The Lightning Thief

Percy has ADHD, dyslexia, and a talent for getting expelled. Turns out he’s also the son of a Greek god, which explains a lot. Accused of stealing Zeus’s lightning bolt, he’s got ten days to find the real thief and stop a war among the gods.

Why we picked it

Percy is a hero who struggles with the exact things a lot of kids struggle with, and the book reframes those struggles as strengths. It’s fast, funny, and sneaks in a whole mythology education while you’re not looking. Great for a reader who thinks they don’t like reading.

Questions to chew on

• Percy’s school labels him a problem kid. How does the story flip that around?
• The gods in this book are powerful and pretty flawed. What do you make of that?
• Percy could go it alone, but he doesn’t. What do his friends bring that he can’t?

Good to know: a reliable gateway book — this is the one that turns non-readers into readers. Five books in the main series if it lands.