My name is Percy Jackson.

When I was a kid, my best friends were books. Sound familiar? In fact, back in the day, when the MS Readathon was held in the US, I was the national champion! Twice! I'd like to say that this had to do with my nascent philanthropic heart, but a more honest answer is that the Readathon gave me an excuse to spend even more time with my BFFs, and like any kid avoiding chores or life, I took it. For one month each year, I was free to read during every waking second. One of the books I read during that time, returning to it again and again over the years, is Edith Hamilton's famous Mythology. Remember it?! It is a compendium of the Greek myths, told in a straightforward style. Hamilton makes the myths' concepts easily graspable, even when read in the less-than-pastoral setting of my youth.

Hamilton has been on my mind lately since Tutoree and I have been reading The Lightning Thief. In the year that we've been reading together, Tutoree has not proven to be a lover of books. He is busy with real friends from the real world, he is a champ at karate, he swims. No matter how I encourage him, fairly shouting about the glories of reading, he'd rather live off the page. But The Lightning Thief is provoking a change in him where I've failed. He read a record 59 (!) pages on his own this month (for the first time, I had to catch up with him!). I am positive that this new-found love for reading is because Greek myths are at the heart of The Lightning Thief's adventure and they work like a magnet to our minds.

My tutoring cred has increased dramatically as we've read through the book, as well. Our reading of The Lightning Thief began with comments like:

Tutoree: Why do we have to know about Greek mythology?

Moved through:

Tutoree: A trident? Like, the gum?

and

Tutoree: Why does Mr. D [Dionysus] smell like grapes?

To this dazzling moment for any tutor:

Tutoree: How do you know all this stuff?

I know all this stuff because of Edith Hamilton! Because she made it easy for a girl in a trailer park on the edge of the desert to fall in love with the Greek myths and embrace their vitality. I can still remember imagining Perseus, the messenger of the Gods, and to my young mind, the true hero of the Greek myths. I've been in love with Perseus since then, trying to summon him in my wild youth by foolishly letting too many troubles loose on the world, by creating problems that regenerated like Hydra heads, by turning mortals to stone… and today I still love the cocktail created by the qualities she combines: thievery, kindness, and courage, with a dash of winged ridiculousness.

Consider the following annotated list of my life's romantic aspirations:

– the first "person" I wanted to marry: Bugs Bunny. Who better to capture Perseus' dynamic qualities?,

– Hawkeye Pierce from the television series M*A*S*H, note the devil in his eye, and like Bugs, Hawkeye will make a joke even during the worst of times and escape bullets unscathed,

– when I outgrew Hawkeye*, my heart became fixed on a young David Letterman (his teeth echoing Bugs'), I stayed up too late to watch his monologue all through junior high,

– and now, another tall mischief-maker, finally found in real life, able to handle life's real adventures with a mix of steel and humor and who never forgets to free the hope I sometimes smash the lid on.

While it is fun to find the seemingly mythological qualities we admire in another person, the archetypal heroes and monsters the myths are based on are best found, nurtured, tamed, and perhaps destroyed (er, integrated), inside each of us. This is part of what Tutoree and I have been discussing as we pour through the first book of Percy Jackson's adventure.

Last week Tutoree asked me why humans have to live in the middle place between the Underworld and Mount Olympus. I doubt I'm qualified to answer this question, having gone to art school and all, but I tried my best. It's the human condition, I said, and with the wisdom of a 12-year-old, which is considerable, he accepted this answer. Between these two realms is where the quests lie and that's what we're all on, right? Quests! Edith Hamilton knew this, I think, and I'd like to thank her for opening up my young mind to the workings of timeless adventure, allowing me to see the quests and heroes all around me. Thank you, Edith!

I'd love to hear how your quests are going, literary or otherwise! Did you read Hamilton's Mythology as a kid or later, as a kid-at-heart? How are the famous myths intersecting with your work? What monster is your hero seeking to slay? What hope awaits your hero's return in order to be freed upon the world?

– Tupelo

*This is a lie. I've never outgrown Hawkeye. Shhhh. Don't tell my betrothed.