Book Jeopardy! by Benjamin

On Sunday night my eight-year-old, Benjamin, made us a jeopardy game. I have got to record it, because it was adorable. The categories were his favorite fantasy book series: Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson, The Unbelievable FIB by Adam Shaughnessy, Harry Potter by J.K Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians by RIck Riordan, and Dreamdark by Laini Taylor.

The questions were not strictly Jeopardy style, in fact they were quite the opposite. I don't think Benjamin has ever watched an episode of Jeopardy. He has taken a lot of AR quizzes though.

Here were the questions:

Dreamdark
100 Who is the main character?
200 Who is the Magruwen's champion?
300 Who is the Magruwen?
400 What dragon was the last to die?
500 Who is Magpie's favorite person and why?

Percy Jackson
100 Fill in the blank: Camp ___ ____
200 Double tragedy, lose 200
300 Who is Annabeth's mom?
400 What is the name of Percy's sword?
500 Where is Kronos's throne room?

Harry Potter
100 Name Harry's 2 best friends
200 What do dementors guard?
300 How many times has Harry faced Voldemort?
400 What kind of tart is Harry's fave?
500 What is a bezoar?

building the game

Alcatraz
100 What book does Alcatraz use 2 lies?
200 Is Bastille a Smedry?
300 What is the High Library?
400 Do 10 jumping jacks or lose 100 points.
500 What Smedry has the talent of making rude noises?

FIB
100 Tragedy, lose 100
200 Who is the trickster?
300 Special, gain 300
400 Mister Fox's looking glass has a ____
500 Daily Double: Who is Fay Longintime?

Levi and I had a great time playing the game, even though we both ended up with a negative score. I haven't read the Alcatraz or FIB series, and it's been long enough since I read the others that I was a bit rusty.

Benjamin wanted me to be sure to post the answers to the questions for you, in case you wanted to play for yourself. I'll put those in the comments.

If you're curious about any of these series, Benjamin and I are happy to answer your questions. Also, I linked to their Amazon pages above, for your convenience. If you shop through my affiliate links to Amazon I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Did some of this money go toward purchasing the last Alcatraz book, The Dark Talent? Yes it did.

Rockin' Rick Riordan

I just finished Rick Riordan's latest---the first in a new series, The Kane Chronicles, called The Red Pyramid. I thought it was totally awesome. The depth of the research he must've done to write this was very impressive.

Before reading the book, I was a little afraid that this was going to be a Percy Jackson rerun, except with Egyptian gods instead of Greek ones. And while there is the teensiest bit of that feel to it, it's certainly an original story on its own. Like the Percy Jackson books, it is majorly action-packed. The main characters, brother and sister Carter and Sadie, are running, flying, driving, transporting, whatever, from one explosive run-in disaster to another through the whole book. So get comfy, have a tasty snack on hand, clear your day's schedule, because this is a tough one to put down.

Fun, fun, fun read. I like it better than Percy Jackson already. I think the author's really honed his writing with each book he's published. Great beginning to a new series! I just can't believe I'm going to have to wait for the next one. Why is it I keep starting new series before all the books have come out??

The Lightning Thief Trailer

The first trailer for The Lightning Thief is here! What do you think?

The Last Olympian

Post by Alysa
Book 5, the final installment in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series: The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan.

Yay! yay! yay! yay! It was so good! It definitely lived up to my expectations. And my wildest dreams didn't have to come true -- I managed to get my hands on it pretty quick, since we bought it.

These books are so much fun.
The concept is fun: what would Greek gods be like in the modern day?
The delivery is fun: Percy is a hilarious narrator you can relate to and enjoy.
The characters are great: my favorite this time was Paul. But Grover was still wonderful and Annabeth was still kick-butt and I even liked dark Nico. . .
And the action is non-stop: I was obligated to put the book down in the middle of a couple of different battle sequences, just because I knew things weren't going to be any less exciting in a few pages.

A triumphal finish to a great series. Well done!

Umm, need I say recommended? Begin with The Lightning Thief.

Up and Coming

Ashley in red, Alysa in blue.

It looks like this year will be a good one for book sequels. I decided it was high time I make a list so I can keep track of when I should put all of these on hold at the library. Yeah! Woot woot! Feel free to add to it any books coming out soon that you're excited about, sequels or otherwise. Just post them in comments and we'll add them to the list!

* Fablehaven book 4, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull: March 24, 2009 (penultimate) Ooh, I just read the first one. It was pretty sweet.
* Percy Jackson book 5, The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan: May 5, 2009 (final in the series) Am so excited for this! Click on the label Percy Jackson Books to see all of our posts about the series and author.
* Pendragon book 10, The Soldiers of Halla by D. J. MacHale: May 12, 2009 (final in the series) Hm, I haven't read any of these. Are they good, Ashley? Ten books seems like a lotta books! In my opinion, the series could've been condensed to five, but I'm still excited for the tenth. It sounds like it's going to be a big departure from the last nine, which will be exciting. :)
* The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale: June 9, 2009 (Not a sequel, but we're excited!) Oh I just get more excited every day! Today I was looking up how many pages long it's going to be and then grabbing other books off my shelf and comparing page counts to see roughly how long it's going to be. "Imagine the ball landing in your glove..." as my P.E. teachers used to say.
* The Keys to the Kingdom book 7, Lord Sunday by Garth Nix: June/July 2009 (final in the series)
* Catching Fire, sequel to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: September 1, 2009 I CAN'T WAIT! I'm really hoping for an ending on this one. Suzanne Collins, I promise I'll read book three, just give me a little bit of denoument!
* Books of Bayern, Forest Born by Shannon Hale: September 15, 2009 And she'll be touring back east for this one! Keep your eyes on her website for event details. She is SO much fun to see in person.

What I want to know: What will Stephenie Meyer and JK Rowling write next? Yeah! Totally. Speaking of which I still need to read The Tales of Beedle the Bard...

*Silksinger, sequel to Blackbringer by Laini Taylor: September 17, 2009 If the first one was any indication, it's gonna be good. Oh, and Blackbringer comes out in paperback May 14!
*Lips Touch, by Laini Taylor: October 1, 2009 This one is a short story collection. Awesome! But ugh! They're both so far away! Can't we have one earlier? haha.
*I, Q: The White House, sequel to I, Q: Independence Hall by Roland Smith: can't seem to find the release date, but I hope it's soon!
*The Maze Runner, by James Dashner: October 6, 2009. Also not a sequel, but looks like it is going to be good. Very cool premise.

*The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson: November 3, 2009. Okay, how could I forget this one?! It's the beginning of the end of the sneaky books! (So named because they are very sneaky in getting you to read the next one, and they are all HUGE.)

Report: Rick Riordan visits Champaign

Benjamin meets Rick Riordan:We were lucky to be able to attend a Rick Riordan event at the Champaign Library on Monday March 9th. The author of the amazingly awesome Percy Jackson and The Olympians series came to the town to visit the library on Monday and do a few school visits on Tuesday.

He was scheduled to sign books from 6 to 7 p.m. after which he would make a presentation in the library's largest conference room for the next hour. Then he would sign books again. Since the library's largest room seated only 500, and since Rick Riordan and his series are so popular, the event was ticketed. Tickets were only available to students in grades 3-12 in Champaign schools. Needless to say, no one in our family qualified. However we had been told that the presentation would be live streamed into other parts of the library.

We arrived at the library around 5:40, full of hope and expectation. As we queued up to have our books signed, though, we noticed our camera was out of battery. So the shots you get are from Jacob's cell phone.

About 5 minutes later Rick (I can call you Rick, right Rick?) showed up to start signing books! More than punctual, this guy was early! And as we slowly made our way up the line I noticed how amicably the author greeted each fan and chatted with them before signing their book. Rick seemed especially adept at making nervous preteen boys open up for a little bit of conversation. I loved that he complimented one boy on his homemade Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, saying "That's better than the one I have. I always tell people, 'If you want a really good one, make it yourself.'"

On our way to the front we talked for a moment with Betsy Su (Champaign librarian extraordinaire and organizer of the event). She seemed happy that everything was going so well, and told us that we'd be able to watch the presentation from the cafe area of the library. Yes! :D If you love books and want to organize book signing events like Betsy, then see some librarian degrees offered by accredited institutions.

As Rick Riordan signed our books, we told him about how The Lightning Thief had been just perfect for our drive out from Utah when we moved here. (Thanks Laura!) We had a good little chat and got the picture above.

As we waited for the presentation to start we fed Benjamin the rest of his dinner, and I watched kid after kid emerge from the signing room grinning. Awesome job Mr. Riordan!

And the presentation itself was quite fun. It was geared well to his audience, complete with stories of his own school days, his first rejection letter (which he got in the 8th grade and which his mother framed. Odd thing: When his mother's house burned down the letter was untouched amongst the wreckage! She has since re-framed it.), upcoming movie news, and Greek mythology quiz with prizes! He really did an excellent job.

He also read a bit from the beginning of the 5th book, and if you know Rick Riordan, you know he gets straight to the action. I'm pretty much dying to read the rest already! Luckily for me book 5 comes out on 5-5.

Links:
Everead reviews of Percy Jackson Books
Rick Riordan's Website
Rick Riordan's Blog

Waiting in line to get our book signed

Ooh, Aah!

The cover for Rick Riordan's The Last Olympian a.k.a. Percy Jackson & the Olympians Book 5, has been released. Head to Riordan's blog to check it out. May 5th!

Rick Riordan Coming to Champaign Public Library!

You guys. Rick Riordan is coming to Champaign Public Library! I'm so excited!

His Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is nearly complete (the 5th and final book comes out in May). And the whole series is great! They are so funny and fast paced and engrossing and . . . awesome! We've reviewed them here and here and here. Also my crazy dream about book 5 was mentioned here.

So, if you haven't read them yet, you totally have time to read them before he comes. He's coming Monday, March 9th, 7 p.m. And you have to get (free) tickets -- cuz it's gonna be packed, cuz these books are awesome.

Also, just so we all don't embarrass ourselves, I've looked up how to pronounce his last name. It's RYErdn. Like, the first syllable sounds like Fire.

One more thing: I think events like this (i.e. author events) are grossly under publicized. I mean, I talked with the teen librarian who booked this event (and put in a plug for having Shannon come), and she started organizing this event by calling Rick Riordan's people over a year ago! And it's made possible by a grant from some (most likely very awesome) people in the community. (Gosh, if I'm rich someday, that is totally what I'm going to do with my wealth. Give it to libraries to have authors come!) I mean, him coming is a BIG DEAL. So how come there aren't, like, posters everywhere and stuff? And announcements being made over library loudspeakers? Nope. Just a tiny mention on the flier for the teen reading program. Anyway, I thought I'd add to the publicity.

Anticipation

Last night I had a dream in which I was searching in vain for the last Percy Jackson and the Olympians book on my library's shelves. Do you think I want to read it or something?

The Last Olympian is the name of the 5th and final book in Rick Riordan's series and it comes out in May 2009.

The Battle of the Labyrinth

The Battle of the Labyrinth
Rick Riordan

To talk about this one much would be spoilery, since it's the 4th in the series. It was good. I can't wait for the fifth and final volume. Just read them already.

Sequels

Here are a couple of sequels that I've enjoyed recently.

The Titan's Curse is the third in the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series by Rick Riordan (pronounced Ryer-dn, you can hear him say his name on his website...) and it was good -- in the tradition of its prequels. I have to say I could have used some more of Annabeth in this one, she just didn't get enough screen time. Anyway, Percy is a very fun narrator and he's finally getting wise to the dangers around him.

The Mysterious Bendict Society and the Perilous Journey is another great sequel, coming right after The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. As I was reading it I couldn't decide if I liked it or the original better. Since, I've decided I just have a special place in my heart for the first one. Seriously though, as sequels go, this one is great. You get all the awesome characters back, and they're not flat and changeless. There are some crazy new villians and even scarier shenanigans. Recommended. Oh, and don't you love the cover art, again? Awesome.

Previously
The First 2 Percy Jackson Books
The Mysterious Benedict Society

Guest Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Books 1 & 2, by Rick Riordan

I am pleased to announce that we have our first guest review! Jacob has eaten up these books and wants to tell you why he likes them so much. When describing his qualifications as a book reviewer he says that he is "a PhD student" and has read "many books." And now, straight from the horse's mouth (no offense, honey):

The Lightning Thief & The Sea of Monsters, Percy Jackson and the Olympians Books 1 & 2, by Rick Riordan

So, Laura was at our house and recommended The Lightning Thief to me, saying that she thought I would like the clever way that Rick Riordan managed to mix Greek mythology and modern culture. I’ve now read the first two books of the series (there are currently four books in the series) and I can say that I did thoroughly enjoy these books.

The books are narrated from the point of view of Percy Jackson, a teenager who discovers that his father is one of the Greek gods. The gods are still very much alive, and Mount Olympus has moved to New York as the center of Western Civilization made its way to America. As a demigod, Percy embarks on quests to help the Olympians. This is where the fun begins. Various monsters and heroes from Greek mythology pop up in Percy’s life as he goes on his quests, and their names will be familiar to those who had a unit on Greek myths in junior high school.

What I found particularly entertaining was the way Riordan modernized some of the monsters and explained their existence in modern society. As a few of examples, Circe the sorceress turns men into guinea pigs instead of real pigs because they’re easier to deal with, Medusa runs a garden statue shop in which she sells those she has turned into stone, and the Grey Sisters run a taxi service in New York. Also, Riordan has a good sense of humor throughout the books, which adds to the fun of the story. The writing is crisp and the pacing of the books is wonderful. This series is a fun read and also a great way to brush up on (or even learn) your Greek mythology.

And there you have it! I've read these first two books as well and thoroughly enjoyed them. Riordan's humor is quite hilarious -- I'm especially fond of some of his similes (cheetos freckles?) and dialogue (that hubris/hummus mixup was great). You can bet we'll be reading on!