Percy Jackson for Christians

[Hedgehogs4]

With this being the new hot book out for kids, and my ds 8 being an avid reader, I am hesitant to give him this to read. I have heard that there is nothing "bad" in it, and I am starting to read it myself, but how do you feel about the spiritual elements, the presentation of Hades, the way doubts reality are blurred?

 

When it comes to protecting my kids...it's not that I don't want them to know, but i'm very cautious about spiritual influences that come into the home. I have read tons of Greek mythology to the kids and it has been one of focused areas of study this year, and the kids enjoy it, but it doesn't have the same impact as something that is contextualized for our current times. kwim?

 

thoughts or opinions?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Keep reading it for yourself. I read it and I've let my ds12 read them all. The mythology connections are fun but not subtle. The gods are very obviously flawed beings in these books. But ultimately you need to read it for yourself and see what you think about them.

[Orthodox6]

Whenever someone (or some publisher) promotes a book for children or teens, I always examine a copy from the library or bookstore, and read reviews online. It often does not work (for me) to rely on another person's viewpoint. That, then, is the best reply I can offer you.

 

Yesterday, in an odd coincidence to your post, my son's friend tried to interest ds in reading The Lightning Thief. While the boys hung out upstairs, I studied the book sufficiently to conclude that I have no interest in it (or others in the series) for our family. To me, it is the stereotypical pulp pawned off on today's young people (who deserve better).

[Jean in Newcastle]

 

Yesterday, in an odd coincidence to your post, my son's friend tried to interest ds in reading The Lightning Thief. While the boys hung out upstairs, I studied the book sufficiently to conclude that I have no interest in it (or others in the series) for our family. To me, it is the stereotypical pulp pawned off on today's young people (who deserve better).

 

I do agree that it is stereotypical pulp. But we enjoyed it. We read so fast that a "twaddle" book every now and then doesn't bother me. But there are other books that I've said 'no' to. It's such an individual decision.

[Orthodox6]

I do agree that it is stereotypical pulp. But we enjoyed it. We read so fast that a "twaddle" book every now and then doesn't bother me. But there are other books that I've said 'no' to. It's such an individual decision.

 

That is not at all what I meant, but I have no problem with other people reading whatever they wish ! :)

[JudoMom]

That is not at all what I meant, but I have no problem with other people reading whatever they wish ! :)

 

I'm confused, then, because that's how I understood what your wrote. Can you explain what you meant :001_smile:?

[Orthodox6]

I'm confused, then, because that's how I understood what your wrote. Can you explain what you meant :001_smile:?

 

Tone and content. One cannot be explicit on message boards without wrath raining down from disgruntled posters. As I keep underscoring, I don't feel upset with other families liking things which don't fit within my family's worldview.

 

Sorry if I sent anyone down a mist-shrouded bunny trail.

[Laurie4b]

With this being the new hot book out for kids, and my ds 8 being an avid reader, I am hesitant to give him this to read. I have heard that there is nothing "bad" in it, and I am starting to read it myself, but how do you feel about the spiritual elements, the presentation of Hades, the way doubts reality are blurred?

 

When it comes to protecting my kids...it's not that I don't want them to know, but i'm very cautious about spiritual influences that come into the home. I have read tons of Greek mythology to the kids and it has been one of focused areas of study this year, and the kids enjoy it, but it doesn't have the same impact as something that is contextualized for our current times. kwim?

 

thoughts or opinions?

 

I wouldn't say that the books have a spiritual influence at all. They are interesting twaddle, but I don't think twaddle typically has the power to influence, even if it tries ! The Greek gods are more like superheroes in comic books. The book is about "half-bloods," though--children who had one parent who was a Greek god, one parent who was mortal. (Thus extra-marital sex is implied, but not dwelt on.)

 

There are two references to God in the first book, none in the second.

#1

Chiron (a centaur) What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods--the forces you call the Greek gods--are very much alive."

....

Percy (an 11 yr old half-blood) Wait. You're telling me that there's such a thing as God.

 

Chiron: Well now, God--capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shant's deal with the metaphysical.

 

#2 They are in Hades on a quest. A preacher who has ripped off millions of funds intended for orphans to feed a lavish lifestyle is being sent to the worst part of Hades. (There are bad, boring, and good parts of Hades.)

 

Percy: "But if he's a preacher, and he believes in a different hell..."

Grover (a satyr): "Who says he's seeing this place the way we're seeing it? Humans see what they want to see. [That's a theme throughout the book--that there is a Mist that keeps humans from seeing what actually happened. So if there was a battle between half-bloods and mythological monsters, humans might see an explosion of some kind..]

 

I'm sure that both of my kids would read the above and ignore both instances. They would view it as part of the world created by the author. As I said,

 

I am fine with my 11 year old and 13 year old reading them. They have a decent plot. They are written at a pretty low reading level. (I'm thinking 4th graders I tutor would be able to read them and would definitely like them.) If you are sensitive to teen banter (there is a lot of verbal and other battling between the half-blood kids at the camp they are sent to) then you will want to give these books a pass.

 

Overall: The books are a quick read. They are mind candy. I enjoyed the two that I read. (I always preread anything I'm wondering about.) They are engaging to kids. (I bought them because I needed more material to get my dyslexic kiddo to read more). I don't think they will have any spiritual influence whatsoever. They're too silly.

 

For context: I generally like fantasy. I lread Narnia& Lord of the Rings to my kids by 3rd grade. Once they were older (late elementary school) I let them read Harry Potter (which has distinctively Christian themes and symbolism) , and the Eragon series. Of all those, the Eragon series has the most nonChristian spiritual influence in them. It is definitely written from a nonChristian worldview. I talk about that with my kids.

Edited April 13, 2010 by Laurie4b

[Garga]

I just recently read the books myself trying to decide if I should read it to my 7 yo.

 

Here are my personal opinions (that might not mean anything to you.)

 

1. There were lots and lots of "monsters." Lots of creatures that looked like one thing, (an old woman) and then turned into a monster. My son really hates the idea of something turning into something else. If it starts out as a monster, he's ok. But the idea of someone who looks good suddenly turning into a pointy-teethed, red-eyed monster just creeps him out. So, I wouldn't read it to him for that reason.

 

2. The book wasn't very well written. I guess I'm starting to understand twaddle. The story was fun, but definitely geared toward children. People say that Harry Potter is poorly written, but they must not have read other children's books, because compared to so many books (like these Percy books) Harry Potter is great lit! :tongue_smilie:

 

3. At one point Percy thanks his father (Poseidon) for helping him. Percy IS his son. Poseidon helps him. Percy has a right to be helped by his dad. He has a right to expect his powerful father to help him. The relationship between father and son should be one where the son can rely on his father. Oddly enough, that one simple part of the story really impacted me. I believe that God is my father, and seeing this character thank his father for helping him, made me realize that while that's fiction, I truely do have God as my personal father. It has impacted how I view God in my life. In a very good way.

 

But there were lots of monsters and Greek mythology and twaddle to get to that one good moment.

 

Pre-read it and decide for yourself.

[KristenS]

Huh. I liked it better than Harry Potter. Rowling can spin a good yarn and create a neat world ... but she got very dark and it ended in a depressing manner (to me). On the other hand, Riordan creates a lighter world, with younger characters (not so much angst!), fun allusions to mythology, and a really great series ending. I *LOVE* stories that end well, that offer hope and redemption and a better future. Harry Potter seemed to miss that, to me, even if they did defeat the official bad guy. They never defeated their own enmities and prejudices. But in the Half-Blood series, they actually do a lot of personal overcoming as well as beating the bad guys. So to me, in that sense, though it's lighter and easier reading, it's far from being twaddle.

 

Mine are only 8 and 5, so they won't be reading it any time soon! But I have loved the series. It made up for a lot of other literary disappointments in the last decade. :D

[Guest hpfan1972]

I have been doing some research on Percy Jackson because:

 

1. I am a Christian

2. I have read and I am currently rereading all the Percy Jackson books

3. I love Harry Potter

 

I was interested to see what other Christians thought about Percy Jackson after the huge controversy that waged and still wages against the Harry Potter books and whether or not they are right for Christians to read.

 

I will say that in some ways I like Percy Jackson better than Harry Potter, mostly because the other characters in the book get thrown a proverbial bone during the books, whereas Harry Potter is all about Harry.

 

1. Percy gets a quest in the first book

2. The second book is mostly about Grover

3. The third book brings in the Hunters

4. Annabeth gets a quest

 

My point is that the books give everyone an equal following. However, there are also a lot of similarities between PJ and HP.

 

1. Three friends helping one another out and working together

2. A prophecy about a child who is going to decide the fate of their world

3. Percy Jackson has black hair and green eyes, same as Harry. All he's missing is the lightning scar and the glasses.

4. Annabeth is smart, just like Hermione.

 

The list goes on but you get the point. Even though a lot of people think that HP is evil because *gasp* it has to do with magic, there are a lot of references to the Bible in it as well. Let's look at a few:

 

1. Gryffindor vs Slytherin - Lion vs Snake - Lion of Judah vs Satan

2. Harry lays down his life for his friends

3. There are even two verses from the Bible in the 7th book:

Where your treasures is, there your heart is also and the verse about the final enemy is death.

 

I have also read the Twilight books. However, they don't hold the same fascination for me as the Percy Jackson and Harry Potter books do. Everything seems too 'easy' in Twilight. Yes, there's teen angst. But as I said to other people, unlike Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, no one on the good side dies in Twilight, except for Harry, who dies of a heart attack. But with the battle, you would have thought that one of the Cullens would die.

 

The only thing that I have to give Stephanie Meyers for is trying to bring the two worlds who used to feud together, the vampires and the werewolves. If she writes another book I will read it, but I will never be a Twilight fan like I am a Percy Jackson fan or a Harry Potter fan.

 

Sorry to be so long winded. Hope I didn't put you to sleep.

 

Sharon

[Tree Frog]

spam reported.

[Shellydon]

The author of the books suggests you wait until kids are at least 9 to read them. I let my oldest read them beginning at age 10.5. I pre-read them all and felt they were fine.

[elegantlion]

Old thread alert, this one is 3 years old.

 

Oh and we love Percy here. I consider them an introduction to mythology. Riordan captures the "essence" of those pesky gods. The experience came in very handy when we read The Iliad and The Odyssey this year. He already expected this type of behavior from gods (little g). Using Percy and his adventures along with suitable retellings (we used Sutcliff) for Homer, really helped prepare ds for reading the Ancient Great Books.

[Julie Smith]

My eldest son (age nine) and I are reading them together.

 

I know someone up thread mentioned them being not to challenging reading material, or something to that effect. But they are a challenge to him so we are working on them together. I think that after we finish the series his reading ability would have improved a bunch.

[Dory]

I like going through greek mythology with my oldest and pointing out how people are always looking for the answers to life and even when they refuse to look to God, what they create on their own shows the desire for the same solutions and beliefs that God fulfills.

[happypamama]

I know this is an old thread, but we've really enjoyed the PJ books this past year. I don't think they're on par, quality-wise, with Tolkien, but we've found them to be decent enough. We liked that Riordan really knows his mythology and the ways he portrays the gods (I had to stop reading aloud for several minutes because I was laughing so hard at the image of Poseidon the beach bum!). As for whether we had a problem with them because we're Christians, we did not. We found that it was an interesting premise -- what if the gods of the Greek myths were real? We also found that it allowed for discussions about what we do know to be true, based on what the Bible says -- God is our Heavenly Father, He directs our paths, He cares for us, all the things that Poseidon does for Percy (and other gods/goddesses do for their children). We also found that we were able to discuss how the One True God is not like the gods in the books, because He's not petty and grudge-holding; He always wants what's best for us and is always there for us. (And for children who are familiar with stories like Jacob and his wives and David and his, the "multiple kids with multiple mortals" thing was not that big of a deal.)