The books for our current theme are all about new kids — some of whom don’t exactly get the warmest welcome. Sure, you could luck out like Emily Ebers (in the books by Lisa Yee) and make friends with someone really cool like Millicent Min. Okay, Millicent isn’t exactly “cool,” but she’s really nice.

On the other hand, some of the locals aren’t so nice to the new kids in our books for this theme. And I caught up with some of them to get the inside scoop for Kidsmomo:

“Well, once there was this girl who was just… just… WEIRD. Her clothes didn’t match. I mean, I guess some people would think she’s original and cool, but I thought it was weird. She dressed like it was Halloween every day. It must be a family thing, because her little brother dressed like it was Halloween all the time, too. Maybe they’re just really into Halloween.”

— Rosemary

“Word of advice: When you meet the new girl, don’t pull her pigtails and call her ‘Carrots,’ no matter how much you want her to pay attention to you because she’s really cute. Because she’ll hold a grudge for a really, really long time. It might be years before she agrees to be your friend.”

— Gilbert Blythe

“I hate when people get in my face. Especially losers. So when a new kid — a big-time loser — gets to camp, I show him who’s boss. I usually grab his scrawny neck and drag him into the bathroom. Then I give a good dunking in the toilet.”

— Clarisse La Rue

When asked about the incident with a certain son of Poseidon, Miss La Rue rudely stated the interview was over, tore off her microphone, and hit me in the face with it.

Okay, I didn’t actually interview these characters, obviously. Because they’re fictional. Which is just as well, because I’m pretty sure Clarisse would beat me up.

— Nancy

After re-imagining an encounter with Clarisse, Nancy decided that she could get a decent punch in. She’s pretty feisty.

More about Nancy »

Whether you’re a water-loving child of Poseidon, the master strategist offspring of Athena, or a quick-tempered Ares descendant, we know there’s only one movie on your mind right now — Lightning Thief, based on Book 1 in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.

The film hit theaters on February 12th, and of course we were there to catch it on opening weekend. But the question is: should you see it too? Tune in to our video review to find out — and to hear us make fools of ourselves performing a special tribute to Percy (seriously, how can you resist?):

Want permanent access to our humiliation? (Oh yeah, and our movie review too.) Download the audio!

And to share your thoughts on the movie, join the ongoing discussion!

The wait is over. Back in August the first teaser trailer hit theaters, but today the full film will finally shine down from the silver screen… It’s opening day for the Lightning Thief movie, based on the first book in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series! Oh my gods, I’m excited!

Of course, Nancy and I are planning to see the movie this weekend, and we’ll report back to you with a KidsmomoMO video review in the next week or so. But in the meantime, calling all PJTO fans — please, talk amongst yourselves! Leave a comment with your thoughts on the movie adaptation:

Whoa, go Logan Lerman -- use that Poseidan Power! (Squee!)

Haven’t seen it yet? What are you expecting? Do you think it will be faithful to the book? OR just saw the film? Post your opinion! How did it measure up? (Just be sure to put “SPOILER ALERT” at the beginning of your comment!)

Here are some of my thoughts: What’s up with the first scene in the trailer? Grover’s not wearing a hat, but I don’t see any horns! And I heard that Percy and Annabeth are already 16 years old in the movie version, so they had to push back the age of the big prophecy too, to age 21. Not sure I like that…

Agree? Disagree? The comments are now open for demigod discussion!

And be sure to check out these reviews for Book 2 and Book 4 in the Percy Jackson series, sent in by Sydney (age 12) and Christian (age 11)!

— Karen

Nancy and I are huge Harry Potter fans, so we of course made plans to see the new movie on opening night. Then a miracle happened and we got tickets to an advance screening. (Yes, there was literal jumping up and down in joy. Don’t judge us.)

The only problem, as I learned later, is that by seeing an advance screening with no previews, Nancy and I missed out on what sounds like a pretty awesome book-to-big-screen pre-show: the theatrical release of the trailers for New Moon (based on the second Twilight book) and The Lightning Thief (based on the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series).

Thank goodness for the internet! When I realized that the trailers were out, I immediately dropped everything to search for them online (uh, please don’t tell my boss, since I did this at work). Well, not only did I locate the previews, but I also came across plenty of commentary from viewers.

The reaction to the New Moon preview was predictably fanatical. For example: MTV.com posted a shot-by-shot recap of the trailer — even though the full video is less than 2 minutes long! (The re-cap even includes commentary on how impressive Bella’s gigantic birthday cake looks. Now I’m not saying that makes you obsessed, but… actually, yes I am.)

But I was surprised by the online response to the Percy Jackson trailer. Basically, lots of people thought it looked like a rip-off of the Harry Potter movies. What do you think?

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