Short-Form Text

Percy Jackson and Mythology

Library of Congress, adapted by Newsela

Recommended For

Upper Elementary School - Middle School

Words

395

Lexile

930L

Published

2026-05-01

Percy Jackson started as a bedtime story! Author Rick Riordan made up stories about Greek myths to tell his son Haley at night. Haley really struggled in school. Haley had dyslexia, a learning difference that makes reading harder. He also had ADHD, which makes it difficult to focus. Riordan said that Haley hated school so much that he would hide under the dining room table and cry, and he refused to do his homework.

Even though reading was tough for Haley, he loved Greek myths—ancient stories from Greece about gods, monsters and heroes. His dad turned those myths into bedtime stories. Once Riordan ran out of real myths to tell, Haley had a great idea: Why not make up new ones? That’s how Percy Jackson was born. He’s a 12-year-old with dyslexia and ADHD who finds out he’s the son of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. As the son of Poseidon, this made him a demigod (half-human, half-god). Percy goes to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods. There he makes friends and goes on amazing adventures, from fighting monsters to, eventually, applying for college.

A Huge Franchise

Percy’s story has grown into three book series and even a TV show. The whole collection is called the Camp Half-Blood Chronicles, which also includes a video game and a Broadway musical.

Rick Riordan’s Other Books

Riordan didn’t stop with Greek myths. He wrote other series based on myths from around the world. In one series, a demigod named Magnus Chase goes on adventures connected to Norse mythology. These are myths from Scandinavia about the Vikings and their gods, like Odin and Thor. In another series called the Kane Chronicles, two siblings discover they come from a long line of powerful magicians and have to fight the gods of ancient Egypt. Riordan has also written shorter story collections that revisit his characters, though these aren’t part of any main series.

One Big World

Here’s something cool: all of Riordan’s books take place in the same world! Percy and his friends show up or get mentioned across the different series. Together, the books explore myths from Greece, Rome, Egypt and Scandinavia, covering thousands of miles and thousands of years of storytelling. If you want to learn even more about these myths, there are also children’s books about Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Norse mythology worth checking out.

Lesson 3 Sequence

Think-Pair-Share

Directions: Think about your responses to the questions first, and then share and refine your answers with a partner.

If you retold an ancient myth for middle-school readers today, what would you keep, and what would you change?
Why might an author want to modernize an old story instead of copying it exactly?
When a writer adapts a myth, the story moves across time and changes form. The prefix trans- means “across” or “change.” In the word transform, something changes form, and in the word transport, something carries across a distance. That helps us see that Riordan does not just repeat myths—he transforms them for a new audience.
How does the prefix trans- help you understand the word transform?
How could that meaning connect to the way an author adapts myths?

Directions: You are going to read sections of an informational article about Rick Riordan and Percy Jackson. As you read, look for two things: what ideas connect to traditional myth and how those ideas are adapted for modern readers.

Jigsaw Reading

Each expert group will focus on one part of the article. As you read, underline details that answer your section question and jot notes in your Jigsaw Worksheet.

Group 1: In the part of the article explaining why Riordan first told Percy Jackson stories, how did an old myth become a story for a modern child?
Group 2: In the part of the article describing Percy as a hero, what makes him both mythic and modern?
Group 3: In the part of the article explaining Riordan’s larger impact, how does one adaptation lead readers toward more myths and cultures?

Make Comparisons:

In the part of the article explaining why Riordan first created Percy Jackson, what need or problem led him to adapt the myth into a new story?
In the section that describes Percy as a “modern myth,” what does that phrase mean in context? Use at least two details from the article.
In the part of the article about Riordan’s broader work, how does the article show that adaptation can connect readers to more than one mythology or story tradition?

Pulse Check

Which statement best explains adaptation in this lesson?

Adaptation means copying an ancient myth exactly so nothing changes.
Adaptation means changing a story’s setting, style, or characters while keeping important themes or patterns.
Adaptation means replacing myths with completely unrelated modern stories.
Adaptation means translating a story into harder vocabulary so it sounds more serious.

Quick Write

Directions: Take one minute to think about what changed in your thinking today. Then write a short response explaining how Riordan modernizes myth. Use at least two specific details from the article and at least one comparison word, such as while, unlike, or both . . . but.

How does Riordan transform myth for modern readers, and why might that matter? Use two specific details from the article in your response.