No, I’m not Rick Riordan’s muse. Far from it. But I do claim Percy Jackson was one of my greatest achievements. From the get go, I’ve handed my kids books to read. When they were little, these books were greeted with excitement. But then, as they got older, they began to have opinions. What mom gave them was often greeted with anticipation, but more and more, with if not downright dismissal, a great lack of enthusiasm no matter how many librarians/magazines/trusted friends had recommended the book in the first place.
I stumbled across Percy Jackson in my search to find a book series as we waited for the next Harry Potter to be published. It seemed to fit the bill and it had Greek gods to boot. How could I go wrong? So I came home and proceeded to have a conversation with my son that has been repeated repeatedly over the years. It went something like this:
Me: “Here. Read this.”
N: “No.”
Me: “It’s really good.”
N: “No.”
Me: “Just read the first few chapters.”
N: “No.”
You get the picture. Percy sat on my son’s bookshelf for a good twelve months before, in a fit of desperate boredom one summer afternoon, he cracked it open. The very next morning, we then proceeded to have another conversation that has been repeated repeatedly over the years. It goes something like this:
N: “Mom? You know that book? It has a sequel. Can we go get it?”
Now, I don’t remember what I said the first time, but I’m sure I listened with grace and humility.
Oh, who am I kidding? I mean really, how often do you get to say, “So, you liked it, huh? The book you said you weren’t into, that you didn’t want to read? The one your mother gave you and told you to read? Yeah, that one? You liked it? Huh.” In this house, as it turns out, that conversation comes up more often than you might think.
But this isn’t why I consider Percy Jackson my greatest achievement. The reason I hold Percy near and dear is because six months ago, my son cleaned off his bookshelves to make room for new stories. He then took a stack of books, Percy Jackson on top, into his sister’s room. From the kitchen, I heard:
N: “Here. I don’t have room for these, but you might like them.”
A: “I don’t want to read Percy Jackson.”
N: “Yeah, you do. It’s really good.”
A: “I don’t care. I don’t like books like that.”
N: “You should really read it.”
A: “No.”
Guess who is eagerly awaiting the last Heroes of Olympus book which is coming out on Tuesday? And guess who is getting to tell his little sister, “So, you liked that book? The one I gave you? The one you didn’t want to read? That one?”
Yeah, I think I’m going to let him have this one.