Apr 21, 2013

New Percy-Narrated Book?

 On Saturday, Rick Riordan gave his IRA keynote address titled "Reading Myths and the Myths of Reading". It's really long, and you should read all of it if you're feeling up to the challenge. However, there is one important part that I thought I should share with you:
"I will announce this here for the first time, right now I’m working on a new book of the Greek myths, told from Percy Jackson’s point of view. My hope is to offer the original stories, but told in a modern perspective that appeals to our kids today. I decided to setaside the earlier anthologies, as much as I love them – Hamilton, D’Aulaires, Evslin, Greene – because the writing is a little dated. Instead, I’ve leapfrogged straight back to the primary sources. I’m using Ovid, Hesiod, Homer and many others, and trying to cast the entire scope of Greek mythology afresh. John Rocco, who does my covers, is illustrating, and we’re hoping to create something that’s going to be useful in your libraries and classrooms."
 YAY! This is kind of vague right now, just from this quote. He's basically saying that he'll be writing a book of traditional Greek myths, but he's going to write it in Percy's POV to make it more interesting and appealing to kids... or anyone, really. Personally, I've tried reading books of Greek myths, and I can't get through them because the prose is so boring and outdated. Hopefully this will make reading myths, instead of being told them (which is the way I prefer), more interesting to myself and others like me. Uncle Rick also made some statements about this via his Twitter account.

Rick Riordan ‏@camphalfblood32m
Ever read a collection of the original myths? Imagine that, but the way Percy would tell them. Tentative title: Percy Jackson's Greek Gods
*But* it's not a new series, and it's not *about* Percy. He's the narrator. It doesn't tell you anything about Percy's future either way.
True: I'm writing a new book of the original Greek myths in Percy Jackson's point of view. I'm having tons of fun with it. No pub date yet.
 I think that the tweets clarify it a little bit more. It's not about Percy, it's narrated by him. Even though we won't be following Percy's adventures, I'm still excited! Feel free to leave your opinions on this in the comments. :)

No comments:

Post a Comment

Your thoughts go here...