Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Okay, so, I knew going into this that there would be some differences in story elements from the book and the movie - but "some" turned into "a whole lot!" While I did not dislike the movie, (in fact it did entertain me many times!), it just wasn't the book that I grew to entirely enjoy. In fact while I was viewing it midway, I thought to myself, "If I was Rick Riordan, I would be outraged!" What were his feelings toward something that created an entirely different interpretation on his novel? And what were writer Craig Titley's thoughts about how to create movies based on such a popular young fiction series?

As I came up with these questions, I found a blog by Riordan and an interview with Titley.

In Riordan's blog on Scholastic's website. Riordan states, "Will the movie be exactly like the book? Well to start with, I have never seen a movie that was exactly like the book it came from, so I think it's safe to say no. Movies are a totally different medium. What you'll be seeing is not The Lightning Thief book copied page for page onto the screen. What you'll be seeing is Chris Columbus' interpretation of The Lightning Thief story. . . Let the movie be the movie, and the books be the books, and try to enjoy the story without getting too worked up about any differences.

And that's what I did - I got too worked up about the differences. While there are way too many differences to list, I understand what Riordan is saying here - the movie isn't meant to emulate the book, and vice versa.

http://blog.scholastic.com/ink_splot_26/2009/11/percy-jackson-movie-vs-book.html

While in an interview with writer Craig Titley, he states, " it is sort of walking that fine line of…you know, you get two hours to make a movie, and if you put everything that is in the book into the movie, you would have a 4 ½ hour movie. So it’s the age old problem that goes all the way back to, you know, the Wizard of Oz up through Lord of the Rings. It’s: What do you keep? What do you take out? How do you make it feel like the book even though it is its own thing and you are going to have to… you know, when you start pulling things out because of the constraints of a two hour movie, there are sort of holes that have to be filled with original material. And it is sort of like half a creative challenge and half a logistical challenge of trying to keep sort of the spirit and the characters true to the source material as much as possible so that it still feels like the source material. You don’t want to, like reinvent the wheel and invent new characters at the sake of other changes and personalities or anything like that.
So it is quite challenging. And it is more challenging with a book like this that has such a huge fan page. You can start imagining all the hate mail that is going to come, like, “Why did you take out this scene?” But there is no way around it. Somebody’s favorite scene is probably not going to be in the movie.

Both Riordan and Titley created two different versions about what they envisioned for Percy Jackson and his adventure; while I can state so many differences between the elements in characters, main events, problems, point of view, setting, etc.. between both, I feel that what's most important of what I learned from this experience is that a book and a movie should be treated as completely different entities. Let's face it - both the author and the movie writers want to make money, and they are going to do their best to sell both of their products. Their products, as I learned with Percy Jackson, can even be geared to different audiences based on character development, content, and dialogue.

I will still uphold the standard to read a book before viewing the movie and I will try to take Riordan's advice from now on and not be so sensitive when comparing books and their movies - and just let the books be the books, and the movies be the movies!

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

As a troubled New York City teen who continually is failing to perform in school, Percy Jackson, finds that his insecurities, dyslexia, and ADHD are are contributions that ultimately reveal himself as a child of the Greek god Poseidon. After this revelation, while training at Camp Half-Blood, Percy is given the challenge to stop the war between the gods and retrieve Zeus' thunderbolt, along with the help of Grover and Annabeth, to Los Angeles and bring it back to Olympus. Percy is given ten days until the summer solstice (before the war begins) to find out what really happened to the bolt, and is told he must travel to see Hades, lord of the underworld, who is believed to have taken the bolt - which in the end, proves to be not true. Surprisingly, Luke, Percy's friend and fellow sword trainer, is the one who set him up and is the real Lightning Thief. This then leads into Percy deciding to leave Camp Half-Blood and return home with his mom for the year to test out his newfound abilities; yet, he warns that Cronos will seek his revenge with the gods, as the battle and adventures with Percy seem to lead into the next book in the series.

As the challenges Percy and his friends face prove to be life-threatening, the three of them form a bond of trust as they protect each other along the way. Percy's character evolves from a doubtful young man to a brave goldling and hero. At first, his reading disability and ADHD held him back from getting good grades at Yancy Academy; however, it proved to be helpful in deciphering ancient Greek and being able to be aware of all of his surrounding during the battles he fought.

While not knowing much Greek mythology myself, readers are able to gain knowledge and tidbits about each mythical being and creature in order to understand their involvement in the story - and peak their interest in finding out more using other resources. When you are reading The Lightning Thief, Riordan's use vivid descrptions in characters, setting, and chain of events assist in creating clear mental images of Percy's trials and tribulations as if we are right there helping him along the way. Excitment, momentum, and suspense is continued from page to page with the hope that Percy can and will be able to make his mother and father proud of him. Percy, as many middle school children, yearn to be accepted and fit in among their peers. He is a protagonist in a story that a lot of kids connect with in some way. With that being said, I can understand why so many adolescent readers take part in the exploration of the Percy Jackson series. The Lightning Thief is jam-packed with thrilling details that allow children to escape their every day challenges and travel into an existence where fantasy and reality coexist.

The Lightning Thief can also serve as a springboard for researching Greek mythology and various reading and writing connections can be incorporated throughout the story. Rick Riordan's website includes a teacher's guide for each book that includes literature circle discussion questions, project ideas, author video interviews, etc.
http://www.rickriordan.com/index.php/books-for-children/a-teachers-guide-to-percy/

Riordan's website also includes recommendations for "reluctant readers" and/or those who finish the Percy Jackson series and want more books of this type. Included in this link are a list of books that I have used in assisting students of my own in making future book selections.
http://www.rickriordan.com/index.php/books-for-children/recommendations/



I will be reading The Sea Of Monsters as soon as my February Scholastic book order comes in (below is the link for the Arrow order form) - I've ordered the entire series for those who are interested in borrowing!! I just have to know how Percy is going to get back at Luke and whether Cronos will be coming to seek his revenge!! Will Annabelle and Grover join Percy on his next adventure? Is Poseidon going to form more of a closer relationship with his son? How did Percy and Annabelle do while living at home for the year? So many questions...I hope they will be answered in the next book!!

Looking forward to seeing the movie on Tuesday!



http://teacher.scholastic.com/clubs/pdfs/february/arrow.pdf

So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George

In honor of President's Day, I sat down with my students this past week and read Judith St. Georges witty yet informative story, So You Want To Be President? Both St. George and illustrator, David Small, created a story that informed readers of past Presidents of the United States with an underlying message that it is true that anyone can be President. My class experienced a variety of reactions from the text based on the facts and humorous details about each President.

It is true that a lot of my students had learned about past presidents based on their involvement in history and content lessons they have learned; such as with George Washington - he was an important leader and general in the American Revolution, but did he attend college, NOPE! This lead into a discussion about the time period and how the importance of education has changed greatly since Washington's presidency.

One of the most hilarious illustrations and descriptions was that of William Howard Taft, when they learned he had to get a special tub put into his bathroom in the White House because of the fact that he was over 300 pounds! The political cartoon-like illustrations of Taft coupled with these specific details gave quite the reason for uncontrollable laughter in our classroom!!

Readers of all ages, yes even adults, would enjoy this book. It shows readers that even though these individuals hold an important role in our country, that they are human and live some-what normal lives like us. After reading this story, students began ask me questions about details that were not in the book about a President. This book does not give an in-depth description and bio about each of the 41 Presidents profiled, but gives a glimpse into each of their lives and overall importance in our country. Therefore, while giving only a snapshot, students become inquisitive and pursue a fascination that sparked their interest within the story. This story can lead into possible writing exercises for students to create an extension of the story based on the Presidents we've had since the book was published in 2000. Students can illustrate and write about research information while giving trivial and humorous information about their President.

Sidewalk Circus by Paul Fleischman

Paul Fleishman and Kevin Hawkes created a worldless masterpiece in Sidewalk Circus. The story includes illustrations that portray the Garibaldi Circus, coming soon - but the young girl who watches on at the bus stop watches "performers" nearby, although they are not in the ring.

Hawkes' use of comparasions in illustrations between performers and people working inside and outside of the building allow readers to find similarities between both groups of people, while they sit back and watch a circus peformance before their very eyes. The use of bright and dark coloring on the children and adults shows how young ones see the world in a different perspective, and can create a story within their own minds.

I was suprised but glad that Fleishman took the words out of Sidewalk Circus as it initially contained; with the absence of words, the illustrations allow readers to make their own interpretations and, combined with the pictures, enhance their creativity and individual understanding of the story.

Before reading Sidewalk Circus, I had the opinion that these books can only be used for young readers in the preschool to primary grades; however, I found after researching a bit that they can be beneficial in middle and high school levels. According to the Journal for Adolescent and Adult Literacy, "wordless books enhance creativity, vocabulary, and language development, and in all content areas. Along with teacher guidance, wordless books can especially benefit linguistically and cultural different readers and writers, as well as the more experienced ones in middle and high school years," (Cassidy, 1998).

Wordless books allow all readers of varying levels and experiences to find the words that are just right for them, while instilling a sense of enouragement and confidence in their abilities as sucessful readers in the classroom.


Wordless Books: No-Risk Tools for Inclusive Middle-Grade Classrooms
Judith K. Cassady
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Vol. 41, No. 6 (Mar., 1998), pp. 428-432 (article consists of 5 pages)
Published by: International Reading Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40016768

The Man Who Walked Between The Towers by Mordicai Gerstein

After reading this book independently, I decided to share it with my 4th graders...
Going into the read aloud, I knew that some of them had read this book already this year; however, the majority of the class had not. While reading the story, we discussed specific parts of the text and how the author's words about Phillipe Petit's life made this an entertaning and informative book to read. Once Petit accomplished his life goal of crossing the wire between the towers, the feeling of amazement, suspense, and surprise quickly switched to sentiments of confusion and sorrow that left my students speechless...

"And now the towers are gone."

As a group of 9 and 10 year old children, it became clear to me that most of them (including hte ones who had read this book already) did not know what happened on September 11, 2001. Why would they know about this tragedy? They were babies when it happened! Some of them that had an idea of what happened were told by their parents and/or family, friends that were affected in some way on that tragic day. I explained briefly to them that there was a terrorist attack on the United States and we cannot imagine why anyone would want to harm others.

Our discussion evolved into, as a class, a search on our online school library catalog and World Book Online. Students wanted to know more specifics about this event, Phillipe Petit, New York City, view actual pictures of the towers before and after 9/11...

I found that a lot of the books about 9/11 are simplified so the event and details lose their meaning and leave students still questioning; a lot of the literature caters to the middle and high school age population. These are three books that I found that would cater to the K-3, 3-6 grades.


I would be interested in finding other resources - books, videos, etc. that would provide more information to students in an age-appropriate manner. Anyone have any suggestions on this topic? I did find a few after researching in my school library -these tiltes and authors are noted below.

The Man Who Walked Between The Towers provided my students the opportunity to discuss the career aspirations and courage of Phillipe Petit, the twin towers and September 11th, and the powerful messages that Mordicai Gerstein had for his readers. My students responded in their journals to this book to what they felt his purpose was for reading this book. For the most part, students felt entertained by Gersteins words, illustrations, and "keeping you on the edge of your seat" chain of events leading up to Petit's walking on the wire. On the other hand, they also felt that the author wanted to inform us of Petit's dream of walking between the towers, but to also prompt us in finding out about what happened to the towers in New York City.


What a powerful and moving piece of literature - this one will definitely become a part of my classroom library!


September Roses, J. Winter
The Little Chapel That Stood, A.B. Curtiss
Fireboat, M. Kahlman
September 11 (We the People: Modern America Series), M. Englar

Polacco Interview: family and multicultural literature

Reading Rockets: A video interview with Patricia Polacco

Attached is a video interview with Patricia Polacco from Reading Rockets. What I found particulary interesting were two specific clips. First, the "Family Stories" clip supports a lot of what I've read about Polacco and that all of her stories are based on family experiences.

The clip on "Multicultural Citizens" really caught my eye, or more like my ear! Polacco grew up in a multicultural household and the diverse city of Oakland. Based on her childhood experiences, and moving into rural America, she sees that not all children growing up today had the opportunity to be surrounded by these children of different races, religions, ethnic backgrounds, etc. It is important as a teacher to develop a library that embraces all forms of literature and includes stories that develops the understanding of how and why people are different, but also help them acknowledge the fact that despite these differences, we are still alike in many ways on the inside.

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

Pink and Say details a friendship that ends shortly after two young boys who meet after a battle in the Civil War. Pink, a young white farmer, and Say, an African American soldier, take refuge in the home of Say's mother. Both boys have different views of returning to war - Pink is determined to return to his unit while Say only agrees to return in order to keep Say's mother out of harm's way. Tragically, Say's mother is killed by marauders and both boys are captured by confederates. Pink is hung and Say survives after being confined in a jail in very harsh conditions. Say survives the story and memory of Pink lives on in his words after being passed down form generation to generation, all the way down to Patricia Polacco, who is Say's great-granddaughter.

This story completely caught me by surprise at the end but I knew going into this book that there would be a personal connection to Polacco's life. Unlike Polacco's great-grandfather, Pink, Say did not have living relatives to pass his life story down generation to generation. Each time this story is read, his story is told and his memory is kept alive. The powerful message at the end of the book gave me goosebumps and caused my eyes to fill with tears:

"This book serves as a written memory of Pinkus Aylee since there are no living descendents to do this for him. When you read this, before you put this book down, say his name out loud and vow to remember him always."

And I responded, "Pinkus I will remember you."