As you might have guessed from my obsessive — I mean, thorough coverage of the cover for The Red Pyramid when it was first released, and from my recommendation of the book in Kidsmomo theme Globe-Trotting Adventures, I really like this series so far.

As you’ll see from Chapter 1 of The Throne of Fire, posted exclusively on USA Today, Carter and Sadie are at it again with their baboon companion, Khufu, and the Egyptian gods that are semi-inhabiting their minds.

So, onto the new book cover!

• Sadie and Carter are back, on what looks to be an Egyptian papyrus boat.
• I like that they are facing us (more or less) this time, and don’t have their backs towards us. It’s like they’ve grown up since the first book and have a lot more confidence!
• I spot Carter’s bag around his shoulder…
• And Sadie’s carrying a scepter…
• There’s a flaming throne represented on the sails (title alert!).
• And is that a museum behind them?
• What are those three sticks poking out on the left?
• And last, but not least: OMG THERE ARE A BILLION COCKROACHES/BEETLES/SOME KIND CREEPY CRAWLY BUG ewwwwww…

What are some things you notice from the beautiful cover?

— Nancy

Nancy is very much afraid of bugs, which is pretty obvious from the freak-out in the last bullet point.

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Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Featured in "Royal Flush"

If you have read the Percy Jackson series or even Harry Potter, you would love this book. Even if you are looking for an adventure to read you should read this book.This book has all the good qualities of a good book. It has adventure,education and drama.

This book is the real deal.

Children's book illustrator John Rocco, with The Lightning Thief Deluxe Edition.

It’s been Percy Jackson madness here on Kidsmomo (literal madness — have you heard our Kidsmomo Karaoke Tribute to PJ?) so I’m gonna write a serious blog post about some serious Percy Jackson stuff.

I GOT TO MEET THE BOOK COVER ILLUSTRATOR! HA HA! IN YO FACES!

And now that I’m done gloating (yes, very immature of me), I’ll get to the good stuff — at the event (which was held at a bookstore in Manhattan), Percy Jackson editor Jennifer Besser talked about how the original cover illustrations weren’t really working, and they then found John Rocco, illustrator extraordinaire!

Maybe “personal illustrator” to Rick Riordan is an exaggeration, but John Rocco has designed all five covers of the Percy Jackson series and he’s also working on the new Kane Chronicles series.  I made sure to capture as much as possible on video:

John talking about how he came up with the idea for the cover of The Lightning Thief:

For aspiring artists: his process is really interesting! Check out all the different versions of The Titan’s Curse:

John also took some tough questions from the audience…

And some questions led to some DRAMA!

Some more goodies from John Rocco and Jennifer Besser:

• The new Camp Half-Blood series by Rick Riordan will be released in October 2010!
• John enjoyed working on The Last Olympian cover the most, and often went to the Empire State Building for inspiration.
• John also worked on the new Rick Riordan series The Kane Chronicles, and afterwards I bugged him about the water tower on the cover of The Red Pyramid — and turns out it’s not significant in the story. (I guess I went a little overboard scrutinizing the cover!)

— Nancy

1. Presumably that’s Sadie on the left, and her brother, Carter, on the right.
2. Carter is holding is Khopesh sword (also called a scimitar), the Egyptian word for a battle-axe sickle-sword.
3. Does Sadie have special powers in the series? The Egyptian symbols are coming out over her palm, which you can see in the animation!
4. What is that building they are facing? It looks too small to be the British Museum mentioned in the mini-excerpt…
5. There is a giant serpent/snake (ewww…) surrounding Sadie and Carter and slithering into the building — reminds me of the basilisk from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
6. Is the water tower significant? It wouldn’t be included on the cover if it wasn’t, right? Perhaps the setting for an action-packed scene in the book? Or am I reading too much into it?
7. “The Kane Chronicles” crest is a set of wings with two snakes connected together. The oval piece in the center looks like a jewel to me. Or a jelly bean.
8. Despite the title The Red Pyramid, the only pyramid shape on the cover is the outline of the triangle in the background. So I guess my literal interpretation was a little too obvious…
9. Some of the symbols flying out of Sadie’s hands: an eye, an Egyptian, two types of bird, a large cat (lioness? panther? tiger?), a knife (or feather pen?), and what I interpreted as a boat or raft.

Well, that’s all I found… Leave a comment with your thoughts on the book cover!

— Nancy