Today is Rick Riordan’s 56th birthday, and it would be quite an understatement to say that he changed the game in terms of young adult fiction.
His arguably most famous series, ‘Percy Jackson,’ was created in part due to his son Haley having both ADHD and dyslexia. In the books, demigods have those traits because it’s their battle reflexes keeping them alive, and their brains are hardwired to read Ancient Greek respectively. He noticed how much Haley loved Greek mythology, and would read to him every night about them. When Rick ran out of them, Haley suggested to “make something up.” The rest is ancient history.
I remember first reading those books at camp, and I could not for the life of me put them down, even when my counselor told me to participate in activities or go to sleep. I loved watching Percy Jackson and his friends go on epic quests, and laughing at the delicious snark that Riordan peppers in. Unfortunately for the counselor, the snark really awoken something in me. Not only that, but Riordan’s books had heart, and treated young readers like adults, especially with the increasing maturity level in his series.
We hear a lot how we should try to include diversity in the arts, but Riordan has really taken this to heart. While the ‘Percy Jackson’ series is not as diverse as his later work, he works hard to do so, including mixed race kids in the Egyptian mythology oriented ‘Kane Chronicles,’ LGBT+ in characters like Nico (‘Percy Jackson’) and Alex (‘Magnus Chase’ Series) There are so much more that he’s done, and these were just at the top of my head.
But what I think is most noble of him is ‘Rick Riordan Presents.’ It’s a platform for authors to write stories about mythologies from under-represented areas, from Hindu, to Chinese, to Native American. Riordan wouldn’t write these stories himself, but he would help other authors get their stories viewed by a wider audience. It’s one thing to talk about diverse inclusion, but it’s another thing to walk the walk.
Rick Riordan’s work is beloved by many, especially with the passionate reaction to the movies being nothing like the books, and the equally passionate but happy reaction of a new TV series coming to Disney+. In conclusion, Happy Birthday Rick Riordan. There are more stories to come out and we can’t wait.
Featured Image Via Marty Umans