Interview Starts
Host: We spoke with Rick Riordan last year when the third book in the series, The Titan's Curse, was published, and we asked him about the world he creates in the Percy Jackson Books.

RR: This is basically the world of Greek Mythology as it might exist today in 21st century America. Our hero here is Percy Jackson. He's a twelve year old boy from New York. He believes his dad is dead in the Lightning Thief, the first book, bu then he discovers that actually, he's a demigod and his father is the greek god Poseidon.

Host: In the book, Percy, the main character, goes to a camp to learn how to deal with his his demigod status. Can you explain that?

RR: Yeah, Camp Half-Blood is a place on Long Island where - (technical malfunction) - the kids are divided into cabins depending on who their godly parent is and even though that is where each book starts, most of the action of the books takes place on heroic quests. They have to go off into the world.

Host: Why did you choose some of these old mythological characters to put in the books?

RR: I've loved greek myths since I was a kid and I taught them when I was a middle school teacher for many years, but really the - (unclear word, sorry) - of the series was my own son, and he was having a difficult year when he was in second grade. He had just been diagnosed with ADHD and Dyslexia, and he didn't like reading, and for an English teacher like me, that was a pretty bitter pill to swallow.
... But he did like greek mythology and so I began to tell him some of the myths at home. When I ran out he said, "well, dad, tell me another one." I said, "well, I don't have any." He said, "well, why don't you make one up then?" And that's where Percy Jackson came from - a modern demigod who, like my son, is dyslexic and ADHD.

Host: You know, it's very interesting that Percy is Dyslexic and has these attention problems. He's been expelled from school... he's not the perfect kid or the kid we read about in a lot of other, you know, that are the main character in a lot of other children novels. So what kind of feedback do you get and why do write a look like that, because you were inspired by your son..?

RR: Well, I really wasn't conscious that I was doing this but I think that I was using mythology as it always has been used, to explain things through allegory that are otherwise unexplainable. I was trying to help my son sort of make sense of what was going on with him, that he had these learning differences and it was making life difficult for him, and to turn it into a myth, where Percy finds that actually these learning conditions are a sign, in my world, that you might be special indeed, that you might have Olympian blood.
... Well, my son just loved that. He thought it was great. And the feedback that I've gotten from parents, from teachers, from kids, has just been phenominal. I've had parents tell me that the Percy Jackson series is the first thing that their dyslexic children have ever read, have ever enjoyed. I've had an email from a parent the other day that said she came in and found her son reading, and it just shocked her because he'd never read a book and he was working his way through the Percy books.

Host: Uhhu, and so you think it's that sense of maybe not being perfect that's appealing to kids?

RR: Well certainly that is true of the greek Heroes. They are definitely not perfect, and so are the greek gods. They're very flawed. But that's what makes them so interesting.

Host: I wonder though if there are some folks who maybe, might think that it's not a good role model for kids. I'm sure that there are people who say, "your hero in the book gets expelled from school. He thinks a lot of academics are boring. And then the greek gods themselves, who obviously have all sorts of flaws that you bring up in the book. I mean, are there people who say that to you?

RR: I don't get that very much, actually. I'm sure there are some people who say that but I think a perfect world is just isn't realistic, and it certainly wouldn't be very much fun to read about.

Host: What about what happens next to Percy. How many do you think will be in this series?

RR: Right, it will be a book series of five. Number five will wrap up Percy's story. I may end up doing other stories about Camp Half-Blood and other characters. I'm not sure yet, but five, I think, will cover the story arc for Percy himself.

Host: So you already know what's going to happen to Percy?

RR: I know the big picture. I know how it will end. I know the major plot details, but the minor things - the specifics sort of surprises me every time I'm writing a book, and that's what makes it fun for me to keep going.

Host: Uhumm, and you're also doing another series book at the same time?

RR: I am, I actually started being a middle school teacher and writing adult mystery novels. And I did that for about seven years until it finally occured to me that I really should be writing for kids. My students had been telling me that for years, "Mr. Riordan, why aren't you writing for us?" But it took me a long time to get to that point, and I am still doing the adult mysteries as well.

Host: So what do you think when you look at the popularity of a lot of series books right now, obviously the Harry Potter series, the Lemony Snicket series. There's a lot of children's series books right now. Is it hard to distinguish yourself?

RR: You know, I think it's fabulous how much great children's literature there is. As a teacher for many years, I had a hard time finding enough good books to make a reading list. I'm not too worried about distinguishing myself from the other authors. I think that the kids have really responded well to the books and my sense of humor is a little bit different and my fantasy world is a little bit different than maybe the other series. But kids will read if you give them books that they'll enjoy.

Host: Even kids who reading might be, you know, a little hard too. They'll read as well?

RR: Absolutely. You know, I was a reluctant reader when I was in school and yet, I became an English teacher after all of that. But it took me a long time to discover that reading could actually be fun. I had to find the right kind of books for me, so I have a lot of sympathy for reluctant readers and I definitely try to make these books that will appeal, not only to the kids that would pick them up anyway, but to the kids that maybe have never read a book.

Host: And of course, I think the big question is, does your son like them, right? I mean, they started as stories to him. Does he like them?

RR: That is absolutely the case and really, it has always been about my own sons. I actually have two boys, twelve and nine, and they are always my first critics. They read the books before anyone else does and we read them together, we sit in the bed, and I sit in the middle of them and I read it aloud - the entire manuscript. And if it doesn't work for them, then I don't even bother sending it to my editor. It's got to be revised until it works for middle grade boys, specifically mine.