GENRE: Fiction, fantasy, adventure, series. 
 SUMMARY: Percy Jackson has been shuffled from boarding school to boarding school, never succeeding very well at any one. Percy figures this is due to his A.D.D. and his dyslexia, but really it is because he is a half-blood, a person with one human parent and with one god parent. He discovers this after he lands at Camp Half-Blood, a place where kids like Percy can be safe from monsters and angry gods, and learn how to protect themselves. Yet just as he begins to settle in at camp, he gets sent on a quest, where he must recover Zeus' master lightning bolt, which the gods think Percy stole. Percy and his two closest friends encounter many monsters and battles along the way, all the while Percy tries to deal with his mixed feelings over the father he never knew. 
 EVALUATION: This is a great book, and I liked it even more since my older son and I read it concurrently. Percy is a perfect troubled middle-school boy; his dialogue and thoughts are fully believable as a tween. In some books for tweens the characters say things that many modern tweens would not. Not so in The Lightning Thief. The story was engaging throughout the book, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series. 
 WHY I WOULD INCLUDE IT: Percy feels like a real middle school guy, and I believe that will resonate well with tweens. The story also includes a strong female character, and should be equally enjoyed by both tween boys and girls. Tweens with any interest in Greek mythology and the gods involved in that time will love this title. 
 READER'S ANNOTATION: Percy Jackson was sent on a quest to recover Zeus' master lightning bolt, and that's only a part of the fantastic journey Percy undergoes. 
 ITEMS WITH SIMILAR APPEAL: 
 *	Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer. 
 *	Iris, Messenger by Sarah Deming. 
 *	Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy. 
 *	The Tiger's Apprentice by Laurence Yep. 
 *	Odysseus in the Serpent Maze by Jane Yolen.