therefore making a war.

Mostly the two reasons I really liked it is that you learn a lot about Greek mythology and it was super-duper funny.  My favorite character was Annabeth, whose mom is Athena the goddess of wisdom.  I like her because she is smart and she is always acting like she is the best, but in a good way.  I also like that the three friends Percy, Annabeth, and Grover have nicknames for each other.

I am reading the second book in this series now.  I will probably be done before school starts with it.  There are five books in the series.

Juliet Dove: Queen of Love

by Bruce Coville

AR Book Level:  5.0

Juliet Dove is a sixth grade girl who is teased about walking to school with her neighbor because everyone says that they are boyfriend and girlfriend.  She gets mad, says rude comments about the girls who tease her that she can't stop herself from saying, and runs away.  She ran so far that she got lost and found herself on a street she didn't know.  She enters a magic store on the end of the street.  When she goes in, a women from the back of the shop gives her a mysterious necklace.  The necklace turns out to be magical and makes all the boys in her class fall in love with her.  Juliet finds out that the woman who gave it to her was the Greek goddess of discord, Eris.

 The necklace is stuck on Juliet's neck.  Juliet tries to figure out how to remove it with the help of other Greek goddess and Cupid.  She is also helped by the magic shop's real owner's two talking rats.

I liked this book because of the two talking rats.  This book is full of humor.  I like Greek goddesses.  I really like how they tied in the Greek mythology with a funny story.  I liked that this book was elegant and exciting.  I didn't want it to stop because I wanted to keep listening to it so much. I listened to this as an audiobook.  It had a variety of cast which made it very cool to listen too.

I would recommend this for people that like adventure and mythology.  This book is one of the books in a magic shop series, but it's the only one in the series I have read.