Demigods and Monsters Read Online Free

mortal world. A creature with an unusual number of heads is obvious. More often, what Percy notices are the many small details that add up to one thing: a monster, and immediate danger. 13
    This doesn’t only apply to identifying monsters and killing them but to how he interacts with all nonhumans. In his adventures, Percy uses these many details to decide how to deal with each monster on an individual basis. He rescues monsters, even protects and befriends them. Perhaps this open-mindedness is a result of having a Cyclops for a brother.
    Or perhaps this is simply part of his personality, and something else that sets him apart among heroes. In his encounters with gods and monsters, Percy Jackson uses not just his muscles and his mind, but his heart. It makes him difficult to predict and control, which is why the gods consider him so potentially dangerous, should the prophecy concerning him be fulfilled.
    But it also makes him a hero, not just in the classical, demigod sense, but of the human kind too. That’s the most important lesson we can take away from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books. You may never have to deal with Manticores and Gorgons, and the Minotaur may not be waiting to ambush you on the way to school,
but we all have to deal with our own monsters: bullies, peer pressure, stranger danger, prejudice, new kids in school . . . an endless list that makes our world challenging even if we aren’t demigods.
    But just like Percy Jackson, you too can achieve success in all your quests if you apply these same lessons: Avoid conflict when you can, keep your eyes and ears open, and always look at the whole picture. And like Percy, don’t ever be afraid to ask for help from your friends.

    Rosemary Clement-Moore is the author the Maggie Quinn series of supernatural mystery novels for teens, including Prom Dates from Hell , Hell Week , and Highway to Hell (coming out in 2009). In addition to books, movies, the SciFi Channel, and Guitar Hero, she loves mythic stories of heroes and monsters. Though Athena is her favorite god, Rosemary has a soft spot for Hades, ever since she played Persephone in a musical (with singing and dancing nymphs!) that she wrote with her class in theater school. Readers can visit her at www.rosemaryclementmoore.com .

Why Do So Many Monsters Go Into Retail?
    And How Come They’re Never Selling Anything a Demigod Really Wants?
    Cameron Dokey

    I t’s not easy being a young demigod.
    Just ask Percy Jackson. He can tell you.
    Always assuming he has time to catch his breath between pursuing a quest or being pursued by the forces of evil hot on his trail, sometimes literally breathing down his neck right behind him.

    In Shakespeare, there’s a stage direction that reads: Exit, pursued by a bear . (I am not either making this up. You can look it up for yourself if you want to. It’s in The Winter’s Tale . Act III, scene 3. And you thought Shakespeare was just some stuffy dead guy.)
    But my point, and I do have one, is that the character in Shakespeare had it lucky. At least he knew it was a bear behind him. Whenever Percy Jackson flees the scene, he never knows what shape the thing after him might take. That’s one of the challenges of being chased by monsters. And that’s not all. Equally challenging may be the fact that Percy also never really knows what’s up ahead. Friend or foe. Battle or temptation.
    Which pretty much brings me to the topic of this essay: Just what is it about monsters and shopping?
    There are a lot of monsters in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. There are also a surprising number of opportunities for shopping. Action, adventure, Greek gods, retail therapy. Not your ordinary combo. Not that much about Percy falls within the realms of the usual.
    An ordinary demigod? I just don’t think so.
    But on almost every quest Percy takes, and his first one in particular, sooner or later, some creep who