The stories of Greek mythology have always been fascinating to me. The fact these people made stories, which were more problematic than not, to explain the basic occurrences in life will always interest me. For a long time, Greek mythology has just been me researching online and reading books. From how Zeus over threw his tyrant of a father and created a new generation of Gods to the contest between Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Poseidon, the god of the sea, to be named a patron of a city, there was never a dull moment in the daily life of a Greek God and for me, Rick Riordan has brought that to life in a way better than any writer could do.
Rick Riordan is a #1 New York Time’s bestselling author and has written over twenty books, most of which are based on Greek mythology, the well known Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. The series is unique, imaginative, fast paced and well thought out. We are taken on an adventure with Percy as he finds out he’s the son of Poseidon. What stuck out to me about the protagonist is not his wit or skill but his barriers, which are his ADHD and dyslexia. It would be safe to say that these two themes are not mentioned much in literature and it made me incredibly happy that Riordan was addressing these issues. Riordan’s approach to them both was refreshing to say the least. When he was asked why he ad chosen to make his main character dyslexic and have ADHD, he said:
“The books [about ADHD and dyslexia] also confirmed something I already knew: that dyslexic/ADHD kids are creative, “outside-the-box” thinkers. They have to be, because they don’t see or solve problems the same way other kids do.”
ADHD, or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, is a developmental disorder that makes people hyperactive, unable to control impulses and and unable to pay attention. Dyslexia is a learning disability that makes is hard for people to read and understand the letters and content of the passage. They also struggle with writing and sometimes mathematics. Not the go to characterises of a heroic main character, right? What’s really interesting is how Riordan twists both of these conditions to make them advantageous rather than a barrier. Percy is dyslexic because his mind is programmed to read Greek letters, not English letters. He has ADHD because he has natural battle instincts, which explains the usually hyperactive ways of people with ADHD.
In his first books, there is a lack of diversity. Percy is a white boy, another main character, Annabeth Chase, is a white girl with blonde hair, the villain of the first book is, yet another, white boy with a muscular physique and blonde hair. Most of the characters are white. However, slowly, Riordan has made up for this in his other series that follow the same characters, along with others. In his Norse series Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard, there is a black dwarf, a deaf elf, and a strong, outspoken, kickass Muslim valkyrie with a magic hijab who battle islamaphobia in the books. There is a gender fluid, transgender woman who becomes the main character’s love interest! There are many bisexual and gay characters throughout his books as well.
It’s clear that Rick Riordan is not afraid to talk about these things and this should be an example to all authors, especially in this generation. We need to stop idolizing people like J.K. Rowling who is, a great writer, but someone who writes about people like herself: straight and white. We need to be able to represent people from all walks of life and not be so scared to do it.
