Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan, 2006 Miramax Books

     Percy Jackson is having nightmares. First he dreams his best friend Grover, a satyr, is being chased by a cyclopes and needs his help. But when he wakes and goes to school, Percy is in danger himself: giants are attacking and he is saved by his half-brother Tyson, a cyclopes in human disguise. Annabeth, the daughter of Athena and Percy's other best friend, brings Percy and Tyson to Camp Half-Blood, just in time to rescue the camp from two rampaging bronze bulls.
     Not only is the camp under attack, but Thalia's tree has been poisoned and the wards protecting the camp weaken as it does. Chiron, the centaur camp director, is blamed for the poisoning, fired, and the demigod Tantalus is released from Tartarus to replace him.
     When Percy dreams Grover has the Golden Fleece, Tantalus sends Clarisse (a daughter of Ares) to retrieve it to repair Thalia's tree. Hermes comes to Percy, Tyson, and Annabeth to send them after the Golden Fleece as well, he even provides them with travel gear and the trade winds. Poseidon sends three hippocampi (aquatic horse-like creatures) to take them across the sea.
     The hippocampi take the trio to the Princess Andromeda, a cruise ship owned by Luke Castellan and the Titan army. They escape only to run into the Hydra. It nearly kills them when Clarisse appears sailing the confederate ship CSS Birmingham and saves them. The group then sails for the Sea of Monsters in the Bermuda Triangle when the CSS Birmingham is broken up by Scylla and Charybdis. Tyson and Clarisse are presumed dead and Percy and Annabeth are shipwrecked on Circe's island spa and resort--where Circe turns Percy into a guinea pig. Annabeth rescues him and they sail away. They continue to the Sea of Monsters, but must pass the island of Sirens. Annabeth begs Percy to tie her up and let her listen to discover her true desires. He concedes, but forgets to take her knife and it is Percy's turn to save Annabeth.
     They reach Polyphemus's (the cyclopes who has captured Grover) island, are reunited with Tyson and Clarisse, find the Golden Fleece, and rescue Grover. But before they finally escape Polyphemus confronts them. He sinks their ship and the hippocampi return to ferry the group to the mainland. They rush back to Camp Half-Blood, but are kidnapped by Luke who admits to poisoning Thalia's tree clearing Chiron. Percy is injured when he and Luke grapple for the Fleece, and Percy is rescued by the Party Ponies, centaur friends of Chiron's.
     When they arrive at Camp Half-Blood the Golden Fleece removes the poison from Thalia's Tree, but also ejects Thalia (Zeus's daughter) who was turned into a tree when she died protecting the camp to prevent her soul from entering the Underworld. The adventurers realize it was Luke's plan all along and Thalia's return could affect the Great Prophecy.
     Despite their difficulties in working together and their parents' hatred, Clarisse, Percy, and Annabeth work together to save their home. Their journey resembles the Odyssey and Odysseus' journey through the ancient world, though there is more at stake in terms of the fate of the world. The petty disagreements such as who uses which weapon during training fade into the background when the demigods' world is threatened--they work together to achieve something greater than themselves.
     Like Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters is directed at a younger audience. Middle elementary readers will enjoy the quick pace and the introduction to classical mythology.

Grim Tuesday

Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix, 2004 Scholastic Books

   Just as Arthur Penhaligon returns home, the phone Dame Primus gave to him in Mister Monday begins to ring. Dame Primus herself is on the line telling Arthur six months have passed in the House since he left and Tuesday has found a loophole that allows him to take over the lands Arthur has wrested from Monday. Arthur must return to the House straightaway to reclaim his inheritance, but before she may explain how the line goes dead.
     Arthur manages to get into the Far Reaches, Tuesday's domain, where he is mistaken for an indentured worker. He and Japeth, a former Thesaurus, fall behind when their press-gang moves to another region and are picked up by Suzy Turquoise Blue, Arthur's friend from his first adventures through the House. Suzy has brought tools to help them break into Tuesday's tower and rescue the second part of the Architect's will and the Second Key.
     Suzy and Arthur make it into Tuesday's tower through the glass pyramid which protects it and find the Mariner, the second son of the Architect and the Old One. The Mariner is held in Tuesday's service through blackmail and helps Arthur retrieve the Will. But when the Will revokes Tuesday's power, he demands the Key instigating a competition between Arthur and himself over which the Mariner presides as judge.
     The competition is to create something unique and original: Tuesday creates a magnificent tree and Arthur creates a xylophone and plays his own tune. The tune proves to be more creative than Tuesday's replication of a secondary realm sculpture. Arthur is declared winner and rushes off to repair damages to the Far Reaches.
     At the buttress between the Far Reaches and the Nothing Arthur finds an upper house denizen, who is believed to be Superior Saturday's servant Dusk, meddling in Arthur's newly claimed lands. A fight ensues which Arthur wins and the shadow of Trustee interference blooms over Arthur's time in the House. When he returns, Dame Primus has united parts one and two of the Will and names Arthur Lord of the Far Reaches, then takes over stewardship so that he may return home.
      Arthur makes the decision to slow the process of becoming a denizen  so that he may return to his family. Dame Primus reverses the effects of the first Key and Arthur is admitted to the hospital when he does arrive home. He awakens to an invitation from Drowned Wednesday under his hospital room pillow.
     Tuesday is greedy, his entire lifestyle revolves around more and more until the world he is to care for is falling around his ears. Like the other Trustees in the Keys to the Kingdom, this flaw is his downfall making him unworthy for his position and allowing him to misuse his power. For Arthur, defeating Tuesday is only one more step toward achieving his inheritance from the Architect. Grim Tuesday is followed by Drowned Wednesday in the Keys to the Kingdom Series and is good reading material for readers as young as fifth grade.

A Princess of Mars

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burrroughs, A. C. McClurg 1917

     After the American Civil War, John Carter leaves Virginia for the deserts of Arizona and the silver lodes found throughout the region. When Carter and his partner find a deep silver vein they try to make it to town for supplies to mine their claim, but carter and his partner are set upon by Indians. Carter ends his partner's misery and they pursue him, but before the Indians can kill him, Carter hides in a cave where deadly fumes end his life. 

     Carter finds his specter fascinated by the glowing star Mars and is suddenly upon the Red Planet. Upon mars, Carter has superhuman strength and ability. When he encounters a green warrior race, Carter uses those abilities to rise through the ranks. He becomes a chief, despite being a prisoner. 

     He blends into their culture until the green men capture the red-skinned martian princess Dejah Thoris. She is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen and Carter falls in love with her. When they escape the green men it appears they can live and love together, but that is only the beginning of their adventures. 

     John Carter becomes a great hero upon Mars, but returns to Earth where he lives for another 10 years. During his final time on Earth, Carter writes his story as we read it, and twenty years after his first journey to the Red Planet he vanishes. 

     Burroughs's story is imaginative and shows how a race of people so like ourselves could be so different. The Martians of Carter's visit are living breathing characters in a growing and evolving landscape. The early twentieth century language of A Princess of Mars makes reading the story difficult for readers still beginning to understand the intricacies of English, making it a suitable read for advanced readers and adults. 

The Gathering

The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong, HarperTeen 2011

     A year ago life was perfect for Maya Delaney in small town Salmon Creek: she and her two best friends were inseparable and enjoying summertime on Vancouver Island as always. But this year things are different. Serena, captain of the swim team, drowned last summer and neither Maya nor Daniel have gotten over what happened. Their small town still mourns her, until other things, strange things, start happening.
     First Daniel begins to get vibes about people and places, that prove to be right. Then cougars keep showing up around Maya's house, and won't go away. Then Rafe shows up. He starts dating around, breaking one girl's heart after another in their small town. But he's looking for one thing--Maya's strange paw-print birthmark.
     After he convinces her to date him, Rafe explains to Maya that she was part of an experiment; the birthmark on her hip is the sign of a shape-shifter and the St. Cloud company (the company which owns Salmon Creek) conducted experiments to activate the genes which allowed her to shift. He then introduces Maya to Annie, his older sister and another shape-shifter. Annie has mastered her ability to become a cougar, but as she transitions she loses her higher functioning. Annie was becoming the cougar she turned into and Rafe searched for Maya hoping she and the St. Clouds could help Annie.
     One night Annie shifts and escapes into the forests surrounding Salmon Creek. Rafe is worried for his sister, but becomes terrified when the forests catch fire. Maya, Daniel, and Rafe search for Annie, but encounter a group of men who claim to have set the fire as a distraction to search the St. Cloud laboratories in town. After nearly being captured, Maya, Rafe, Daniel and several other teens from Salmon Creek escape  both the fire and the men who set it in an evacuation helicopter.
     The originally well-adjusted Maya is thrown into chaos when Rafe drops the news on her that her birth mother abandoned her because of her shape-shifting abilities. He also tells Maya that her mother kept her twin brother when Maya was put up for adoption, furthering her confusion. Maya's adopted parents loved her as their own and until Rafe she never wanted to know about that other life she could have lived. Her other shock is that Serena was murdered--though Maya is not as surprised as others in town. The sleepy town they once thought they lived in turns out to be a hotbed of lies and the teens of Salmon Creek must come to grips with their rapidly changing lives.
     Like every teen, the students of Salmon Creek are changing and learning how to cope with those changes. They deal with peer pressure, the pressure to perform both academically and in extra-curricular activities, and with growing up. Armstrong's novel chronicles the beginning for Maya and her friends and is followed by The Calling and The Rising. The books follow her previous trilogy to form The Darkest Powers Series and are appropriate for high school readers and anyone experiencing the transitions from one life-stage to another.