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Rick Riordan facts for kids

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For persons of a similar name, see Richard Riordan (disambiguation).
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Rick Riordan
Riordan in 2018
Riordan in 2018
Born Richard Russell Riordan Jr.
(1964-06-05) June 5, 1964 (age 61)
San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
Occupation Novelist
Alma mater University of Texas at San Antonio
Genre
Years active 1997–present
Notable works
Spouse
Rebecca Klahn
​
(m. 1985)​
Children 2
Signature
Rick Riordan signature.svg

Richard Russell Riordan Jr. (born June 5, 1964), known as Rick Riordan, is an American author. He is most famous for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. His books have been translated into 42 languages. Over 30 million copies have been sold in the United States alone.

The first two Percy Jackson books were made into movies by 20th Century Fox. Rick Riordan was not involved in these films. However, he is a co-creator and executive producer for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV show. This show was released on Disney+ in 2023. He has won two Emmy Awards for his work on the TV series. Riordan's stories have also become graphic novels and short story collections.

Riordan's first full novel was Big Red Tequila. This book was the start of his Tres Navarre series. His big success came with The Lightning Thief in 2005. This was the first book in the five-part Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. These books place modern-day teenagers in a world of Greek and Roman mythological settings.

Since then, Riordan has written many other popular series. These include The Heroes of Olympus, which continues the Percy Jackson story. He also wrote The Kane Chronicles, a trilogy focused on Egyptian mythology. Another trilogy is Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, which explores Norse mythology. Riordan also helped Scholastic Press create The 39 Clues series. He wrote the first book in that series, The Maze of Bones. In 2021, he published Daughter of the Deep. His novel The Sun and the Star, co-written with Mark Oshiro, came out in 2023.

Life and Career

Rick riordan 2007
Riordan at the 2007 Texas Book Festival

Rick Riordan grew up in San Antonio, Texas. He went to Alamo Heights High School. At first, he wanted to be a guitarist and studied music. Later, he changed his mind and studied English and History at the University of Texas at Austin. He also got his teaching license from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He taught English and Social Studies for eight years in San Francisco.

Rick married Becky Klahn in 1985. They share the same birthday. They have two sons, Haley and Patrick. In 2013, they moved to Boston when their older son, Haley, started college there.

Riordan got the idea for the Percy Jackson series from bedtime stories. He would tell his son Haley stories about ancient Greek heroes. Haley had ADHD and dyslexia. This inspired Riordan to make Percy Jackson, the main character, also have ADHD and dyslexia. Riordan published The Lightning Thief in 2005. Four more books followed, ending with The Last Olympian in 2009.

After Percy Jackson became very popular, Riordan created The Kane Chronicles. This series features modern-day Egyptian pantheon gods and two new sibling heroes, Sadie and Carter Kane. He also wrote The Heroes of Olympus, which is a sequel series to Percy Jackson.

Riordan also helped create The 39 Clues children's book series. He wrote some of its books, including The Maze of Bones. This book became a number one seller on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2008. He also wrote the introduction for a special edition of Tales of the Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green. He said this book helped him decide to write his own Greek mythology series.

In 2022, Riordan helped write the first episode for the Percy Jackson and the Olympians TV series on Disney+. He is also an executive producer for the show. Disney bought Fox in 2019. This allowed Disney to get the rights to make the Percy Jackson novels into a TV show. Riordan won an Emmy Award as an executive producer when the show's first season won for Outstanding Young Teen Series. He won another Emmy as a writer for the pilot episode.

Mythology in His Books

Rick Riordan's books for young readers are all about adapting mythology for today's world. He uses Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Norse stories. He combines these in five different book series. The mythology in his books has its own special twists, but it is mostly based on real myths. His stories often show humans interacting with gods. He also uses English names for many characters.

Here are some examples of the mythologies he uses:

Riordan has said that his interest in mythology started when he was a child. He read many books about Norse mythology that a teacher suggested. He also read classic stories like The Iliad and The Odyssey. He uses his general knowledge of myths to create his stories. For Greek mythology, he mentioned Tales of the Greek Heroes by Roger Lancelyn Green as an early influence. Riordan also uses modern websites like The Theoi Project to check his facts.

Awards

Rick Riordan has won many awards for his books:

  • 1998 Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel for Big Red Tequila
  • 1998 Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original for Big Red Tequila
  • 1999 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original for The Widower's Two-Step
  • 2008 Mark Twain Award for The Lightning Thief
  • 2009 Mark Twain Award for The Sea of Monsters
  • 2009 Rebecca Caudill Award for The Lightning Thief
  • 2010 School Library Journal's Best Book for The Red Pyramid
  • 2011 Children's Choice Book Awards: Author of the Year
  • 2011 Children's Choice Book Awards: Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade Book of the Year for The Red Pyramid
  • 2011 Wyoming Soaring Eagle Book Award for The Last Olympian
  • 2011 Milner Award for Percy Jackson & the Olympians series
  • 2012 Indian Paintbrush Award for The Red Pyramid
  • 2013 Best Fiction Book for Children in Bulgaria for The Mark of Athena
  • 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Middle Grade and Children's for The Trials of Apollo
  • 2017 Stonewall Book Award for Children's literature for The Hammer of Thor

Publications

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

Original Series

  1. The Lightning Thief (2005)
  2. The Sea of Monsters (2006)
  3. The Titan's Curse (2007)
  4. The Battle of the Labyrinth (2008)
  5. The Last Olympian (2009)

The Senior Year Adventures

  1. The Chalice of the Gods (2023)
  2. Wrath of the Triple Goddess (2024)

Related books

  1. The Demigod Files (2009)
  2. The Ultimate Guide (2010, with Antonio Caparo, Philip Chidlow, and Keven Hays)
  3. Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo (2013; short story)
  4. Percy Jackson's Greek Gods (2014, illustrated by John Rocco)
  5. Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes (2015, illustrated by John Rocco)
  6. The Percy Jackson Coloring Book (2017, artwork by Keith Robinson)
  7. The Lightning Thief: Illustrated Edition (2018, illustrated by John Rocco)

The Heroes of Olympus

  1. The Lost Hero (2010)
  2. The Son of Neptune (2011)
  3. The Mark of Athena (2012)
  4. The House of Hades (2013)
  5. The Blood of Olympus (2014)

Related books

  1. The Demigod Diaries (2012)
  2. Demigods of Olympus (2015, interactive e-book)

The Kane Chronicles

  1. The Red Pyramid (2010)
  2. The Throne of Fire (2011)
  3. The Serpent's Shadow (2012)

Related books

  1. Survival Guide (2012)
  2. Brooklyn House Magician's Manual (2018)

Demigods and Magicians

These stories were first published separately, then together in 2016.

  1. The Son of Sobek (2013)
  2. The Staff of Serapis (2014)
  3. The Crown of Ptolemy (2015)

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

  1. The Sword of Summer (2015)
  2. The Hammer of Thor (2016)
  3. The Ship of the Dead (2017)

Related books

  1. Hotel Valhalla: Guide to the Norse Worlds (2016)
  2. The Magnus Chase Coloring Book (2018, artwork by Keith Robinson)
  3. 9 from the Nine Worlds (2018)

The Trials of Apollo

  1. The Hidden Oracle (2016)
  2. The Dark Prophecy (2017)
  3. The Burning Maze (2018)
  4. The Tyrant's Tomb (2019)
  5. The Tower of Nero (2020)

Related books

  1. Camp Half-Blood Confidential (2017)
  2. Camp Jupiter Classified (2020)

Nico DiAngelo Adventures

(in collaboration with Mark Oshiro)

Tres Navarre

  1. Big Red Tequila (1997)
  2. The Widower's Two-Step (1998)
  3. The Last King of Texas (2001)
  4. The Devil Went Down to Austin (2002)
  5. Southtown (2004)
  6. Mission Road (2005)
  7. Rebel Island (2008)

The 39 Clues

  1. The Maze of Bones (2008)
  2. Introduction to The 39 Clues: The Black Book of Buried Secrets (2010)
  3. Vespers Rising (2011, with Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson)

Graphic novels

Percy Jackson & the Olympians

  1. The Lightning Thief Graphic Novel (2010, with Robert Venditti, Nate Powell, and Jose Villarrubia)
  2. The Sea of Monsters Graphic Novel (2013, with Robert Venditti, Attila Futaki, and Tamas Gaspar)
  3. The Titan's Curse Graphic Novel (2013, with Robert Venditti, Attila Futaki, and Gregory Guilhaumond)
  4. The Battle of Labyrinth Graphic Novel (2018, with Robert Venditti, Orpheus Collar and Antoine Dode)
  5. The Last Olympian Graphic Novel (2019, with Robert Venditti, Orpheus Collar and Antoine Dode)

The Kane Chronicles

  1. The Red Pyramid Graphic Novel (2012, adapted by Orpheus Collar)
  2. The Throne of Fire Graphic Novel (2015, adapted by Orpheus Collar)
  3. The Serpent's Shadow Graphic Novel (2017, adapted by Orpheus Collar)

The Heroes of Olympus

  1. The Lost Hero Graphic Novel (2014, with Robert Venditti, Nate Powell, and Orpheus Collar)
  2. The Son of Neptune Graphic Novel (2017, with Robert Venditti, Antoine Dode, and Orpheus Collar)

Standalone novels

  • Cold Springs (2004)
  • Daughter of the Deep (2021)

Other Books

  • Introduction to the book Tales of the Greek Heroes, by Roger Lancelyn Green (2009)
  • Introduction to the essay collection Demigods and Monsters (2009, 2013)

Rick Riordan Presents

In 2016, Disney-Hyperion announced a new book series called "Rick Riordan Presents". This series started in 2018. It is led by Rick Riordan's editor, Stephanie Owens Lurie.

Rick Riordan's role in "Rick Riordan Presents" is like a curator. This means he helps choose other authors' books to be published. He doesn't write the books for this series himself. Riordan said he wants to find authors who are already writing about different mythologies. He wants to recommend them to his many readers. The series focuses on "diverse, mythology-based fiction by new, emerging, and under-represented authors." This helps Riordan fans find new stories without him having to write more books than he usually does.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Rick Riordan para niños

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