Characters

Percy Jackson is perhaps the best chapter-titler known to man. He is our narrator and the hero of The
Lightning Thief. To get a taste of his personality and his sense of humor, just glance at this book's table
of contents. Chapter titles like "A God Buys Us Cheeseburgers," and "We Get Advice from a Poodle"
really help paint a clear portrait of this twelve-year-old boy and his demi-god sense of humor.

Annabeth is Percy's friend and sometimes competitor. Her mom is Athena, so you can imagine that she
is one smart cookie. Thanks to Annabeth, we learn pretty quickly that Athena and Poseidon don't get
along very well. Athena once caught Poseidon and his girlfriend in her sacred temple, getting busy.
Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be patrons of the city of Athens, and Athena won.
Once, though, Athena and Poseidon collaborated together inventing the chariot Athena building the
chariot part and Poseidon creating horses from ocean waves.
Meet the Cast
Percy Jackson
Percy Jackson is perhaps the best chapter-titler known to man. He is our narrator and the hero of The
Lightning Thief. To get a taste of his personality and his sense of humor, just glance at this...
Annabeth Chase
Annabeth is Percy's friend and sometimes competitor. Her mom is Athena, so you can imagine that she
is one smart cookie. Thanks to Annabeth, we learn pretty quickly that Athena and Poseidon don't g...
Grover Underwood
The G-man. Percy's best and only friend in the world. Grover has stuck by Percy throughout sixth
grade and has kept watch over him. Percy meets Grover at Yancy Academy and spends much of the
time p...
Chiron
Mr. Brunner is Percy's favorite teacher, and teaches Latin. Later, Percy realizes that Mr. Brunner is
Chiron, a very smart centaur who has trained many heroes before Percy's time, including Hercule...
Sally Jackson
Sally Jackson is Percy's mom. She works at a candy shop in Manhattan and lives in an apartment in
Queens, NY with her smelly, mean husband, Gabe. She has a love of life, and she loves her son more...
Gabe Ugliano
Gabe is Percy's stepdad, and, as his last name indicates, he is ugly in body, mind, and soul. Gabe hates
Percy's guts. All he likes to do is sit on his booty all day, eating chips and dip, and play...

Luke
"Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years" (8.15). He is the counselor in Hermes
cabin, and he helps Percy a lot in Percy's first days at Camp Half-Blood, showing him the ropes and...
Clarisse
Clarisse lives in cabin #5. Ares, God of War, is her dad. She is the resident bully at Camp Half-Blood.
When she tries to "initiate" Percy into camp culture by sticking his head in a toilet, Percy...
Thalia
Thalia is a demi-goddess who died trying to protect Annabeth, Luke, and Grover from the Furies on
Half-Blood Hill. She was the illegal daughter of Zeus, born after the Big Three had pledged not to...
The Olympians
The Olympians are all of the major Greek gods and goddesses who rule on Mount Olympus. Zeus is
the supreme ruler of them all. Zeus's siblings are Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter. His
dad...
Poseidon
Percy's father rules the sea. He is a member of the Big Three, the three sons of Kronos, along with Zeus
and Hades. Just like the sea, Poseidon can be difficult to read and interpret Percy...
Zeus
Zeus is the god of the sky and the leader of the Olympians. He has an awful temper, so don't get on his
bad side. He controls the weather and everything in the sky. His symbol of power is a master...
Hades
He was the third god I'd met, but the first who really struck me as godlike" (19.86). Hades is a member
of the Big Three and he governs the land of the dead the Underworld. He reminds Percy...
Kronos
Though we never actually see Kronos, he definitely has a presence in Percy's story. He talks to Percy
through Percy's dreams, luring Percy down to the Underworld. Percy believes that Kronos, who is...
Ares
Ares is the God of War, and he is Zeus's son. We first meet him in Denver when he rolls up in a Harley
outside of the diner where Percy, Grover, and Annabeth are about to eat. Ares gives them a min...
Mr. D (Dionysus)
Mr. D is the irritable director of Camp Half-Blood and the God of Wine. His father, Zeus, has
sentenced him to centuries of servitude at Camp Half-Blood for bad behavior: "Mr. D offended his
father...

Athena
Annabeth's mom is really cool. She is the Goddess of Wisdom and is Zeus's daughter. We know that
she and Poseidon don't get along very well: Athena once caught Poseidon and his girlfriend at the ti...

Summary
Meet Percy Jackson. He is twelve years old, and he decides to tell us the story of his past year. On the
first day of summer, just after his sixth-grade year, Percy discovers that something is wrong with him.
Or rather, something is right with him. He learns that he is a half-blood: half-human, half-god. He is
taken to Camp Half-Blood in New York, a camp for kids just like him that is safe from monsters that
like to attack half-bloods.
At camp, Percy learns more information about himself: his father is Poseidon, god of the Sea and
brother to Zeus and Hades. When Zeus's master bolt (the thing that allows him to create lightning
whenever he wants) is stolen, Poseidon is blamed for the theft. Zeus tells Poseidon that the master bolt
must be returned to Mount Olympus by the summer solstice, or else he will declare war on Poseidon.
Poseidon is miffed that his brother Zeus would even accuse him of such a thing.
Percy sets out on a quest to retrieve Zeus's master bolt, which is believed to be in Hades's captivity in
the Underworld. Helping Percy are Grover, his BFF, and Annabeth, a smart demi-goddess and daughter
of Athena. The three take a bus, a train, a truck, and a taxi cab to make their way across America, from
New York to Los Angeles, where the gates of the Underworld are located. They stop in St. Louis,
Denver, and Las Vegas along the way. During their quest, they battle vicious monsters like Medusa,
they find disaster on the observation deck of the Gateway Arch, they are tricked by the god of war
(Ares), they nearly lose their memories in an enchanted Vegas casino, and they are almost stretched to
death.
Once in the Underworld, Percy finds that Hades does not have Zeus's master bolt, and he is missing his
own symbol of power: the helm of darkness. Hades accuses Percy of stealing both the master bolt and
the helm of darkness for his father, Poseidon. He accuses Poseidon of being power-hungry. To make
things worse, the master bolt magically appears in Percy's backpack while he is talking to Hades.
After escaping Hades's wrath, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover encounter Ares, the god of war, on the
Santa Monica beach. Percy questions Ares and discovers that Ares stole the master bolt and helm of
darkness from the original thief (whose name we don't yet know). Ares has been tempted by the
possibility of sparking one of the biggest wars of all time between the Big Three: Hades, Zeus, and
Poseidon. Percy and Ares battle it out on the beach, and Percy wounds Ares, winning the helm of
darkness. Ares curses Percy.
Percy returns the helm of darkness to Hades and takes a plane to New York City where he finds Mount
Olympus on the 600th floor of the Empire State Building. Percy meets Poseidon and Zeus for the first
time and tells them everything that he knows and suspects. He tells them that he believes Kronos, king
of the Titans who ruled in the age before the Greek gods, is getting ready to wage war on the
Olympians (the Greek gods and goddesses). Percy has been having dreams about Kronos in which
Kronos talks to him. Zeus doesn't want to hear it. Poseidon tells Percy that he is proud of him and that

he must make a choice when he goes home to his mom's apartment in Queens, NY.
That summer at Camp Half-Blood, Percy has a great time living the life of a hero. He procrastinates
making a decision about whether he will stay at Camp Half-Blood year round, or whether he will go
home and live with his mom in Queens.
On the last day of camp, Percy is lured into the woods by his friend, Luke. Luke confesses to Percy that
he was the original thief of the master bolt and the helm of darkness. He tells Percy that he serves
Kronos and that Kronos is planning to defeat the Olympians and get rid of them. Luke vanishes,
leaving a deadly scorpion to sting Percy. Percy nearly dies from this scorpion bite, but is rescued by
wood nymphs who take him to safety. Percy's teacher, Chiron, nurses him back to health. Percy decides
to go home and live with his mother for his seventh-grade year.

Biography
Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians
series, the Kane Chronicles, the Heroes of Olympus, and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard. He is
also the author of the multi-award-winning Tres Navarre mystery series for adults.
For fifteen years, Rick taught English and history at public and private middle schools in the San
Francisco Bay Area and in Texas. While teaching in San Antonio, Saint Marys Hall honored him with
the schools first Master Teacher Award.
While teaching full time, Riordan began writing mystery novels for grownups. 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.
Today over forty 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 37 countries. Rick is also the
author of The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones, another #1 New York Times bestseller
Rick Riordan now writes full-time. He lives in Boston with his wife and two sons
More info:
If you are doing a school report and need information about Rick Riordan, this is the best site to use.
Remember you need to paraphrase everything! Put it in your own words. Dont just copy and paste!
Born: June 5, 1964
Place of Birth: San Antonio, TX
Education: Attended Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio. Worked as an editor for the school
newspaper and won third place in state for UIL feature writing. Also got in trouble for publishing an
underground newspaper that made fun of the school, especially the losing football team. (The football
team later egged my car). Began college at North Texas State (because I thought I wanted to be a guitar
player and they had the best music program), but then transferred to the University of Texas at Austin.
Graduated with a double major in English and history. Got certified to teach English and history from
UT San Antonio. Did my student teaching in the San Antonio Independent School District.

Childhood influences: The first book I remember reading for fun was the Lord of the Rings. I
probably read it ten times. I also liked Greek and Norse mythology since I was in middle school. I read
mostly fantasy and science fiction in high school, then got interested in mysteries when I got to college.
My parents were both teachers. My mom was a musician and an artist, too. My dad was a ceramicist
(he made stuff out of clay), so I grew up in a very artistic family. I started writing when I was in middle
school. The first story I submitted for publication was when I was 13. It wasnt published. My first
published works were two short stories in the UTSA literary magazine.
Work experience: When I was in college, I worked for three years as the music director at a summer
camp, Camp Capers. This is where I got the idea for Camp Half-Blood. My first full-time job was
teaching middle school in New Braunfels, Texas. After that, my wife and I moved to San Francisco. We
lived there for eight years and I taught at Presidio Hill School. Then we had our two sons, Haley and
Patrick, and we moved back home to San Antonio. I taught at Saint Marys Hall (English and social
studies, grades 6-8) for six years, then stopped teaching to become a full-time writer. I taught
mythology almost every year that I was a teacher. It was always my favorite thing, and the students
always liked it, too!
Family: I live with my wife and two sons, Haley and Patrick.
Pets: one dog Speedy (a Basenji/terrier mix) and three black cats.
Favorite book I wrote: Thats a hard question for a writer. Its like asking which of your children is
your favorite. I like them all for different reasons.
Favorite character in my books: Also hard to answer! Probably Grover, Bes or Tyson because theyre
so much fun to write about.
In my spare time: I like to read, swim, play guitar, and travel with my family.