More on myth-making and Rick Riordan, author of the “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series

Q & A with Rick Riordan

Question -- Have you ever had a teacher like Mrs. Dodds? (Mrs. Dodds is a teacher at the beginning of “The Lightning Thief” who turns into a monster and tries to kill Percy before he knows he’s a demi-god. The title of that chapter is “I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra teacher.”)

Rick Riordan -- There’s a funny story about that. I used the name of one of the teachers I was working with, just while I was writing, but I never intended it to go into the book. But I forgot to change it, so when the book was coming out, I had to tell her what I had done. Now all her students have read the book and are scared of her, so it’s cool with her.

Q -- Did you have to invent anything for the books? It seems almost every detail has a root in actual Greek mythology.

R.R. -- “The mist” [a magical aura that allows humans to miss the most obvious intrusion of the immortals into their lives] comes straight from Homer. The “ancient rules” I inferred from my knowledge of classical mythology. The gods never take each other on directly. Heroes become the agents to have the gods’ will done.

Percy’s weapon, though, is made up. “AnaklusmosÖ” is my best guess at a translation for the English word “riptide.” I consulted with a classicist, but the word “riptide” doesn’t exist [in the texts we have], which is strange for a seafaring people. So we translated “counter-tide.” The idea for the pen that changes into a sword came straight from my childhood, from one day when I was bored in class and was playing with my pen.

Q -- What do you have against California? Hades is in Los Angeles in “The Lightning Thief,” and all kinds of bad things happen in Marin County in “The Titan’s Curse.” What gives?

R.R. -- I get e-mails about this. People really take offense. I love California -- I taught in San Francisco for eight years! But in the Greek world, dangerous stuff happened when you went west. It was the unknown. You could fall off the edge of the world.

Q -- And a question on behalf of teachers: Who did the terrific teacher guide for “The Lightning Thief”? Will there be guides for the other books?

R.R. -- I did the teacher guide for “The Lightning Thief” myself. I had a lot of ideas for it because I’ve seen a lot of bad ones. But I haven’t done guides for the other books. It’s very time-consuming to do, and most schools tend to use only the first book in a series, anyway.

A Worthy Cause

Bookpeople, a bookstore chain in Riordan’s home state of Texas, runs a summer day camp based on the “Percy Jackson” series. It has been so successful that there are three one-week sessions offered this summer. Each session begins with a “claiming ceremony,” in which the oracle assigns campers to cabins of the 12 primary Olympian gods. For a peek at Camp Half-Blood, click here for the camp website.

Rick Riordan’s suggested reading list

“Time Warp Trio” by Jon Scieszka, a series beginning with “Knights of the Kitchen Table.” Puffin Books. Ages 8-11.

“Holes” by Louis Sachar. Dell/Laurel Leaf, $6.50, paperback. Ages 9-12.

“Skulduggery Pleasant” by Derek Landy. HarperCollins, $17.99. Ages 9-12.

“The Underland Chronicles” by Suzanne Collins, a series beginning with “Gregor the Overlander.” Scholastic Books. Ages 9-12.

“The Earthsea Cycle” by Ursula K. LeGuin, a series beginning with “A Wizard of Earthsea.” Bantam Books. Ages 9-12.

“Airborn” and its sequel “Skybreaker” by Kenneth Oppel. HarperCollins/Eos. Ages 11 and up.

Some good books on Greek mythology

“Mythology works best when it’s storytelling,” says Rick Riordan. “I always told my sons the Greek myths, rather than read them. I have yet to find a really good collection of Greek mythology for kids. The classic, ‘D’Aulaire’s,’ is the one most kids know, but it’s too archaic, not really accessible for today’s kids. And Bullfinch -- forget it! I’ve used Bernard Evslin to teach, but there’s a great need for good books in this area.”

Here are a few of his recommendations.

Jim Weiss’ storytelling on audiotape and CD. “Greek Myths” and “Heroes in Mythology.” Greathall Productions.

“DAulaire’s Book of Greek Myths” by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire. Delacorte Books, $19.95 paperback.

“Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths” by Bernard Evslin. Dell/Laurel Leaf, $6.50 paperback.

“Mythology” in the “Ologies” series of novelty books (which includes “Egyptology,” “Dragonology” and “Wizardology”), due out in August from Candlewick Press, $19.99.