Harry who?
Move over Harry Potter, there's a new kid in town and he's taking all your fans! Or at least he's trying. Meet Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon.
The similarities between the two from their basic physical appearance to unknown parentage until their preteen years--leading them to discover a new world hidden within the one they've grown up knowing and magical powers. Both boys were unpopular in school and prone to be linked to mysterious problems that they hadn't intended on causing. Well that's to be expected I suppose of anyone who doesn't know they have magic flowing through their veins and/or is hunted by otherworldly beings.
Harry's story as most of us know started when he turned 11. Trapped in a childhood of neglect and servitude--harsher than most readers, I hope. He discovered a world of magic and that he was some famous kid--which can kind of give you a complex. I mean that's a lot of pressure to live up to at any age let alone 11. Even his best friends from time to time seem to forget that he was plucked from a miserable existence and thrown into the world of magic overnight.
Percy's story begins as he's starting sixth grade. 12 years old and a bit of an unintentional trouble maker. He's been kicked out of more schools than your stereotypical rich bad boy, and has a dread of field trips--because they always end in some kind of destruction with him at the blame. He has dyslexia and ADHD, and has never been particularly athletic or well liked for that matter. He has one friend who happens to be a little odd himself from his attitude to his limp--that seems to disappear when cheese enchiladas are being served for lunch. Percy's home life isn't the magical happy place either--but he does have a living mother who cares for him very much. It's just that complete ass that she married that he can't stand, nor can he figure out why she married him. She acts more like his servant than someone who married him for love.
So naturally both boys come from every day lives that children can relate to. They're not super popular or smart or athletic. Harry comes off as being uber-poor what with the ill-fiting clothes, and I doubt he'd every be allowed to even think about visiting a friend's house--and no way in hell he'd invite someone over. Percy is always the new kid, the delinquent, and on top of that he's horrible at school, sports and girls.
There are far more people in the world who can relate just a little to either of these boys than can't.
And like so many of us dream/dreamt once upon a time someone shows up and tells them that they're special. They have powers. There's a whole other secret world out there that they're apart of--and on top of it they're special in that world too.
If it weren't for the fact that they stuggle and make mistakes and feel out of place in this world where they're supposedly supposed to fit in people write them off as being Mary Sue's--er Gary Stu's?. Thankfully, they're still normal boys who come from our world and no what it's like to be an average kid. Their egos rarely get too big even when they save the world. Now that doesn't mean that they never get cocky, or don't have some kind of chip on their shoulder mostly because they seem to be underaged pawns in some adult war and they're just never let in on the full truth of things.
Of course alot of this is a credit to the author's who gave these boys life. J.K.'s first idea of Harry just came to her on a train ride and she fleshed him out over time. She had her first child while trying to give life to Harry Potter. And as things have changed for her from family to fame and fortune her stories have become more layered and more complex. And it has been suggested that her last few books could have used a stricter editor.
As each of the seven books became bigger and longer and denser.
Rick Riordian is a former middle school teacher turned author. He created Percy as a bedtime story for his dyslexic, ADHD son. His middle-school aged son loved it so much he told his dad that he had to write it down and turn it into a book. Along the way Rick got feed back from other middle schoolers.
All five books run around the same number of pages, none break the four hundred mark. And his-world building is pretty solid. It helps, I suppose, that many of the 'adults' in the series are Greek gods and theirs are not new stories. In Rick's books the Greek gods are tied directly to Western Civilization. As the seat of power moved so did they. From Greece to Rome to Europe to the US. It's just that over the years as humankind grew out of believing in magic they grew out of believing in the gods, but the gods didn't go anywhere. They just didn't get renamed again and there aren't temples built to them here. They still have remarkable offsprings though, and just about everyone in history who has become someone gifted or in a seat of power--good or bad--was a demi-god.
Percy's story is pretty straight forward and a little familiar. Everything that happens has a way of being explained away by mortal minds/eyes. He get in trouble in the 'real world' because he never really leaves it. He just knows more than the rest of us.
Now movie wise--the debut movie for each franchise was directed by Chris Columbus. Harry was cast with actual 11 year olds picked for their resemblence to characters more than their acting abilities. For many of them this was their first real acting job. And as such they've grown up under the watchful eye of the world.
With Percy they cast older actors who had some experience even if still relatively unknown--or know for things other than their acting. This does cause a few changes to the arcing plot, but high school is just as hard to deal with as middle school.
Movie review to happen in a separate post.
The similarities between the two from their basic physical appearance to unknown parentage until their preteen years--leading them to discover a new world hidden within the one they've grown up knowing and magical powers. Both boys were unpopular in school and prone to be linked to mysterious problems that they hadn't intended on causing. Well that's to be expected I suppose of anyone who doesn't know they have magic flowing through their veins and/or is hunted by otherworldly beings.
Harry's story as most of us know started when he turned 11. Trapped in a childhood of neglect and servitude--harsher than most readers, I hope. He discovered a world of magic and that he was some famous kid--which can kind of give you a complex. I mean that's a lot of pressure to live up to at any age let alone 11. Even his best friends from time to time seem to forget that he was plucked from a miserable existence and thrown into the world of magic overnight.
Percy's story begins as he's starting sixth grade. 12 years old and a bit of an unintentional trouble maker. He's been kicked out of more schools than your stereotypical rich bad boy, and has a dread of field trips--because they always end in some kind of destruction with him at the blame. He has dyslexia and ADHD, and has never been particularly athletic or well liked for that matter. He has one friend who happens to be a little odd himself from his attitude to his limp--that seems to disappear when cheese enchiladas are being served for lunch. Percy's home life isn't the magical happy place either--but he does have a living mother who cares for him very much. It's just that complete ass that she married that he can't stand, nor can he figure out why she married him. She acts more like his servant than someone who married him for love.
So naturally both boys come from every day lives that children can relate to. They're not super popular or smart or athletic. Harry comes off as being uber-poor what with the ill-fiting clothes, and I doubt he'd every be allowed to even think about visiting a friend's house--and no way in hell he'd invite someone over. Percy is always the new kid, the delinquent, and on top of that he's horrible at school, sports and girls.
There are far more people in the world who can relate just a little to either of these boys than can't.
And like so many of us dream/dreamt once upon a time someone shows up and tells them that they're special. They have powers. There's a whole other secret world out there that they're apart of--and on top of it they're special in that world too.
If it weren't for the fact that they stuggle and make mistakes and feel out of place in this world where they're supposedly supposed to fit in people write them off as being Mary Sue's--er Gary Stu's?. Thankfully, they're still normal boys who come from our world and no what it's like to be an average kid. Their egos rarely get too big even when they save the world. Now that doesn't mean that they never get cocky, or don't have some kind of chip on their shoulder mostly because they seem to be underaged pawns in some adult war and they're just never let in on the full truth of things.
Of course alot of this is a credit to the author's who gave these boys life. J.K.'s first idea of Harry just came to her on a train ride and she fleshed him out over time. She had her first child while trying to give life to Harry Potter. And as things have changed for her from family to fame and fortune her stories have become more layered and more complex. And it has been suggested that her last few books could have used a stricter editor.
As each of the seven books became bigger and longer and denser.
Rick Riordian is a former middle school teacher turned author. He created Percy as a bedtime story for his dyslexic, ADHD son. His middle-school aged son loved it so much he told his dad that he had to write it down and turn it into a book. Along the way Rick got feed back from other middle schoolers.
All five books run around the same number of pages, none break the four hundred mark. And his-world building is pretty solid. It helps, I suppose, that many of the 'adults' in the series are Greek gods and theirs are not new stories. In Rick's books the Greek gods are tied directly to Western Civilization. As the seat of power moved so did they. From Greece to Rome to Europe to the US. It's just that over the years as humankind grew out of believing in magic they grew out of believing in the gods, but the gods didn't go anywhere. They just didn't get renamed again and there aren't temples built to them here. They still have remarkable offsprings though, and just about everyone in history who has become someone gifted or in a seat of power--good or bad--was a demi-god.
Percy's story is pretty straight forward and a little familiar. Everything that happens has a way of being explained away by mortal minds/eyes. He get in trouble in the 'real world' because he never really leaves it. He just knows more than the rest of us.
Now movie wise--the debut movie for each franchise was directed by Chris Columbus. Harry was cast with actual 11 year olds picked for their resemblence to characters more than their acting abilities. For many of them this was their first real acting job. And as such they've grown up under the watchful eye of the world.
With Percy they cast older actors who had some experience even if still relatively unknown--or know for things other than their acting. This does cause a few changes to the arcing plot, but high school is just as hard to deal with as middle school.
Movie review to happen in a separate post.