I personally didn't love the Percy Jackson books, but one of my kids did. And the cool thing was that it inspired an interest in Greek mythology.

I agree with earlier posters that reading - even if not what you would choose! - is the goal here.

Re: "Getting kids to like reading is more important than what they are reading. If they like it and love it then they will eventually branch out, but if they think reading is a chore they are more likely to develop a lifelong 'its a chore' attitude about it."

FWIW that has worked for my kids - teens who still love reading (and have even read The Lord of the Rings, for the poster who referenced that). They probably read 15 graphic novels for every chapter book in elementary school, but by middle school, it evened out.

It got my kids interested in mythology, which led to them reading both the original source material and non-fiction about it for pleasure. HUGE win.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s far better written than Harry Potter.

Someone is jelly. Did you mist women's authors are the ones they usually attack as not being 'well written'

Look, Jk Rowling is wildly successful and veru popular despite the recent trans stuff.

Same with Taylor Swift. People hate them because they are popular and wildly successful.

Let's see what you can do. Have you written a young adult fiction thay has changed the world?

NP here, the Harry Potter books are badly written and badly plotted. I also don't enjoy Percy Jackson or the Brandon Sanderson books someone else recommended. There's a lot of terrible writing out there!

And people are allowed to like it anyway - we all have our problematic faves. People need to be comfortable saying "yeah, it's cheesy (or repetitive or sexist or whatever is the valid criticism) but I love it because ..." instead of loving it and being unable to hear any criticism.

NP. I think this kind of statement is kind of like...annoying. Definitely elitist/egotistical.

There are many things out there that are popular and kind of like, in my opinion kind of obviously actually poorly written (see Colleen Hoover). There are then a lot of things that are like different people's cup of tea that people might have legitimately different opinions about but to write off in such a dismissive way comes across much more like someone hating on popular things to come across as 'better than'.

HP is a coherent story that spans seven books. I think there are stronger/weaker books and stronger/weaker plot lines and def valid representation criticism but to just like, wave it off as crap is like, I dunno ok go feel good about yourself.

I would say you should addend your last paragraph. People should be able to be comfortable saying they like something that is kind of objectively crappy and understand it is crappy (hey! I used to watch the bachelor and I put this squarely in the category you describe). But you can also have 'problematic faves' where you can see that the work has issues/is imperfect (as I think virtually all works of art are) but doesn't need to be written off as terrible. You can critique a part of something, or the creator of something, while still appreciating the good in the art.

For example I think some Stephen King books are genius but MANY have huge issues. But you can look at the body of work and think about it critically instead of just saying like 'christine was trash so I never read another word'.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s far better written than Harry Potter.

Someone is jelly. Did you mist women's authors are the ones they usually attack as not being 'well written'

Look, Jk Rowling is wildly successful and veru popular despite the recent trans stuff.

Same with Taylor Swift. People hate them because they are popular and wildly successful.

Let's see what you can do. Have you written a young adult fiction thay has changed the world?

NP here, the Harry Potter books are badly written and badly plotted. I also don't enjoy Percy Jackson or the Brandon Sanderson books someone else recommended. There's a lot of terrible writing out there!

And people are allowed to like it anyway - we all have our problematic faves. People need to be comfortable saying "yeah, it's cheesy (or repetitive or sexist or whatever is the valid criticism) but I love it because ..." instead of loving it and being unable to hear any criticism.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting kids to like reading is more important than what they are reading. If they like it and love it then they will eventually branch out, but if they think reading is a chore they are more likely to develop a lifelong 'its a chore' attitude about it.

I felt this when my daughter was really into graphic novels. I did not get it and thought they were lame, but she was reading on her own volition. Then she picked up other books. She's now in the like 99% percentile for reading and is constantly taking in some type of story. She has inhaled the percy jackson books and it led to her reading all kinds of other versions of greek and roman and even norse and egyptian mythology.

When it comes to instilling a love of reading I personally have really tried to adopt the philosophy that any reading they WANT to do is good reading and I try to nudge within their interest zones rather than write them off. I'm actually pushing through percy jackson myself right now just because of how much she loves it. Do I love it? Not really. But watching the show together and being able to talk about the differences between the books and the shows is creating a memory/experience of the joy of reading a series and talking about it etc.

Trying to find something similar for my younger son right now to ignite the same fire!

I am really not sure about the bolded. I think parents (and schools) need to first get kids to like reading, but also introduce them to harder but worthwhile books along the way, possibly as readalouds. My kids know that alongside their "cupcake" books that are just fun, they have to read "meat and potatoes" books and "vegetables" books that are both fun and work. We started in on that kind of literature when they were babies, so while there's some grumbling they still love reading and they do it - with some occasional grumbling. But often when I tell them it's time to read some book I want them to read instead of the umpteenth installment in the Puppy Place series (or whatever), they grouch right up until the 2nd chapter, devour the book, and then thank me afterward.

I don't think there are very many people who will slog through even The Hobbit much less, say, Ulysses by James Joyce because they just love reading.

I think you have to think about what your goals are generally. Does someone HAVE to slog through the hobbit in their spare time? IMO if you are someone who reads a lot, then you end up reading different things, different qualities etc. If you are someone who is generally seeking out reading in a way because it is an activity that you enjoy, then you will meander down a path.

I do agree that you need to progress to more complex stories/novels but I have found that inching my kids towards those things is far more effective than pushing them towards them. So my son right now is reading wings of fire on his own and I am reading him Harry Potter, we take turns, and so he's reading at his level and I'm introducing something he finds exciting but not making him slog through it so that he hates it. And every once in awhile he reads some HP to stretch vocab etc.

My daughter loved percy jackson and then I got her d'aulaires book of greek myths and other books on mythology. I take the interests they found on their own and try to use them as paths towards more advanced content. To me personally, I'll consider it more of a success to have voracious readers than someone who is going to read Ulysses for fun. That is kind of like saying you only want your kid to play soccer if they're going to be good enough to play professionally (this is not a perfect analogy I know). Exercise is good! You don't have to be at the highest level to be getting something great out of it. Reading is good! You don't have to only be reading Dostoyevsky to be getting something valuable out of it.

Also just generally speaking I feel like people underestimate the level to which books were written in their own time. Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys might feel 'harder' but a good part of that is because we no longer live in the world it was written in, so it is more challenging because the words and phrases are no longer how we talk. Dickens wrote most novels as serial episodes for publications at the time, they were the era's soap opera.

So it is hardly shocking that our kids novels written in this modern age are written in their world/their language.

I mean all that said I do find PJ a little tedious but I also kind of appreciate that it is bringing me down to her world and that it is igniting her imagination.

Anonymous wrote:Getting kids to like reading is more important than what they are reading. If they like it and love it then they will eventually branch out, but if they think reading is a chore they are more likely to develop a lifelong 'its a chore' attitude about it.

I felt this when my daughter was really into graphic novels. I did not get it and thought they were lame, but she was reading on her own volition. Then she picked up other books. She's now in the like 99% percentile for reading and is constantly taking in some type of story. She has inhaled the percy jackson books and it led to her reading all kinds of other versions of greek and roman and even norse and egyptian mythology.

When it comes to instilling a love of reading I personally have really tried to adopt the philosophy that any reading they WANT to do is good reading and I try to nudge within their interest zones rather than write them off. I'm actually pushing through percy jackson myself right now just because of how much she loves it. Do I love it? Not really. But watching the show together and being able to talk about the differences between the books and the shows is creating a memory/experience of the joy of reading a series and talking about it etc.

Trying to find something similar for my younger son right now to ignite the same fire!

I am really not sure about the bolded. I think parents (and schools) need to first get kids to like reading, but also introduce them to harder but worthwhile books along the way, possibly as readalouds. My kids know that alongside their "cupcake" books that are just fun, they have to read "meat and potatoes" books and "vegetables" books that are both fun and work. We started in on that kind of literature when they were babies, so while there's some grumbling they still love reading and they do it - with some occasional grumbling. But often when I tell them it's time to read some book I want them to read instead of the umpteenth installment in the Puppy Place series (or whatever), they grouch right up until the 2nd chapter, devour the book, and then thank me afterward.

I don't think there are very many people who will slog through even The Hobbit much less, say, Ulysses by James Joyce because they just love reading.

Getting kids to like reading is more important than what they are reading. If they like it and love it then they will eventually branch out, but if they think reading is a chore they are more likely to develop a lifelong 'its a chore' attitude about it.

I felt this when my daughter was really into graphic novels. I did not get it and thought they were lame, but she was reading on her own volition. Then she picked up other books. She's now in the like 99% percentile for reading and is constantly taking in some type of story. She has inhaled the percy jackson books and it led to her reading all kinds of other versions of greek and roman and even norse and egyptian mythology.

When it comes to instilling a love of reading I personally have really tried to adopt the philosophy that any reading they WANT to do is good reading and I try to nudge within their interest zones rather than write them off. I'm actually pushing through percy jackson myself right now just because of how much she loves it. Do I love it? Not really. But watching the show together and being able to talk about the differences between the books and the shows is creating a memory/experience of the joy of reading a series and talking about it etc.

Trying to find something similar for my younger son right now to ignite the same fire!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The author also specifically wrote the books with his son in mind. His son has ADHD and Dyslexia which is why Percy has those conditions as well.

If the books connect with kids, great, honestly.

Oh boy. Where are the books about NT kids not going through social injustice? Always someone suffering

lol yeah let’s stick to all the great literature with no suffering

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP the prose isn't literary. The feature of the series is how impressively he integrates such a wide body of Greek and Roman mythology into the story.

This. At least kids become aware of Ancient Greece and Rome. And it’s finally not about some injustice happening to a non white kid (which a lot of other school assigned books seem to be about).

Are you denying history?

Anonymous wrote:It’s far better written than Harry Potter.

Someone is jelly. Did you mist women's authors are the ones they usually attack as not being 'well written'

Look, Jk Rowling is wildly successful and veru popular despite the recent trans stuff.

Same with Taylor Swift. People hate them because they are popular and wildly successful.

Let's see what you can do. Have you written a young adult fiction thay has changed the world?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I picked up a Hardy Boys book recently. Percy Jackson is better.

What's wrong with casual language? It's how humans speak.

I agree with this. Pick up Happy Hollisters (ick) or the Victorian era Elsie books (warning - if you think the racism in Laura is bad you haven't seen anything yet) and you'll see that poorly written children's literature has been with us since there have been novels for kids. It's just that we usually blessedly let the bad writing go out of print.

Is Rick Riordan writing like E. B. White? No. Is there room for a kid to read both? Yes.

Lol, I devoured the Happy Hollisters as a kid and still ended up with a Masters in English and books on the bestsellers list.

OP, I get not loving Percy Jackson but think you’ll be challenged keeping “yeah” out of your kid’s vocabulary. Focus on teaching when it’s appropriate to use that versus “yes.” And they can serve as a springboard for reading nonfiction books about Greek mythology.