Mythology Minute
Have you ever heard of Percy Jackson and the Olympians,The Kane Chronicles, or Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard? What do all of these series have in common? In addition to being written by the same author, Rick Riordan, all of these series are also based on mythology from various cultures. Reading even one of these books will hook you into a magical world of mythology and humor.
Riordan lures you into the world of mythology with humorous writing and comical characters. The chapter titles themselves are guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. For example, in the Percy Jackson series there are hilarious chapter names like “Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants,” “I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom,” and “I Wrestle Santa’s Evil Twin.” One of them is bound to make you at least chuckle.
The books also have a lot of information on mythology. Medusa, for example, is a very well-known monster in Greek mythology. She is introduced in the first book, The Lightning Thief from the Percy Jackson series. More is said about her in Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods, a book about Greek gods told from Percy’s humorous point of view. Medusa was once a very beautiful woman, but after she and Poseidon,the god of the sea, have an affair in Athena’s temple, things go wrong. A temple is a place meant to worship and honor a certain god or goddess, not a place to have an affair. Medusa, in particular, should know this because she is a priest for Athena. Athena gets mad at them, and she curses Medusa to become so ugly that anyone who looks at her face will turn into stone. She probably would have cursed Poseidon too, but gods aren’t allowed to curse each other. Anyway, that’s how Medusa became the way she is known to be. You know, with the scary snake hair.
The story of Medusa is just one of the many myths that influence the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.It is also one of the many(all) myths in which the characters have tragic endings. The Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard also have connections to gods and heroes of Egypt and Norway respectively. All of them make learning mythology more interesting and fun. Which series are you going to read next?
