PERCY JACKSON AND THE

OLYMPIANS
THE LIGHTNING THIEF

WRITTEN BY: RICK RIORDAN

RICK RIORDAN

• Rick Riordan is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of over twenty
novels for young readers, including the Percy Jackson series.
• 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 Mary’s Hall honored him with the school’s first Master
Teacher Award.
• Today, over 190 million copies of his books are in print worldwide, and
rights have been sold into more than 37 countries. Rick and his wife Becky
are both executive producers overseeing TV/film adaptations of his works
including Percy Jackson, the Kane Chronicles and Daughter of the Deep.
CHAPTER 1 – I ACCIDENTLY VAPORIZE MY
PRE-ALGEBRA TEACHER
• What is the first warning that Percy Jackson makes to the reader?
• Answer: The first warning that Percy Jackson makes to the reader is to close the book if we think we are
a half-blood (half human, half god). He tells us to believe the story our dad told us and to move on.

• Who is Person Jackson?

• Answer: Percy Jackson is a twelve year old boy who studies at Yancy Academy in New York.
WHO WAS KRONOS? (PAGE 5)

• Answer: In Greek mythology Cronus was the son of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth), being
the youngest of the 12 Titans. On the advice of his mother he castrated his father with
a harpē, thus separating Heaven from Earth. He now became the king of the Titans, and took
for his consort his sister Rhea; she bore by him Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, all
of whom he swallowed because his own parents had warned that he would be overthrown by his
own child. When Zeus was born, however, Rhea hid him in Crete and tricked Cronus into
swallowing a stone instead. Zeus grew up, forced Cronus to disgorge his brothers and
sisters, waged war on Cronus, and was victorious. After his defeat by Zeus, Cronus became,
according to different versions of his story, either a prisoner in Tartarus or king in Elysium.
According to one tradition, the period of Cronus’s rule was a golden age for mortals.
• What did the gods do when they defeated Kronos? (page 6)
• Answer: They sliced him to pieces with his own scythe and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the
darkest part of the underworld.

• Was Percy Jackson a good student in school? (page 7)

• Answer: Percy Jackson suffered from dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and had never had an
above c- (3-) in his life.
WHAT EVENTS TRANSPIRED AT THE END OF CHAPTER
1?

• After an altercation with bully Nancy Bobofit at the water fountain, Percy is falsely accused of pushing
her. Mrs. Dodds leads Percy deeper into the museum to punish him. As she is demanding a confession
from Percy, she transforms into a Fury, a mythical creature with bat wings and yellow fangs. Mr.
Brunner appears and tosses Percy a ballpoint pen that turns into a bronze sword. Percy swings the sword,
striking the monster, and it turns to dust. Dazed by this experience, Percy returns back to the fountain
only to discover that, in everyone else’s minds, Mrs. Dodds never existed. Grover tells him that Mrs.
Kerr has always been their math teacher, leaving Percy more confused than ever.
 VOCABULARY – CHAPTER 2
• Talons – Garras
• Squall – Tempestade (Uma rajada é um aumento súbito e acentuado na velocidade do vento que dura minutos,
em oposição a uma rajada de vento, que dura apenas alguns segundos.)
• Old sot – Old drunk (Velho bêbado)
• Confound – Confusão/confundir
• Mapple trees - Árvore de bordo
• Litter – Lixo
• Knit – tricotar
• Apricot – Damascos
• Yarn – fio
WHY WAS PERCY JACKSON NOT INVITED TO THE
YANCY ACADEMY THE FOLLOWING YEAR?

• He was expelled because when asked why he didn’t bother to study for his English spelling tests he
called his English teacher an old sot.
WHAT DID PERCY MISS THE MOST ABOUT YANCY
ACADEMY?

• And yet… there were things I’d miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson
River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I’d miss Grover, who’d been a good friend, even if he was a
little strange. I worried how he’d survive next year without me. I’d miss Latin class, too-Mr. Brunner’s
crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.
HOW DID PERCY SPEND HIS SUMMER VACATIONS?

• What I didn’t tell them was that I’d have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine
subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I’d go to school in the fall.
WHY IS THIS CHAPTER CALLED - THREE OLD LADIES
KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH?
• The three old ladies are the fates from ancient Greek mythology.
• Clothon – spun the thread of life from her distaff onto her spindle.
• Lachesis – measured the thread of life allotted to each person with her measuring rod.
• Atrapos – Was the cutter of the thread of life. She chose the manner of each person´s death, and when
the time came, she would cut the thread with her shears.

• In the end, Percy saw three old ladies knitting what looked like socks but bigger. These three ladies
were knitting his life. In the end, he heard the last lady (Atrapos) cutting the thread. From the Greek
mythology, this meant the death of a person and because they were looking at Percy, the thread
meant his life, so when they cut it, it represented bad things for Percy.
THREE OLD LADIES
 UNIT 3 - VOCABULARY

• Muttering – Murmumar - Act snooty (agir com atitude

• Bladder – Bexiga negativa)
• Beeline – Atalho (shortcut) - Windowsill (Peitoril da janela)
• Strewn (Espalhadas e em camadas) - Quilt (manta)
• Reeked (Cheiro forte e desagradável) - Licorice (tipo de planta – regaliz)
• Blare (Sons fortes) - Taffy (caramelo)
• Building super(visor) (Supervisor de um - Cot (berço)
edifício – verificar que tudo está em ordem) - Muzzle (Focinho)
• Scowl (Olhar irritado) - Mallets ( marretas)
UNIT 3 - GROVER UNEXPECTEDLY LOSES HIS PANTS

• Who is Percy Jackson´s mother and what do we know about her?

• Her name is Sally Jackson and she’s the best person in the world, which just proves my theory that the
best people have the rottenest (worst) luck. Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five,
and she was raised by an uncle who didn’t care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she
spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program.
Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year (17 years old) to take care of him.
After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.
WHO IS PERCY JACKSON´S FATHER AND WHAT DO WE
KNOW ABOUT HIM?

• I don’t have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My
mom doesn’t like to talk about him because it makes her sad. She has no pictures. See, they weren’t
married. She told me he was rich and important, and their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he
set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back. Lost at sea, my mom
told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.
WHO IS GABE UGLIANO?

• Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true
colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe. I’m sorry, but it’s the truth. The
guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts. Between the two of us, we made my mom’s life
pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along … well, when I came home is a
good example. I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly
Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN (sports channel).
Chips and beer cans were strewn (layered on top of each other) all over the carpet.
• Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tuskless walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on
his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something. He managed the
Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don’t know why he hadn’t been
fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me
nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his
gambling funds. He called that our “guy secret.” Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.
HOW WAS PERCY´S RELATION WITH GABE UGLIANO?

• “That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?”
• This sentence shows that they were not very close. He didn’t even ask Percy how his life was going or
checked if he was experiencing difficulties.
WHERE DID PERCY´S MOTHER WORK?

• Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate,
licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central.
DID SHE CARE ABOUT PERCY BEING EXPELLED?

• She didn’t mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn’t seem to care about that. But was I
okay? Was her little boy doing all right?
WHAT DID PERCY TELL HIS MOTHER ABOUT HIS TIME
AT YANCY ACADEMY?

• For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn’t too down
about the expulsion. I’d lasted almost the whole year this time. I’d made some new friends. I’d done
pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn’t been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy
Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking
up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn’t seem so bad.
HOW DID GABE UGLIANO FEEL ABOUT PERCY'S TRIP
WITH HIS MOTHER TO THE BEACH AT MONTAUK?

• He was very hesitant. Because he played poker all the time, they didn’t have much money, so, in
exchange, the mother made Gabe an appetizer called 7 layer dip to soften him up, promised him that
the money they were going to use would come out of the clothes budget and that they would use the
car only to go to the beach and back, nothing else.
WHY IS THIS BEACH IMPORTANT TO PERCY´S
MOTHER?

• It was the place where she had met his dad.

HOW DID PERCY FEEL ABOUT HIS REAL FATHER?

• I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not
having the guts to marry my mom. He’d left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END OF CHAPTER 3?

• It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying
to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse’s muzzle with
its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings. As they fought, the ground
rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight
harder.

• The white horse was Groover, Percy´s best friend. Percy woke up with a thunderclap and the oceans
were agitated. Groover showed up to the house were Percy was staying and demanded Percy told his
mother what he had seen at the bus. When the mother found out they rushed to the car and Percy
understood why Groover ran fast but limped.
CHAPTER 4 - MY MOTHER TEACHES ME
BULLFIGHTING
VOCABULARY
• Shag-carpet pants – Tapete felpudo
Crest – topo
• Lanolin – Lanolina (substância encontrada na lã de ovelha)
Grunting – som de animais, especialmente porcos e touros
• Flitted – mover rápido
Snorting- Som nasal, especialmente de excitação ou receio
• Bleat – Som feito pelas ovelhas e cabras
Lumbering – Mover lentamente
• Satyr – Mitologia grega, ser metade humano metade bode
Draped – colocar de volta de algo
• Miffed – irritado
Fruits of the loom – Marca de fruta
Coarse – Grosso e áspero
• Fluttering – bater as asas
Brass – bronze
• Hose (mangueira) Hosed – Atirar água com uma mangueira
Gleaming – Brilhar porque está demasiado limpo ou é novo
• Daze – Confuso, atordoado
Cue – Sinal
• Wedged – Enterrado
Bellowed – Rugido forte
• Slump – cair fortemente
Tromping – andar pesado
• Sizzling – Muito quente
Slick – deslizante
Bolt - escalar
VOCABULARY
• Springboard – trampolim ou prancha • S

• Staggered – mexer rapidamente para tentar que algo saia de cima

• Bucked -

Groaning – Som de dor

Moths - mariposas
IMPORTANT NOTES FROM CHAPTER 4

• Why is the chapter called “My mother teaches me bullfighting”?

• The chapter is named “my mother teaches me bullfighting” because when Pasiphae´s son appeared, it
was his mother that taught him to dodge the charge from the bull. She also told percy that in a charge,
the bull only goes forward, which was useful later on to defeat him.
• Why did Percy´s friend not realize who Mrs. Dodds was?
• In chapter 4, we learn that the half-gods put mist over the human´s eyes in order to conceal the
mythological creatures. However it did not work on Percy because he is an half-god and so he realized
what was happening.

• Why did Percy´s Mother not want Percy to go to the “summer camp” his father wanted?
• In chapter 4, we realize that because Percy´s mother was human, she could not go to that camp, so that
would mean that she would not be able to go see Percy at the camp.
• What is the only time that the “Ladies of Fate” appear to anyone?
• They only appear to someone when they are about to die.

• Can you describe Pasiphae´s son?

• He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man
magazine-bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other ‘ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under
vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly
button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to
his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring,
cruel black eyes, and horns-enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn’t get from an
electric sharpener.
• What was the advice that Percy´s mother gave Percy to dodge the bull attack?
• “When he sees us, he’ll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way- directly sideways.
He can’t change directions very well once he’s charging. Do you understand?”

• What happened to Percy´s mother in chapter 4?

• The monster closed his fists around his mother’s neck, and she dissolved before his eyes, melting into
light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was
simply … gone.
• How did Percy defeat Pasiphae´s son at the end of chapter 4?
• Percy was thrown out of the bull and into a rock. However, he managed to rip a horn from the bull.
When the bull charged against him on last time, he drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up
under his furry rib cage. Then, the bull began to disintegrate like crumbling sand.