Mission Impossible

1. Mission Impossible Rick Riordan’s Fantastic World Kelly Shepherd Towson University

2. Fun Facts: • Author of many popular, award-winning books for both adults and children • More than 20 million copies sold worldwide • Published in 39 countries • Married, with a wife and two sons • Has three pets, a Golden Lab mix and two black cats • Favorite activities include reading, writing, and playing guitar • Riordan’s last name is pronounced Ryer-dan (it rhymes with fire) www.rickriordan.com

3. The Early Years Rick Riordan’s Biography Birthday Rick Riordan was born in San Antonio, Texas on June 5, 1964. His parents and grandparents were teachers. Reluctant Reader Riordan did not enjoy reading until his 8th grade teacher introduced him to The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. This influenced his interest in reading, writing, and mythology. Beginning Writer At age 13, Riordan submitted his first story to Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine. It was rejected, because “…angels aren’t science fiction characters” (Follos, 2008) Image retrieved from www.images.google.com

4. Life Before Fame Rick Riordan’s Biography High School In high school, Riordan worked for his school newspaper. He also ran an underground newspaper . College Riordan attended North Texas State. He planned on a career in music, and wrote songs for his folk rock band. College – Part 2 Riordan transferred to the University of Texas at San Antonio. He worked for three years as a music director at Camp Capers – which later became the inspiration for Camp Half-Blood. .

5. Fame and Fortune Rick Riordan’s Biography Teacher Riordan graduated with a double major in English and history. He taught for fifteen years at schools in California and Texas. His students read and offered comments for his book The Lightning Thief - the first title was Son of the Sea God. 1st Major Publication Riordan finished the manuscript for his first book in 1994. This book, written for adults , became the first book in the Tres Navarre mystery series. It was finally published three years later, in 1997. 1st Children’s Book In 2005 Riordan’s first children’s book, The Lightning Thief , is published by Hyperion Publishing. Image retrieved from www.images.google.com

6. Introducing Percy Jackson… Introducing Percy Jackson… Perseus, aka Percy Jackson, thinks he has big problems. His father left before he was born, he’s been kicked out of six schools, in six years, he’s dyslexic, and he has ADHD. What a surprise when he finds out that’s only the tip of the iceberg: he vaporizes his pre-algebra teacher, learns his best friend is a satyr, and is almost killed by a minotaur before his mother manages to get him to the safety of Camp Half-Blood – where he discovers that Posiedon is his father. But that’s a problem, too. Posieden has been accused of stealing Zeus’s lightning bolt, and unless Percy can return the bolt, humankind is doomed (Sherman, 2005). Image retrieved from www.images.google.com

7. About The Lightning Thief http://www.adlit.org/articles/authors/riordan

8. 2007 2006 2005 2008 2009 Image retrieved from www.images.google.com Percy Jackson and the Olympians

9. Riordan’s Trademark Style • Fast-paced plot, focusing on action and adventure • Infuses historical elements and classical mythology into modern life Humor • Modern kids who face tremendous challenges Fantasy elements with a unique twist

10. The saga continues in The Lost Hero… • The first book of the Heroes of Olympus series introduces new characters: • Piper – daughter of Aphrodite • Leo – son of Hephaestus • Jason – son of Zeus • New challenges • Percy Jackson is missing • The giants, Gaea’s children, return to overthrow the Olympians • Piper’s father is being held hostage by the giants • Jason has amnesia, speaks Latin, instead of Greek, and has strange initials tattooed on his arm. Image retrieved from www.images.google.com

11. The 39 Clues series • Published by Scholastic • Written by a team of writers, including Gorman Korman, Jude Watson, Margaret Haddix, and Linda Sue Park. • Riordan wrote the first book, TheMaze of Bones, and outlined the story arc for the entire series. • Series is designed to be interactive, with trading cards, online games, and a treasure hunt for readers. • Riordan’s most recent contribution to the series are The Black Book of Buried Secrets and Vespers Rising. Image retrieved from www.images.google.com

12. One million dollars or a clue that could lead to the most powerful secret in history…what would you choose? Video by Scholastic Kids http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F-DW9S0vgM

13. The Kane Chronicles • A new series that introduces siblings Carter and Sadie Kane. • Their father, an Egyptologist, is really a descendant of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. • Their father disappears after freeing five Egyptian gods from their prison. • Sadie and Carter learn that they possess magical powers that they must use to fight the evil that their father has unleashed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrxSKO73wTY&feature=relmfu Image retrieved from www.images.google.com

14. Rave Reviews Review of The Red Pyramid He has a winning formula, but this book goes beyond formulaic to present a truly original take on Egyptian mythology. His trademark humor is here in abundance, and there are numerous passages that will cause readers to double over in laughter. The humor never takes away from the story or the overall tone. A must-have book, and in multiple copies (Wadham, 2010). Review of The Lost Hero Riordan excels at clever plot devices and at creating an urgent sense of cliff-hanging danger. His interjection of humor by incongruous juxtaposition – Medea, for example, heads up a New York City Department store – provides some welcome relief (Burns, 2011). Review of The Lightning Thief Riordan’s fast-paced adventure is fresh, dangerous, and funny. Percy is an appealing, but reluctant hero, the modernized gods are hilarious, and the parallels to Harry Potter are frequent and obvious. Because Riordan is faithful to the original myths, librarians should be prepared for a rush of readers wanting the classic stories (Sherman, 2005).

15. Riordan on Writing… “People have said for many years that writing for kids is easier. I haven’t found that to be true at all. If anything, writing for young readers is more demanding because they don’t have as much patience as adults. Adults will stay with you if you have paragraph after paragraph of extraneous descriptions. Kids won’t do that. They’ll let you know right away if your story is losing them. So you have to be a better storyteller.” (Smith, 2008) “I always imagine myself reading my own book aloud in fifth period, right after lunch. If you can hold the attention of a classroom in fifth period, you’re doing something right.” (Larson, 2009) Image retrieved from www.images.google.com

16. Shamus Award (1998) for Big Red Tequila Edgar Award (1999) for The Widower’s Two-Step Mark Twain Award (2008) for The Lightning Thief Mark Twain Award (2009) for The Sea of Monsters Rebecca Caudill Award (2009) for The Lightning Thief Carnegie Award (2010) for The Last Olympian Carnegie Award (2011) for The Red Pyramid Children’s Choice Book Awards (2011) Author of the Year Awards for Rick Riordan’s Work

17. To learn more about Rick Riordan, visit his website at www.rickriordan.com • Here, you can: • Listen to the author read aloud from The Lightning Thief. • View the author’s blog and watch video interviews. • Learn more about ancient history and mythology. • Play games. • Learn more about Rick Riordan’s upcoming projects. For more information, try these websites: http://disney.go.com/disneybooks/heroes-of-olympus/ http://disney.go.com/official-sites/kane-chronicles/index http://www.percyjacksonbooks.com/

18. References (2011) An interview with Rick. Retrieved May 7, 2011 from www.rickriordan.com/aboutrick/an-interview-with-rick.aspx (2011) Meet Rick Riordan. Retrieved May 7, 2011 from http://www.adlit.org/transcript_display/29098 Burns, C. T. (2011). The lost hero. [Review of the book The lost hero]. School Library Journal, 57(2), 118. Retrieved May 7, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database. Follos, A. (2008). Author profile: Rick Riordan. Library Media Connection, 26(5), 42-44. Retrieved May 7, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database. Larson, J. (2009). Talking with Rick Riordan. Book Links, 18(5), 18-20. Retrieved May 7, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database. Sherman, C. (2005). The lightning thief. [Review of the book The lightning thief]. Booklist, 102(2), 59. Retrieved May 7, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database. Wadham, T. (2010). The red pyramid. [Review of the book The red pyramid]. School Library Journal, 56(6), 118. Retrieved May 7, 2011 from Academic Search Premier database.