#readforchange

[readforchangeproject]

We've hit 100 followers on this blog so that's exciting! Thanks to everyone who's getting involved and even more thanks to everyone who has donated to our justgiving page for Save the Children UK!

Save the Children do fantastic work helping kids in the UK and around the world receive the food, care, and education they need and their work is incredibly important, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic

£39 could provide 3000 antibiotic tablets to treat critically ill families with cholera in Sudan

£51 could provide a healthy baby kit containing vaccines for diarrhoea and pneumonia for families in Afghanistan

£85 could provide a severely malnourished child with medicine and vital food at an outpatient clinic for a month in Ethiopia

We've hit that first milestone of £39 which is awesome! There is obviously no pressure to donate but if you would like to contribute, please head to our justgiving page or share this post- if everyone who followed this blog donated £0.09 we’d raise enough for that healthy baby kit and we'd hit our fundraising target which would be incredible

[newsiegirlscout]

Percy Jackson, you say?

Well, I think we could all use a little ludicrous luck and faith in the absolute nonsensical, so I present: blue chocolate chip cookies!!

Here with ReadForChange, we're raising money for Save the Children--any contributions, including spreading the word or jumping in, is appreciated!!

[corelliaxdreaming]

Read for Change: The Lightning Thief, Ch. 1

So I'm finally reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians book one as part of @readforchangeproject! I'm going to try and do a post with random thoughts for each chapter/day. Since everyone else read this book fifteen years ago, I'm worried about saying utterly dumb things and being embrassed, but oh well, I want to participate.

This event is in support of Save the Children UK, a charity helping to educate, feed, and provide medicine to children in the UK and around the world. You can donate via the Read for Change JustGiving page here.

As for those actual chapter one thoughts:

~I've looked at these chapter titles before, and I always find them hilarious. However, as an actual reader, I don't like them as much, as to me they give too much away about what's going to happen. Even if they're not 100% accurate, as Percy's vaporization of his pre-algebra teacher here doesn't appear to be entirely accidental. He did attack her/defend himself on purpose, if you ask me.

~There was some eyebrow-raising at the use of terms like "mental case" and "crippled." I've heard very good things about Rick Riordan (apparently we call him "Uncle Rick"?), though, so I'm willing to attribute these to either "it's Percy's views not the author's" or "it was 2005, and the author has since made things right."

~I'm curious to know Mr. Brunner's deal. He seems to know something, having showed up with the pen/sword to help Percy, but then he seems to get brainwashed/memorywiped/whatever along with everyone else at the end. What's up with that whole thing? Also I adored the image of him just hanging out eating celery and reading while his umbrella makes his wheelchair look like a mobile cafe.

~On that note, I like the casual inclusion of phsyical and mental disability here with Mr. Brunner's wheelchair and Percy's dyslexia and ADHD. I seem to recall that sort of thing being tired to the whole demigod deal, but I don't know exactly how, and I hope it doesn't end up feeling icky somehow. Though there is the whole "they tell me this is part of my ADHD, but I'm not sure" that rubs me the wrong way. It feels like those episodes every long-runnin scifi TV show has where the character wakes up in a mental hospital and everyone tries to convince them their entire life was just a delusion. I'd rather have actual mental illness/disability rep than have it be weirdly tired to some mystical stuff and not actually "real."

~"Die, honey!" was fricking hilarious.

[readforchangeproject]

We're nearing the end of our reread of The Lightning Thief, I hope everyone has been enjoying revisiting the book and getting involved in the fun! And thank you so much to everyone who has donated to our justgiving page for Save the Children UK!

Save the Children do fantastic work helping kids in the UK and around the world receive the food, care, and education they need and their work is incredibly important, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic

£51 could provide a healthy baby kit containing vaccines for diarrhoea and pneumonia for families in Afghanistan

£66 could buy two week’s worth of ready to eat rations for a family of five in Syria

£85 could provide a severely malnourished child with medicine and vital food at an outpatient clinic for a month in Ethiopia

We've hit that first milestone of £51 which is awesome, but it would be amazing if we could make it up to £66 by the end of the reread!

There is obviously no pressure to donate but if you would like to contribute, please head to our justgiving page or share this post- if everyone who followed this blog donated £0.12 we’d raise enough for those food rations, and if everyone donated £0.30 we could hit our £85 target which would be fantastic

Thank you again to everyone who has gotten involved in the reread, donated, or shared our posts raising awareness- you're all amazing and your support is very much appreciated!

[readforchangeproject]

Buckle up kids it’s time to reread Percy Jackson

So this is the launch of a new community where we (re)read books together, share our thoughts and hold discussions, get creative, and try and put a bit of good out into the world as we go

After a public vote, we’ll be reading The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan in support of Save the Children

Rules and general info:

We’ll be reading one chapter a day. You are obviously allowed to read at whatever pace you want but I’ve set a slow pace so people with hectic lives can still get involved

The event will be from the 1st - 22nd April

On this blog, twitter, and instagram I’ll be posting my thoughts and a discussion question for each chapter so feel free to get involved!

You are encouraged to get involved however you want- be creative! Art, videos, your thoughts throughout reading the book, reading in a new language, writing scenes from other characters POVs, posting headcanons, tiktoks, baking blue food; there are loads of great ways to get involved! The more creative the better

Make sure to use the tag #readforchange so we can all join in on each other’s discussions and hopefully make some new friends!

I also thought it would be great to try and tie in the read along to trying to raise a bit of money for charity and you guys selected Save the Children as our first charity

Read here to learn more about Save the Children and what they do

Obviously I’m not expecting us to raise loads but every little helps!

As with the reading, how you want to get involved in fundraising is up to you. You could donate £1, you could use the sponsorship form to raise money from friends and family (especially if you’re doing something creative!), you could hold a bake sale with blue food, or you could help out by sharing the link to the just giving page

This is all meant to be fun, flexible, and low pressure so get involved as much or as little as you want and really make it your own. I can’t wait to see what you all get up to!

Reblog if you’re interested so we can get as many people involved as possible! I’ll be posting reminders as we get closer to the day but I’m so excited and hopefully you guys are looking forward to it too!

[readforchangeproject]

We're raising money for Save the Children so please head to our justgiving page if you would like to donate- any contribution is appreciated including spreading the word

[readforchangeproject]

Discussion Question: Chapter 4

In The Lightning Thief, we're warned against using a monsters true name because "names have power". This is very similar to how the wizarding world treats Voldemort in the Harry Potter series.

However, in the Percy Jackson universe villains gain power from our heroes using their real names whereas in the Harry Potter universe, Voldemort gains power through people's refusal to use his name and the fear that generates

What are the differences between the way the two series treat power gained through knowledge of your opponent? Why is it important and what does it tell us about the two worlds?

[readforchangeproject]

Thanks so much to everyone who has donated to our justgiving page for Save the Children UK! Save the Children do fantastic work helping kids in the UK and around the world receive the food, care, and education they need and their work is incredibly important, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic

£11 could provide a child in Yemen with a 'school in a bag' to make sure they don't miss out on their education

£15 could help provide a fresh food voucher for a new or expecting mother in Syria, giving her access to nutritious food for a month

£18 could pay for a back to school kit for a child in Indonesia

There is obviously no pressure to donate but if you would like to contribute, please head to our justgiving page or share this post- if everyone who followed this blog donated £0.30 we’d hit our fundraising goal which would be awesome!