Percy Jackson and Mythic World-building

 By Katie Salzmann

 

Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians young adult book series centers around a 12-year old dyslexic hero who discovers he is the modern-day son of a Greek god. The Lightning Thief, the first book in the series, was published in 2005 and quickly became an international best-seller, translated into dozens of languages. 

 

In 2010, on the heels of the release of the first movie adaptation of The Lightning Thief, we featured an interview with Riordan in our Fall edition of the Keystone newsletter about the series’ success and his own development as a writer.   

 

At the time of that interview, we noted that the five books comprising the Percy Jackson series had sold millions of copies and had turned an entire generation on to Greek mythology. That number has grown exponentially, and Riordan has continued his success with additional book series featuring other mythic worlds: The Kane Chronicles (Egyptian); Magnus Chase (Norse); and Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo (Greek). He has also launched Rick Riordan Presents, a publishing imprint that highlights cultures and mythologies from around the world, written by a diverse group of authors.    

 

Fast-forward fourteen years, and the generation that grew up reading the original Percy Jackson series has, well, grown up – as has Percy who, in Riordan’s new book, The Chalice of the Gods, must fulfill three quests in order to get the necessary letters of recommendation from Mount Olympus for college.  

 

Many fans of Percy Jackson can be found on Texas State’s campus, including Senior Jessi MacDonald, whose own children and the students she teaches are among a new generation

of readers discovering the mythical worlds that Riordan has created.   

 

Jessi conducted an internship at The Wittliff in Fall of 2022 as part of her Art Education in the Community class. Dr. Adetty Pérez de Miles developed and teaches the course which is integral to the curriculum for candidates pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) with All-Level (EC-12) Art Teacher Certification. She states, “In this course, I advocate for an asset-based approach to pedagogy to deepen students’ understanding and participation in community engagement. The aim is to enable students to recognize, celebrate, and harness the existing knowledge, talents, and resources that already exist in the community. One of the most meaningful things artist-educators can do is extend their creative practice to get involved in co-making the world they envision beyond the studio/class and with community partners. Jessi’s opportunity to collaborate with the Wittliff Collections and Lead Archivist Katie Salzmann provided an invaluable and enriching experience.”  

 

In Fall of 2022, Disney had just announced the development of their new Percy Jackson series, and Jessi recognized the opportunity for a Wittliff tie-in to something she knew would be popular with Texas State students and the broader community. Over the course of the semester, she worked on two projects; one was an activity book for students with art pages and writing prompts to help them develop their own characters and worlds. “I was super excited to work on the world-building guide inspired by the mythological world of Percy Jackson because my son Sage, who was 12 at the time, is a big Percy Jackson fan. As part of my research for the project, I read the first book and was hooked! Now I am a big fan myself. Throughout the process of making the world-building guide, I used Sage as a sounding board for my ideas, so they are all kid-approved.” 

 

“While going through the Rick Riordan archives, something I kept reading in children’s fan letters to Rick Riordan was how they were not interested in Greek Mythology until reading the Percy Jackson books.

I think one of the things that makes the Percy Jackson series so engaging is how relatable Percy is as a character. Since character building is integral to story writing, a guide for creating characters seemed like a great idea to aid young writers. I got the idea of adding character sheets into the world-building museum guide from the character creation process of tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons.”

Jessi also drew from her readings and course discussions about the significance of student-centered approaches to teaching and learning. “By inviting young student visitors to interact with the guide when they come to the Wittliff, they are not just learning by being told about Rick Riordan and his Percy Jackson books. They are actively participating – creating art which will help them feel connected to that mythic world and to the Wittliff community. It also aids the students’ learning by giving them a fun opportunity to expand their writing and drawing skills and communicate their conceptual and creative ideas.” 

 

The second project that Jessi worked on was a design for an exhibition case highlighting Rick Riordan’s world-building, and the impact of those worlds on his readers. She selected artifacts and documents from Riordan’s archive including early childhood writings and drawings; drafts and character descriptions for The Lightning Thief; and letters, photos, and drawings sent to Riordan by young readers inspired by his books. Katie Salzmann realized Jessi’s vision for an exhibition in November of 2023 by installing, Percy Jackson and Mythic World-building in The Wittliff’s lobby gallery. It will remain on display through the Spring semester, 2024.