Why You Should Read The House of Hades

Why You Should Read The House of Hades

First of all, The House of Hades is a very good book.  If you like books that have the following traits, this is the book for you: 

•  Action
• Suspense
• Romance
• Survival
• Mystery
• Mythology

These are just some of the traits that describe this book.  In my other blogs, I have described the journeys of some characters in my book.  I think that everyone should read this book because it has to do with Greek Mythology.

Greek Mythology is what the ancient Greek people believed in.  They believed in multiple gods that all represented different things.  Some gods and things they represent are this:  Zeus is the king of the gods.  He represents storms and the sky.  His animal is an Eagle.  He also represents leadership.  One other example is Poseidon.  He is the "vice king" of the gods.  He is the ruler of the sea.  His sacred animal is a horse.  He is also a leader.

Overall, this is a very good book.  It has many elements of a good book as listed as above.  If you like action and a twist of history, this is the book for you!

Who Would You Be?

Who Would You Be?

Today, I am blogging about what character I would be in the Percy Jackson/Hero's of Olympus series.  You may also decide who you would be.  Leave a comment saying who and why.  These are the character descriptions.

 

Leo Valdez:  Leo is a son of Hephaestus.  Hephaestus is the Greek god of fire and the forge.  The forge means that he can build anything that he wants if he has the resources.  Leo is special though.  Leo can summon and control fire, unlike any son of Hephaestus in over 100 years.  Leo can fix and break and rebuild anything mechanical.  He is good with his hands too.

 

Annabeth Chase:  Annabeth is a daughter of the Greek goddess Athena.  Athena is the goddess of war and wisdom.  She is goddess of architecture and intelligence.  Annabeth gets these traits from Athena.  Annabeth has only her smarts to get through her challenges and always has a plan.

 

Frank Zhang:  Frank is the son of Mars.  Mars is the Roman god of War.  Frank was blessed and cursed as a child.  His life depends on a piece of firewood.  If it burns up, he dies.  This is why he is weary towards Leo.  His blessing is amazing.  With complete concentration, Frank can turn into animal he wants to.  In the middle of war, Frank gets blessed by Mars and glows red, making him nearly invincible to any incoming fire.

 

Hazel Levesque:  Hazel is the daughter of Pluto.  Pluto is the Roman form of Hades.  Pluto is god of wealth, the dead, and riches.  Hazel had special powers.  She has a curse too, just like Frank.  She can summon minerals like gold, iron, copper, silver, and much more.  The twist is that whoever uses that summoned mineral to benefit them in any way, they will suffer and die.  She can see through any natural tunnels.  She is also a witch.  She can control the Mist.  The Mist can create allusions and make people do things that they wouldn't normally do.  Hazel has a horse, Arion, that can run across any surface with amazing speed, even water.

Piper McClain:  Piper is a daughter of Aphrodite.  Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.  Piper is not very good at any real combat skills.  She has a knife that lets her see into the future.  Her special power is that she can charm speak.  Basically, she uses her voice and looks to influence peoples' minds.  She also has a special item she got from a river god that can shoot any food you want from it.

Jason Grace:  Jason is the son of Jupiter.  Jupiter is the Roman form of Zeus.  Jupiter is god of the sky, thunder, storms, and king of the gods.  This means that Jason is a very powerful demigod.  He can control the winds which allows him to fly.  He can summon storms and cause lighting to hit things.  At Jason's full strength, he can summon massive thunderstorms.  Overall, Jason is one of the most powerful.

Percy Jackson:  Percy is the son of Poseidon.  Poseidon is the Greek god of the sea, rivers, floods, drought, earthquakes, and horses.  His roman form is Neptune.  Since Poseidon is the god of horses, this gives Percy an ability to understand and communicate with horses.  Percy can control mostly any kind of water, and anything that has water in it.  When he touches water, he is healed.  He can breath underwater and when he walks out of the water, his cloths are still perfectly dry, unless he doesn't want them to be.  At his full strength, he can summon a full out hurricane that can wash his enemies away. 

So who would you want to be?  I think I would want to be Percy Jackson.  I would love to control water and breath under-water.  I hope you had fun choosing who you would want to be.  Click "link" to view a more in-depth look at these characters.

  

Column Homework

Locking into the magic of Legos

Basically in this article, it describes how much good Legos can do for kids.  It lets them use their imaginations and it allows them to have fun and express their creativity.

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/columnists/krista-ramsey/2014/02/15/krista-locking-into-the-magic-of-legos/5521245/

The line that I think is best written is this: "With Legos, kids build sturdy little creations – which, in turn, build sturdy kids."  I really like how she uses the quote in the column.  It ties up the end of the column very well.  It also uses good syntax by rhyming.  Also, I like her writing styles at the very end of each column.  In each of her columns, she includes a cool sentence at the end.  Here are the last sentences for each example:

For better vision, kids need more time outdoors:  "'What all kids need is more training in three dimensions'," Clark says.  "'Life is not two-dimensional,'".  Both of these quotes are cool.  They both have a different message behind it.  This is why I like these columns.

Questions

How do you find all of these topics and do you personally interview the people?

Why did you choose the career that you chose?

Do you have a team of people to come up with ideas or do you do it personally?

Tartarus: Their Journey Part 3

Percy and Annabeth's Journey (Part 3)

Percy and Annabeth have always been close.  Ever since they had gone on their first quest, they have always been close and cared for each other.  Their first quest was "The Lightening Thief".  They bonded on that quest and have bonded ever so much stronger as a couple through their adventures.  They also bonded on their quest called "The Sea of Monsters". 

In Tartarus, Percy and Annabeth truly needed each other to get through the hardships of Tartarus.  They both leaned on each other for sanity and for something to fight for.  Percy and Annabeth definitely would have died in Tartarus if they didn't have each other.  Another thing that shows their love for each other is when Hera, God of women, birth, marriage and queen of the Gods, wiped Percy's memory and sent him to a Roman demigod camp, much like Camp Half-Blood, that Annabeth didn't even knew existed.  Annabeth searched the entire country for Percy.  That shows how much Annabeth loves Percy.

In Tartarus, Percy needs Annabeth and Annabeth needs Percy.  They have to face the constant pain of the environment, the monsters, and they just frankly need each other to keep each other sane.  When Percy and Annabeth were fighting arai, Annabeth needed Percy most, and he came through for her.  Arai are humans mixed with bats.  If you killed a monster (Percy and Annabeth have killed hundreds probably) and if they swear revenge on you however you killed it, that's what would happen.  When Percy or Annabeth kills an arai, however you killed a monster, you would feel their pain.  Annabeth blinded a giant before, so Annabeth got blind.  Percy put himself through a lot of pain to save her.  So, Percy and Annabeth have a strong bond because of everything they have been through.



Tarturus: Their Journey 2

Percy and Annabeth's Journey (Part 2)

Percy and Annabeth are stranded in The Pit with no way out, and home to the deadliest monsters on the face (or in the deepest part) of the Earth.  Tartarus is where monsters come back to regenerate.  If a demigod or something kills a monster, they explode into dust.  The dust travels back into Tartarus, and Tartarus regenerates their bodies.  Obviously since Percy and Annabeth are trapped in the part of the world in which monsters regenerate, of course they are going to be fighting some monsters. 

 

Annabeth fell into The Pit because her mother (Athena's) arch nemesis, Arachne.  Back in the times when Greeks ruled, Arachne was a girl that was a master weaver.  She challenged Athena to a duel and she lost.  Her punishment was that Athena turned her into a spider, and that is why children of Athena fear spiders so much.  Annabeth was fighting her when she fell into The Pit and Arachne pulled her in with her webbing and Percy dove in with her.  Percy and Annabeth first had to fight Arachne and they barely beat her.

 

Next they have to fight some Greek vampires, or empousa.  Obviously, Percy and Annabeth defeat the empousa.  They then must make their way into Tartarus to get to the heart where the Doors of Death are waiting.  Percy and Annabeth are surrounded by monsters when Percy calls for Bob, a titan that had his memory erased, Bob falls from the sky and kills all the monsters and is now like Percy and Annabeth's body guard and guide.  He leads them through Tartarus, finding out bit by bit about who he was.  He was an evil Titan that over through the giants and their rein.  He decides to stick with them. 

Percy and Annabeth battle many minor monsters until they reach the god of Misery, Akhlys.  Percy and Annabeth must use the Death Mist to get past the monsters.  Akhlys tricks them into using it, thinking they die.  Akhlys runs off because of the looming figure right behind them, Night itself.  Nyx is one of the oldest gods.  She is literally Night and she is responsible for everything evil in the world.  Percy and Annabeth trick her by asking her which one of her children she likes most, and all of her offspring end up spraying the whole area with pure darkness.  Percy and Annabeth get to the Doors.  I wish I could tell more but I don't want to spoil it.  Next time, I will talk about how this brought the two of them together.

Tarturus: Their Journey 1

Percy and Annabeth's Journey (Part 1)

In the last book in the series, The Mark of Athena , Annabeth is fighting a huge monster.  Suddenly a pit opens up like a sinkhole in the ground.  It leads to Tarturus, I giant pit deep in the Earth.  The Greeks believe different things about it.  Some said it was a huge, endless pit that leads to nothingness.  Others say it was a huge dome.  Nobody truly knew.  Tarturus is the God of the Pit.  Greeks said that the dome of Tarturus is actually his body.  Tarturus is the Pit. 

 

Annabeth and the Monster fall into the pit.  Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon (also Annabeth's boyfriend) jumps into the pit with Annabeth.  All of the two demigod's friends, Hazel, Leo, Frank, Nico, Piper, Coach Hedge and Jason all watch in terror as they fall in and the pit closes. 

 

Annabeth and Percy fell for three whole days.  Percy had enough energy left to summon some river water and let them fall safely.  Annabeth describes Tarturus with this, "Blisters had started to form on their arms from exposure to the Tarturus air.  This whole enviroment was about as healthy as a nuclear blast zone" (Riordan, page 45). The air was acidic and they got blisters on the inside of their throats too.  The only way they would survive is if they drank from the River of Fire.  Annabeth describes the River of Fire as "cold".  Annabeth describes the Fire water tasting like this.  "She expected it to taste like gasoline.  It was so much worse...  Drinking from the River of Fire was like gulping down a ghost pepper smoothie."  Tarturus was terrible. Next time, I will talk about the enemies that Percy and Annabeth faced.

This is what Tarturus might have looked like.