Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan

This is the second book in the Percy Jackson series. Another well-written book; there is a huge flaw in this one, to which we will come later. First a few words about the book's story.

During the school year, Percy finds a new friend: Tyson. But Tyson is not any mortal child; Tyson is also a son of gods, but of the monstruous persuasion. Tyson is a Cyclops, and half-brother to Percy. But enough, about Tyson; back to our story. Percy arrives to Camp Half-Blood and finds Thalia's tree has been poisoned, and Chiron sacked because all suspicions fell on him. Camp Half-Blood is in danger; with the poisoning of the tree and the land, its magical protections are failing, and monsters attack the camp all the time.

The only thing that can save the tree, and restore the land, is the Golden Fleece. But where is it located? And what does the Golden Fleece have to do with Grover? Percy is going on another adventure, to find the Golden Fleece, rescue Grover, restore Camp Half-Blood and find out who poisoned Thalia's tree. This adventure will take him right in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle, or as the half-bloods and gods and assorted monsters call it, the Sea of Monsters. A number of mythological monsters will parade from the pages of the book; we will follow Percy into an ancient Greek adventure, set into modern times.

Now, however, as someone who has been raised in Greece, and always loved the Ancient Greek mythology, I must point out one particular flaw in this children's book: when Annabeth explains about the Golden Fleece, she says that the Golden Ram had carried Cadmus and his sister Europa, who fell while carried. But this is wrong, as the ram carried the brother and sister Phrixus and Helle; it was the girl Helle that fell in the sea from the ram, and the part of the sea where Helle fell and drowned in the strait, named Hellespont in her honour, according to mythology. Cadmus in fact, was the brother of Europa and father of Ino. Ino was the jealous stepmother of Phrixus and Helle, and why the two children had to flee carried by the Golden Ram. Europa is the woman abducted by Zeus in bull form, and the woman from which Europe got its name.

The rest of the book, as far as I could tell, did not have any more mistakes, as far as Greek mythology goes. Of course, I am not an expert, and there might be something that escaped me.

Generally, however, the book is enjoyable, and can be read by children and adults alike. What I like in this particular series of books, is the fact that the books may spark interest in Greek mythology, and gently guide children to read more about, not just mythology, but ancient civilizations as well. From the shores of the Nile to Mount Olympus and beyond, there is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom to be found and cherished.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan

This article is about the book and not the movie. I have yet to see the movie, so I cannot compare the two.

Percy (Perseus) Jackson is a 12year old with learning difficulties, and has been expelled from a number of schools up to now. Percy however, is not just another child; he is the son of one of the most powerful gods of the Greek pantheon: Poseidon, lord of the seas.

Someone has stolen the master bolt from Zeus and the helmet of Hades. The gods are blaming each other and they are on the brink of war. Zeus thinks that Poseidon is responsible, Poseidon thinks that Hades is responsible, and Hades again, blames Poseidon. Percy is in the middle of it all, because both Hades and Zeus think that he was the means by which Poseidon stole the items. Percy, along with Annabeth, daughter of Athena, and Grover, a satyr, will travel to the depths of the the Underworld to find out the truth.

The book is aimed at children aged 11-15, but also to older children, those of us who have refused to grow old, who have kept a part of our childish wonder and awe, and love a good story. The story is similar to many other stories: a 12year old with problems, finds out that he is not just a child, but has some powers, and that he is destined for bigger things. The backplot that will tie all books together is apparent from the first book, as is the usual case.

Written in first person, but sometimes I got the feeling that it was not the 12year old Percy that was writing, but an older Percy, that is remembering his adventures and writing them down for whatever reason. I thought that some parts needed a bit of revision, but all in all it was good writing.

The plot was good, and as a book, it kept my interest. It has action, good and accurate descriptions, the characters are likeable and believable, especially since they are based on Greek Mythology. It is obvious that Riordan knows Greek Mythology, and respects it throughout the book. By respect, I mean that he does not alter myths and legends, and when he talks about events from mythology, his information is accurate. And this is one of the things I liked about the book.

I must say that I was a bit biased about the book, when I bought it. Because a lot of shows and books, have mistreated Ancient Greek Mythology, which is a small passion of mine. But I also like to read anything, whether fact or fiction, about mythology. I was wrong about my bias in this case, and I enjoyed reading it.

I love stories of ancient gods and legendary heroes; they are often very beautiful. And this was a good book for children, and as a big child I enjoyed it. So, next time I find myself in a bookstore, I will probably look for the second installment.

Religion and Free Expression II

A few days ago I had written the first part of this post. But there are new developments which happened just today, and I am really angry and sad at the same time. But let me first explain what happened.

About 3 months ago, my niece's teacher gave them various small projects to do. My niece's project was about the myths of Italy. Along with my sister, they sat down, and found three beautiful myths from Italy. Today was the day that my niece would present the project. The school owner, though, does not want my niece to present her project, on religious grounds yet again, because, in the myths, there were witches, ghosts and the devil! She now wants to look and read through the projects so she can "religiously" approve them!

I really don:t know what to say about this person, who is trying to make children into dogmatic soldiers for Jeebus, who is trying to impose her own dogmatism into children, who is forbidding every expression of imagination and inventiveness...

I do not care what that fundie believes. She can believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster for all I care! But she has no right to impose her own religious views, her own ideology, her own fantasies to anyone, not to my niece, let alone any other child!

She has no right to hurt not just my niece but any child in this way, she has no right to terrorize children in this way, she has no right to treat children in this manner, as if they are non-existent, as if they are nothing. And all the above because of religion! Children have their own characters, their own personalities, and they must be respected.

And yet again, my niece does not fully comprehend why. How can anyone explain to a 9-year old girl about people having attitudes like the fundies, and are trying to impose those on others without any respect for the individual? How can anyone explain to her what dogmatism and fundamentalism are? And what they do to people? How can anyone explain to her that this person is living in a fantasy world, one very much removed from reality?

I never understood, and still do not understand, why the Abrahamic religions need to impose their views, their ways to others. Why you are considered a sinner or whatever if you use your own logic, your empathy, your sensibility. your critical thinking skills, and find your own way in this world. I don:t want your religious views or your ideology; I don:t want to be preached at; I do not want you to judge me before you get to know me in person; I am not a soldier for Jeebus or Allah or whatever deity you believe in, and don:t want to be. I want to be free to choose and decide for myself; I want to be free to think for myself!

Religion and Free Expression

This article is a response to an event that happened to my 9 year old niece, who is attending a school in Athens Greece. Unfortunately, schools in Greece are not secular, and neither is the state secular. We still have a Ministry of Education and Religion, the constitution says that this is a christian country and part of our taxes go for the salaries of the greek orthodox priests! To explain a bit, even in state schools we have a class called "Religion", which actually is a propaganda for the Greek Orthodox religion.

When she chose the school that my niece is attending, nobody told her that it was a religious/faith school; it was understood that it was just a good school where religion was taught as part of the curriculum, just like in every other school. Nor was it in any way written anywhere that there would be any kind of religious problems or anything else religious except for the usual religious crap that all schools have to abide by.

My sister has explained to my niece that most of the things she is being told in the "Religion" class are myths and legends, and that they are not true; that there is no evidence for mystical resurrected zombies or parthenogenesis in humans...

Anyway, to continue with the story, my niece wanted to dress up for the annual school carnival party as a little devil girl, nothing frightening for other children. The owners of the school, though, forbade her the costume on religious grounds! They said that it is blasphemy to dress as such! Blasphemy again, the "protector" of religion from any kind of criticism, from logic, from critical thinking, from being human even, as it seems, from having fun! I wrote my ideas about blasphemy in a previous article in this blog, when I criticized the new blasphemy law of Ireland.

This is a clear fundamentalist attitude and as such my sister has complained but to no avail. Those people are set in their illogical, superstitious, irrational, dogmatic mind set, they have been lobotomized by religion and cannot think outside the box.

Of course, my sister's family will not be attending the school party; entrance per person was priced at 28 euros, and since my sister has 3 kids, you can understand how much these cost for a total of 5 persons.

One of the worst things is that they run a school which is supposed to give an education to children. But the worst of it all is the way they made a 9 year old child feel. My niece at this moment has been hurt, is feeling humiliated. All I can do, as her aunt, is to try and explain some things, but she does not understand why she cannot dress as a little devil in the school party; she does not yet understand religion and its implications.And right now she is wondering why she was forbidden to dress as a little devil, and she is angry at the school's owner.

Of course, the school will lose not just one student but three, as my sister has 3 children in all and none will be attending that particular school.

Children need to be free from such attitudes, they need to be free to think and express themselves; parents and the surrounding environment, have the responsibility to guide them and help them think logically, think critically, to use their empathy for other people, to be human.

How are children going to develop logic and critical thinking skills, when religion is superstitious and dogmatic? How are they going to be free and to express themselves, when religion limits that freedom? How are they going to learn to be responsible for their actions when religion teaches people to put responsibility to mythological beings (god and satan)? How are they going to learn to be human, to have empathy and to care for others when religion teaches them that they are sinners, and thus bad, and ugly? How are they going to be responsible citizens and be sensitive to major current events, when religion teaches "Have faith in God"? How are they going to consider themselves as an equal member of society, when religion teaches misogyny and racism?