![]() The other, Grover Underwood, is goofy, physically awkward, and loyal. One, Annabeth Chase, is a book-smart girl who starts out as a rival but becomes a friend. Our hero-whose name even has the same rhythm as Potter (Har-ry Pot-ter Per-cy Jack-son)-soon attracts two sidekicks. Hogwarts is supervised by a gentle, bearded, and mighty wizard Camp Half-Blood by a gentle, bearded, and mighty centaur. (Hmm, where have I heard that?) Percy’s quickly transported to a mysterious place where other extraordinary kids learn to harness their powers, but it’s not Hogwarts, it’s “Camp Half-Blood.” Hogwarts has “houses” Camp Half-Blood has “cabins.” Hogwarts has Quidditch Camp Half-Blood has epic games of capture-the-flag. An average boy living with a vicious, bullying relative suddenly learns of his special powers and finds out that he’s actually a celebrity in the magical world. ![]() But almost every other significant element in the books-particularly the first book, The Lightning Thief-is derivative. And his magic comes from Greek gods, not wizards. The series delighted my daughter but irritated me with its overwhelming, blatant borrowing from Harry Potter. But nothing held her like Rick Riordan’s five Percy Jackson books, which I read to her night after night after night for months. Eva Ibbotson’s The Secret of Platform 13 had a good run. The Septimus Heap and Inkheart books briefly diverted her, Artemis Fowl didn’t. These methadone books generally featured ordinary children who stumbled into magical powers and entered a secret, usually funny, alternative magical world. Like so many other children, she desperately sought other, similar books to sate her Potter jones. The movies, the imaginary Potter games-they weren’t enough to satisfy her cravings. When we finished the series a couple of years ago, she suffered withdrawal symptoms. She tore through the books as fast as I could read them to her. But to understand why the Percy Jackson movie must not-and will not-succeed, please indulge a brief (but I suspect typical) family story. It aspires to fill the gap left by the looming end of the Harry Potter series, and the abject failure of The Golden Compass movie. With its long, colon-bedecked title, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (20 th Century Fox) announces that it intends to be the first installment of a new and extremely profitable movie franchise.
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