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Rick Riordan’s written works (link)
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Rick Riordan is an american writer best known for his adolescent fantasy series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, a series most if not all middle school classroom bookshelves hold by now with over 30 million copies sold in the US alone (link). Riordan began as a middle school English and Social Studies teacher for 8 years, during which time he wrote his first novel, Big Red Tequila, the first in what would become his adult mystery series, the Tres Navarre series. In a genesis story reminiscent of J. R. R. Tolkien, he came up with the story for his breakthrough novel, The Lightning Thief (2005), from a bedtime story he started telling his son one night. Riordan had long brought the Greek and Roman myths and tales from his classroom to bedtime, but that night he had run out of stories and decided to create one of his own. He told the story of a boy in modern day New York City who discovers that the Greek gods didn’t disappear, but simply moved to America, and that he happens to be the son of one of them (link).
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A twitter response to an angry parent (link)
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Before he was an writer, he was a middle school teacher, and it’s clear throughout all of his works that those young students are who he writes for. Throughout his tenure as a popular children’s author, Riordan has been unabashedly dedicated to creating characters with diverse perspectives, creating characters with identities and circumstances most children’s authors wouldn’t touch, claiming the content is too “adult.” Throughout the Riordan-verse are characters of all races, with only the original Percy Jackson series having predominantly white main characters, with varying levels of physical ability, and of various sexualities and gender presentations. Even from the very beginning, he gave (almost) all demigods dyslexia and ADHD, as a tribute to his son who had recently been diagnosed with both learning disorders, and transformed them from deficiencies to strengths, dyslexia because their brains are hardwired for Ancient Greek and ADHD for better battle reflexes. Although it doesn’t speak as much to his creativity as to his goodness, one of the aspects of his writing that has inspired me since I, myself, was in middle school was his dedication to making every child feel like they could be a hero.
“As a middle school teacher, it was critical to me that all my students saw my classroom as a safe, supportive environment where they could be honored for who they were and express themselves without fear.” (link)
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A graphic from his website, depicting two of the main characters of his Heroes of Olympus series (link)
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From that first bedtime story, Riordan has gone on to write and publish a plethora of books in the same literary universe reinterpreting not only Greek, but also Roman, Egyptian, and even Norse mythology through a modern lens. Todd I. Lubart in his article “Creativity Across Cultures,” discusses how the Eastern concept of creativity often extols and emphasizes reinterpretation of older traditions, while the Western concept of creativity focuses more on the creation of the novel. I, personally, believe that Riordan does both in his works. He reinterprets and reimagines the old stories and makes them feel new again all while creating his own world with all its quirks and corners. From turning Procrustes into Crusty the water mattress salesmen to creating a character who is at once the daughter of a Norse god and a devout Muslim, he brings together the more magical worlds of old and watches them play out against the backdrop of our own time.
Sources
"Creativity Across Cultures" Dr. Todd I. Lubart
"A Journey into Chaos: Creativity and the Unconscious" Dr. Nancy C. Andreason
Picture Sources
I have always been a big fan of Rick Riordan, and I never knew how Percy Jackson was originally a bedtime story. I love how that small idea turned into such a sprawling series—that's so cool.
ReplyDeleteThis was really inspiring that such a small and personal idea can become such a big, impactful project. I loved Percy Jackson in middle school and never knew any of this!
ReplyDeleteI loved him growing up! I think its so cool that makes a really complicated subject like mythology into a very digestible form, allowing it to influence young generations.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up with these books, I've always loved how Rick Riordan was able to integrate classic Greek mythology into modern life in a way that would interest young readers like his son and millions of children around the world. The fact that he is using his platform to lift up other writers in their interpretations of their individual cultural mythologies is something else that I love about Riordan - he's unafraid of the "line" most YA authors are unable to cross in terms of representation of race/religion/gender/etc while also creatively interpreting historical mythology from many different cultures
ReplyDeleteThis was such an amazing post! I was a really big reader as a kid, and the Percy Jackson series was one of my absolute favorites. For one of my college essays, we had to discuss our favorite books, and I wrote on the Percy Jackson series! When I first read the books, I did not understand how he came up with the idea to make the demigods be dyslexic and have ADHD. But, I looked it up and found the same thing you did! I'm so inspired by how he turned his child’s learning disabilities into superpowers.
ReplyDeleteI grew up with these books and I absolutely loved them. I didn’t know that his son was diagnosed with ADHD and Dyslexia but I think that it makes the stories more special. I enjoy that these books not only take a complex topic like mythology but also make the readers feel special regardless of who they are.
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