Summary
The Lightning Thief is about the adventures of 12 year old Percy Jackson. Percy has dyslexia and ADHD. He is a student at Yancy Academy, a place for 'bad kids'. The class takes a field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at Greek and Roman exhibits. While at the museum, Percy's math teacher, Mrs.Dodds, takes him inside and turns into a monster, a Fury, one of the minions of Hades. Mr. Brunner finds them and throws him a pen that turns into a sword. Percy then vaporizes Mrs. Dodds and no one remembers her ever being there. Percy's best friend, Grover can't fool Percy though. Once he and Percy leave the school for the summer, they see 3 old ladies at a fruit stand cut a piece of yarn and Grover starts to freak Percy out. Percy ditches him at the bus stop and goes home to his mother and step-dad, Sally Jackson and Gabe Ugliano. Thier reactions to seeing Percy are quite different. Percy and his mom leave Gabe at home and go to Percy's favorite place in the world, the beach. Once there, a 'hurricane' shows up and Grover too. Percy, Grover, and his mom must drive to Camp Half-Blood because the Minotaur is chasing them. The car wrecks and Percy defeats the Minotaur after the Minotaur takes his mother. Percy goes unconscious for a few days. He awakens to find himself at Camp-Half Blood and discovers that he is a demigod, the son of Poseidon. He must go on a quest to recover Zeus's master bolt that Zeus thinks he stole. Percy brings Grover, who turns out to be a satyr, and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena. Chiron, the camp activities director (ex-Mr. Brunner) gives Percy the pen he threw to him at the museum. It's name is Anaklumos, or Riptide. Along the quest, the Furies attack, they all meet Medusa in New Jersey, Percy falls from the St. Louis Arch, they all meet Ares and must get his shield from a waterpark in Denver, get stuck in a casino in Las Vegas for 5 days, and go to the Underworld in Los Angeles. They meet Hades and realize that it is not Hades who took the bolt after all. They escape the Underworld and Percy battles Ares who took the bolt and Hades's helm of darkness. The 3 make it back to Manhattan b y the summer solstice and Percy returns the bolt to Olympus and meets his father who tells him that his mother has returned. Percy goes to see his mother then returns to Camp Half-Blood. He spends the rest of the summer training with his friends. On the last day of the summer session, Luke, son of Hermes and Percy's former counselor, takes Percy into the forest and reveals that he was the one who stole the bolt and helm. He then turns a scorpion on Percy and leaves. The scorpion stings Percy, who is taken to the Big House and wakes up to find Annabeth healing him (again). He tells her and Chiron what happened. Chiron goes to tell the gods what has happened, but tells Percy and Annabeth not to worry about it until the next summer. Annabeth has decided to take Percy's advice and tries living with her family again but promises to Percy that next summer they will track down Luke. Percy then decides he wants to live with his mother during the year and leaves. For now.