Kidsmomo

Pssst! Have you heard of this guy named Percy Jackson? I heard he’s a demigod — half god (specifically, his dad is Poseidon), half-human, and all cute*.

Okay, obviously you’ve heard of him, because Rick Riordan’s series Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of the Olympus are EVERYWHERE. And big news: the book cover for the latest installment of the Heroes of Olympus series, House of Hades, was just released!

Check out the cover! Dark. Very dark.

Bonus! The cover from across the pond in the United Kingdom:

What do you think of the new cover? Do you like the one from the US or UK better? House of Hades is out on October 8th (that’s only 119 days!). Luckily for us, a crossover Olympus-Kane Chronicles short story is out next week! It’s called The Son of Sobek, and it will only be available as an e-book. Get those tablets ready!

— Nancy

*This might just be just Nancy’s opinion, but c’mon. Look who they cast for the movies. All cute.

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Submitted by Kyle, Age 11 from Rhode Island

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I just finished the 1st book of the 39 Clues series called The Maze Of Bones. This is an action packed, fiction book that has lots of mind blowing events! Amy and Dan Cahill’s grandmother,Grace, just died and Amy and Dan get invited to her funioral. After the funioral, one of there relatives,Mr. McIntyre, gathers all the Cahills for a choice. They could either get 1 million dollars,or get a clue that leads to a treasure that could make them the most powerful Cahill that ever lived. Amy and Dan choose the clue which could take them all around the world. People could die in the adventure. Will Amy and Dan find there family’s secret, or die trying? My favorite part of the book is when Amy and Dan discover a secret library in there grandmothers mansion. I reccomend this book to anyone who likes mysteries and adventures.

Submitted by Connor, Age 11 from Rhode Island

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The book throne of fire is written by an Author named Rick riordian. It has 2 kids who have to save a god named Ra. This connects me to when my brother and I travel. I recommend this to action, Fiction, and adventure readers.

Submitted by Shelby, Age 11 from New York

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Loved this book. I can’t wait to read the rest of them. The way Amy and Dan go on all these great adventures, to all the exciting betrayals I’ve read so far. Awesome book.

Submitted by greg, Age 11 from New York

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This is by far the best book in the whole series of the Percy Jackson and the lightning thief.

I just finished Rick Riordan’s latest installment in the Heroes of Olympus series, The Mark of Athena, and this is how I feel: tired. But my tiredness will not stop me from telling you about this book! This massive, really heavy, long book!

The book is 603 pages. 603 pages! So you can understand how I might feel just as tired as Annabeth Chase (daughter of Athena) when she was fighting her mother’s ultimate enemy, Arachne. Or as tired as Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, and Piper McClean felt when they almost drowned.

That’s right. You heard me. Percy Jackson. Son of Poseidon/Neptune. Drowning. Rick Riordan, you’ve turned my world upside down.

Here’s my take on The Mark of Athena: You should read this book. You MUST read this book. Because you want to know what happens to the demigods in the Prophecy of Seven:

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call
To storm or fire, the world must fall
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death

Spoiler alert: You don’t find out in this book. Because there’s another book, The House of Hades, coming in Fall 2013! But The Mark of Athena does answer a few things about the prophecy, and you get to know each character a little more. Every time I get to know one character and decide he/she is my favorite, another pops up.

Things I Discovered While Battling the Urge To Sleep Because I Could Not Stop Reading This Book:

• There are a lot of monsters (and therefore, monster battles) when you combine the Greek and Roman worlds. A lot. Prepare yourself. Especially with the handy-dandy glossary at the end of the book!
• Like the other books in this series, each chapter is told from the perspective of a character. This can be good or bad, depending how attached you are to a specific character. See above comment about favoriting a character.
• There’s a lot of romance. This can also be good or bad, depending on how much you care about that sort of thing. FYI: Dating Athena girls is tough, dating Zeus/Jupiter guys is tougher. Having a crush on someone who looks mysteriously like your long-lost love from approximately 80 years ago because you’ve been resurrected — that’s the toughest.
• All monsters are all pretty much self-centered, ego-maniacal drama queens. Most of them also have bad fashion sense and are sadly unaware of the fact.
• Why isn’t Octavian in this book more? The “teddy bear murderer” is so deliciously deranged.
• The Mark of Athena in The Mark of Athena is a little coin that always reappears in Annabeth’s pocket, whereas The Mark of Athena is a giant 603-page book which does not fit in any convenient pocket known to man. Well, maybe a kangaroo’s pocket.
• The demigods are growing up, facing fears and responsibilities — particularly, Annabeth. She’s never been just a sidekick/girlfriend for Percy, but it’s nice to get to know her even more.
• The ending… ouch. Obviously, I won’t spoil it for you here, but it’s going to be another stressful 12 months with the *cliffhanger* at the end of this book. (Get it? Cliffhanger? For those of you who have read the book… wink wink, nudge nudge! For those of you who haven’t — get with the program).

So, have you picked up (with a forklift) The Mark of Athena yet? Leave a comment below or submit a book review — don’t worry, I won’t go all Hera on you and start smiting if you disagree!

— Nancy

Between having to wait until next fall for The House of Hades and next summer for the film adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Nancy’s pretty conflicted with the love/hate relationship she’s got going on with Rick Riordan.

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Submitted by Catalina, Age 9 from Texas

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OMS(oh my starclan) I GOT ADDICTED TO THIS BOOK
KInda wants me to be an egyptian or a Pharoh bloodded. Hmmm addicted like The warriors series….. XDDD this senctence makes no sense.

Submitted by jc, Age 12 from Indiana

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I loved this book when I first found it on a shelf when my sister was going to Indiana University. I wasn’t really into books until I read it. My dad wanted me to read a book so I picked the the one that was the best to my opinion. I like this book and all the other books by Rick Riordan. He is my favorite author of all time. This book is the first in the Percy Jackson series. I think it is the best book in the series besides the last hero which is book number five in the series. In the book percy is a demigod and he finds this out when all these weird things start happening like monsters attacking him. Percy is the son of Poseidon. He has two accompanents who are annabeth and grover. Grover is his Centaur and Annebeth is his friend. I like rick riordans masterpiece and hope you enjoy it to. Thank you for taking the time to read my book review.

Just a few days ago, the cover for the third Heroes of Olympus book (The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan) was released… and it is absolutely beautiful! Instead of (over)analyzing the book cover illustration by John Rocco like I usually do, I thought I’d take another approach…

Then I got inspired to give some other covers the same treatment!

What other giggle-worthy book cover captions can you think of?

— Nancy

Nancy is really, really, REALLY excited for Mark of Athena to be released in October. Especially if it does involve horse-on-horse sneezing.

Are you an only child who longs for a big, crazy family? Or maybe you’re an only child who longs for a separated-at-birth twin… who turns out to be a creature of the night? Or perhaps you have lots of siblings already, and you just long for the day you can create a fort together without any injuries? Or you’re none of the above and you simply long for an easy way to please Mom?

Well, we’ve got something for everyone in our latest podcast — mothers, brothers, long-lost vampire sisters, children of godly parents, and more!

Listen now:
 
  (5:39)

Download the MP3 (4.8 MB)

• Karen’s book review: The Moffat books by Eleanor Estes
• Nancy’s book review: Switched (My Sister the Vampire #1) by Sienna Mercer
• A review from YOU: The Demigod Files by Rick Riordan
• You heard it here first — a Mother’s Day Gift Giving Revolution has begun!!!

And don’t forget: write in with a book review below. We’ll feature a kid review in our next podcast!

— Karen and Nancy