Percy Jackson and the lightning thief - Rick Riordan

The Lightning Thief: the first book in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series.

Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. I never asked to be the son of a Greek god. I was just a normal kid, going to school, playing basketball, skateboarding. The usual. Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher. That's when things started really going wrong. Now I spend my time fighting with swords, battling monsters with my friends and generally trying to stay alive.

This is the one where Zeus, God of the Sky, thinks I've stolen his lightning bolt - and making Zeus angry is a very bad idea . . .

Rick Riordan has now sold an incredible 55 million copies of his books worldwide

Praise for the Percy Jackson series:

'Witty and inspired. Gripping, touching and deliciously satirical...This is most likely to succeed Rowling. Puffin is on to a winner' - Amanda Craig, The Times

'Puns, jokes and subtle wit, alongside a gripping storyline' - Telegraph

'Perfectly paced, with electrifying moments chasing each other like heartbeats' - New York Times

Rick Riordan is an award-winning mystery writer. For the past fifteen years he has taught at middle schools in the San Francisco Bay area and in Texas. Rick lives in San Antonio, Texas, with his wife and two sons. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, the overall winner of the Red House Children's Book Award, was Rick's first novel featuring the heroic young demigod.

The Percy Jackson series:

The Lightning Thief; The Sea of Monsters; The Battle of the Labyrinth; The Titan's Curse; The Last Olympian

Heroes of Olympus:

The Lost Hero; The Son of Neptune; The Mark of Athena

The Kane Chronicles:

The Red Pyramid; The Throne of Fire; The Serpent's Shadow

Rick Riordan (he/him), dubbed 'storyteller of the gods' by Publishers Weekly, is the author of five #1 New York Times best-selling middle grade series with millions of copies sold throughout the world, including Percy Jackson and the Olympians, soon to be a live-action series on Disney+. His latest novel is Daughter of the Deep, a modern take on Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Rick is also the publisher of an imprint at Disney-Hyperion, Rick Riordan Presents, dedicated to finding other authors of highly entertaining fiction based on world cultures and mythologies. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @RickRiordan.