THE TITAN’S CURSE

The stirring of monsters has begun. Monsters not seen for thousands of years threaten to unleash death and destruction on an unprecedented scale and destroy Olympus, and it’s up to Percy Jackson and his friends Grover, Annabeth and Thalia to stop them, though Percy is embarrassed to have to depend on his mother to drive him to his battles. Percy, Annabeth and Thalia are demigods, Grover is a satyr and their quest is to find the missing Artemis and the monster she was hunting. This third in the Olympians series makes the Greek myths come alive in a way no dreary classroom unit can. Apollo driving his Maserati Spyder sun chariot, attacks by skeletal zombie soldiers, dragons and a 20-foot-tall metal warrior and the contests between the gods will have readers wondering how literature can be this fun. This can stand alone, though newcomers to the series will race back to the first two volumes and eagerly await a fourth installment. (Fantasy. 10 & up)