I just finished Steve Lookner’s THE LIGHTNING FART: A PARODY OF THE LIGHTNING THIEF (PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS, BOOK 1).
It was, of course, hilarious. Mr. Lookner must have a parody thesaurus or some such reference book that helps him with his clever play on words. Or maybe, he is a parody guru? a very clever writer? an expert at caricature? Whatever one wants to call it - he has a gift for parody.
THE LIGHTNING FART is such a funny take on Rick Riordan’s very popular series of books for intermediate and young adult readers - PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS. From the title, THE LIGHTNING FART (compared to THE LIGHTNING THIEF), the cover art, the play on names (in the original book, Percy Jackson is the half-son of Poseidon; in the parody, Percy Stinkson is the half-son of Pooseidon), to the camp names (Camp Half-Blood compared to Camp Half-Wit), reading this parody is like riding a roller coaster - the ‘word thrills’ just never stop coming.

I must put in a good word for the original series. THE LIGHTNING THIEF series is well-written, very fast-paced and interesting. It also kickstarted an interest in mythology among my school library readers. The 200’s in my library were dust-covered and rarely referenced but the series put mythology ‘back on the map’, so to speak, as an interesting subject. Classical gods and goddesses were studied and classical architecture was discussed. Kids who rarely looked at a globe were looking at maps of ancient Greece and Rome. Amazing! Never underestimate a good action, adventure series to get kids interested in reading and studying. My hat is off to Rick Riordan’s series AND to Steve Lookner who made its parody so funny. Thank you. ( )