The Lightning Thief

***The Lightning Thief*** is a 2005 fantasy-adventure novel which is based on Greek mythology. It is the first young-adult book written by author Rick Riordan. It is the first book in the *Percy Jackson & the Olympians* series. The series is about the adventures of a modern 12-year-old named Percy Jackson after he discovers he is a demigod (half-human, half-god). Percy is the son of a mortal woman, named Sally Jackson and the Greek god Poseidon. Percy and his friends try to prevent a war between the Greek gods Zeus, 
Poseidon, and Hades.

Rick Riordan finished writing his manuscript in 1994. *The Lightning Thief* was first bought by Bantam Books in 1997. Bantam sold it to Miramax Books. Miramax published it on June 28, 2005. The book sold more than 1.2 million copies in the next four years. The book won many awards. In 2007, it was on *The New York Times* Best Seller list for children's books. It was one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's Best Books for Young Adults. It was made into a movie named *Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief*. The movie was first shown in the United States on February 12, 2010. The  is *The Sea of Monsters*.

## Concept and Development 
*]]
Planning for both *The Lightning Thief'' and the series began when Riordan started making up stories for his nine-year-old son, Haley. He had started studying Greek mythology (stories) in second grade. He wanted his father to tell him stories about them before he went to sleep. Riordan had taught Greek myths as a middle school teacher. He remembered some of the myths, which he then told to his son. Soon, Riordan had told him all the stories. When Haley wanted him to make up new stories using the characters from the myths, Riordan created the character of Percy Jackson. Like Percy, Haley had ADHD and dyslexia. He made up the story of how Percy traveled across the United States to search for Zeus' master bolt. After hearing the story, Haley wanted his father to write a book about Percy and his friends.

In June 1994, Riordan finished the story. He started looking for agents to publish it. He went to many local colleges to find an  before finding an agent. He gave his manuscript to his agent and editor to review. At the same time, he gave the book to some sixth, seventh and eighth graders to read and tell him what was good or bad about it. They named the book and helped Riordan describe how Percy's sword (Riptide) worked. In June 1997, Riordan signed with Bantam Books to prepare the book for publishing. The book was published on June&nbsp;28, 2005. It sold over 1.2&nbsp;million copies. The book had hardcover, softcover and audio editions. It has been translated into many languages. It has been published all over the world.

## Plot 
*The Lightning Thief* is a fantasy–adventure novel which uses the ideas of ancient Greek mythology in today's world. It is written in a fast-d, humorous (funny) style. *School Library Journal* said in its starred review (which is given to  books) that the book was "An adventure-quest with a hip edge" and that "Readers will be eager to follow the young protagonist's next move". *Kirkus* praised the book and said, "Packed with humorous (funny)  to Greek mythology and clever updates of the old stories, along with rip-snorting  action sequences, the book really shines in the  of Percy – , , academically hopeless, with a cut-to-the-chase  one would wish for in a hero of old." Eoin Colfer, author of Artemis Fowl, called it "A fantastic blend (mix) of mythology and modern". *Publishers Weekly* also praised the book, regarding it as "swift and humorous" and added that the book would "leave many readers eager for the next installment."  On April&nbsp;8, 2007, *The Lightning Thief* was ranked ninth on *The New York Times Best Seller list* for children's books. When speaking about the various awards, Rick Riordan said:

"The ultimate compliment for a children's writer is when the kids like it."

### Awards 
*The Lightning Thief* was the winner of the *School Library Journal* Best Book of 2005. It was also one of the books in Chicago Public Library *Best of the Best Books List*, 2005. It was also in the VOYA Top Shelf Fiction List. The book was the Red House Children's Book Award Winner (UK), 2006, and also won Askews Torchlight Award (UK), 2006, and the Mark Twain Award (Missouri Association of School Librarians), 2008. It was an *ALA* Notable Book, 2006 and a *New York Times* Notable Book (2005). It received the Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award in 2009.

## Adaptations 
### Movie adaptation 
In June 2004, 20th Century Fox bought feature movie rights to the book. In April 2007, director Chris Columbus was hired to lead the project. Logan Lerman played Percy Jackson, Brandon T. Jackson played Grover Underwood, the satyr, Alexandra Daddario played the role of Annabeth while Jake Abel was cast as Luke Castellan. Pierce Brosnan played Chiron. The movie is titled *Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief* and was first shown in the United States on February 12, 2010.

### Audiobook 
On June 28, 2005, a 10 hour 25 minute audio book version of *The Lightning Thief*, read by actor Jesse Bernstein, was published worldwide by Listening Library. *School Library Journal* both praised and criticized the audio book saying "Although some of Jesse Bernstein's accents fail (the monster from Georgia, for instance, has no Southern trace in her voice), he does a fine job of keeping the main character's tones and accents distinguishable".

## Sequel 
*The Lightning Thief* is followed by *The Sea of Monsters*. There, Percy and Annabeth rescue Grover, who has been taken prisoner by Polyphemus, the Cyclops. They get the Golden Fleece from Polyphemus' island to save the camp. They are joined by Percy's half brother, Tyson, and Clarisse in this mission.

Like *The Lightning Thief*, it won several prizes. It was received well by reviewers too. It sold over 100,000 copies in paperback.

## Foreign Language Editions 
*The Lightning Thief* was published in many languages. It was published in French, German, Spanish, Finnish, Swedish, Hebrew, Brazilian Portuguese, Serbian and Dutch. The French edition is known as '** (OCLC 3199424908). The German name of the book is
**' (OCLC 2554901802). These two, along with the Spanish version '** (OCLC 748684882), were published in 2006. The three other translations of the book, **' (OCLC 23120723516), in Finnish, *O ladrão de raios*, in Brazilian Portuguese, (in Portugal it is called ''* meaning The Thieves of Olympus) and  or *Persi G'eḳson ṿe-ganav ha-baraḳ'' (OCLC 24382472372) in Hebrew were published in 2008.

## References 
## Other Websites