Five Green & Speckled Frogs, Five Ways - Flannel Friday

This is a bit of a departure from my usual multiple rhymes/songs to use with the same set of felt pieces....instead, I have multiple props for the same song.

I was preparing for my upcoming "Frog" unit for the Storytime-To-Go program, and was surprised to see that the kit did not have "Five Green and Speckled Frogs" in it. Of course I had to remedy that right away, so in addition to getting the book version, I wanted to have some props for using without the book, and got a little carried away. So, here are five different ways to do "Five Green and Speckled Frogs":

"Five Green And Speckled Frogs"

Five green and speckled frogs,

Sitting on a speckled log,

Eating the most delicious bugs - YUM, YUM!

One jumped into the pool,

Where it was nice and cool.

Then there were four green speckled frogs - RIBBIT, RIBBIT!

(continue counting down until there are no green speckled frogs)

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(1) First, I started with a traditional set that could be made from felt, but I was pressed for time so I chose craft foam since it is easier to work with. First, I cut the frogs out using an Ellison die, then cut the log and pool out freehand, and quickly added details with markers, some pre-made foam bug stickers, googly eyes (because googly eyes always make things better), and magnets on the backs.

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(2) Next, I made this quick and easy tube story that I first saw at Miss Meg's Storytime, using free printable clipart she suggested from My Cute Graphics. First I scaled the frogs to slightly less than 2" wide, printed, and cut out. Next, I cut out a wavy strip from blue construction paper and attached it to a piece of brown paper, then cut into 2-inch wide strips.  

Then, simply wrap the strips around a paper towel tube and staple as closely as possible.  I put a staple in from each side, far enough in that the frogs would cover them once glued on. See the in-progress photo above. Then I drew some "most delicious bugs" and added some speckles and log details (which I had forgotten to do before I took these photos). So as each frog jumps into the pool, simply flip it down. Easy peasy!  

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(3) For the third way, we happened to have a bin of these plastic, jumpy frog toys, and I was able to find 5 that were green and had speckles on them. Luckily, I had a scrap piece of wood at home that still had bark attached to serve as the log, and I re-cycled the foam pool from above. These frogs don't really jump forward very well, they mostly just jump up, so it works best to have them slightly elevated above the pool so they can just jump and fall into it.

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(4) For the fourth method, I made a homemade storytime glove using an old glove I had laying around. I simply found some cute clipart frogs, scaled them down, printed, and laminated them. Then I just used scotch tape loops to attach them to the glove. I've used this same method before to make a "Five Little Bees" glove with its mate, and the tape holds surprisingly well! My other arm serves as the log, conveniently freckled and speckled!

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(5) Then for the fifth and final way, the book! There are several different versions out there, but the one we have at my library is by Priscilla Burris. The hardback is out-of-print, but Scholastic is releasing a board book version in June (2016).

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Enjoy!  These were all really quick and easy to make. The hard part is getting the song out of your head!

To see more Flannel Friday posts from other bloggers, go to this week's Flannel Friday Round-Up hosted by Kathryn at "Fun With Friends At Storytime", or visit the Flannel Friday Pinterest board for tons of inspiration. For more information about Flannel Friday and how to participate, visit the Flannel Friday site. Come back here next week, as it will be my turn to host the Round-Up!

In The Garden - Preschool Storytime

This week I finished up the trial-run of the "Garden" themed kit I'm developing for the Storytime-To-Go program. I pulled a number of books to try out before deciding on a final selection to order, and selected a number of songs, fingerplays, and rhymes. Variety is the key to avoiding burnout when doing as many as 35 storytimes on the same theme in two weeks! Here are the books and activities I ended up using (in addition to our "Letter-of-the-Day", which was "Gg", and our story song).

The Books

Up, Down, and Around by Katherine Ayres and Nadine Barnard Westcott has bright, bold detailed illustrations with simple, repeating text showing how some vegetables grow up, some grow down (in the ground), and some grow around (on vines). You can add movement by having the kids stand up, sit down, or turn around when they hear the corresponding words in the story. 

How Does Your Garden Grow? by Kate Burns and Dawn Apperley is an older, short pop-up book that is good for younger kids. It is one of the few books that shows both flowers and vegetables growing in the garden. The kids seem to particularly like seeing the green beans grow up the poles, and the large sunflower blossom.

Our Community Garden by Barbara Pollak shows children in a diverse neighborhood working in the community garden, each planting different vegetables. In the end, everyone make a dish from the vegetables they grew for a neighborhood pot-luck. I really like the opportunity to talk about and promote community gardens, and the diversity shown. The illustrations are colorful, but a bit fanciful in scale, which may confuse some. This book is a little longer, so better for older kids.

Flower Garden by Eve Bunting and Kathryn Hewitt is a sweet story about a girl and her father planting a window box flower garden for her mom's birthday. The illustrations are charming and colorful, and again, I like how this portrays an urban setting, multi-cultural population, and shows another alternative way to have a garden if you don't have a yard.  

In Carrot Soup by John Segal, Rabbit's carrots have all disappeared from his garden!  As he questions each animal, observant readers will notice the other animals in the distant background sneaking off with his carrots. Have the other animals stolen his carrots?!? But, all is not as it seems. Surprise!  This is a great, funny book that kids really like.  I just wish the illustrations were a little brighter and larger.

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!  by Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas is another humorous book that tests the kids' skills of observation. Mr. McGreely is determined to keep the bunnies from getting into his garden, but they still manage to get in and munch his veggies. But he finally defeats them in the end. Or does he? This is a little long, but the audience will enjoy saying the repeated "Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!" and predicting if and how the rabbits will get in.

There's A Billy Goat In The Garden! by Laurel Dee Gugler and Clare Beaton is a short, funny, repetitive story that all ages enjoy. A goat gets into the garden, and each of the animals try, and fail, to get him out, until the little bee comes along. The audience can name each animal and make their sounds, and join in saying "....will/does NOT come out" each time.

Elizabite: Adventures of a Carnivorous Plant by H. A. Rey is one I include simply because I like it (I've always been fascinated by venus flytraps). The funny tale of the biting plant that ultimately saves the day is told in rhyming text that helps engage the audience with cute illustrations. It also introduces vocabulary terms such as "carnivorous," "botanist," "frankfurter," and "burglar." After reading it, I show them pictures of real carnivorous plants from a non-fiction book.

In Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn and Rosalind Beardshaw a young girl plans and plants a flower garden, with her mother's help. When the flowers have bloomed she invites her friends over for a garden party. I particularly like that it shows Lola going to the library to do research to plan her garden and choose what kind of flowers she plants. The story also includes the "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" nursery rhyme. Simple, colorful illustrations.

This Is The Sunflower by Lola M. Schaefer and Donald Crews is written in the style of "The House That Jack Built" and follows the growth cycle of the sunflower with a rhyming text that builds on itself with each step. The illustrations are bright and colorful, and since the story builds and repeats, the audience can join in with saying the most repeated lines.

Planting A Rainbow by Lois Ehlert features her characteristic brightly colored illustrations. A unique feature of this book is that it shows growing flowers from bulbs and seedlings, in addition to starting from seeds, and explains the steps and time of year for each. Many different flowers of each color of the rainbow are shown. I do find the first part of this book gets a little tedious if you spend too much time name everything pictured.

Big Yellow Sunflower by Frances Barry is a neat little book; instead of turning, the pages open outward to form a huge sunflower blossom by the end. The book starts with a single seed, and each page shows another stage in the growth of plant, culminating in the blooming flower. The audience can name the creatures alongside the developing sunflower plant on each page.

In The Garden: Who's Been Here by Lindsay Barrett George lets the audience try to figure out who has been in the garden, based on the evidence left behind. It is heavy on text, so will need to be paraphrased and greatly shortened.

The Activities
I found several good songs, rhymes, and fingerplays to go with this theme, more than I ended up using, so I'll save those for another time. 

I had this "Five Little Flowers" felt set that I had made, along with several different rhymes it can be used with, which I described in detail in a previous "Flannel Friday" post:

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Along with that, I used this song, and the following action rhyme:

"The Gardener Digs The Soil"

(to the tune of "Farmer In The Dell")

The gardener digs the soil,

The gardener digs the soil,

Hi-ho, the derry-oh,

The gardener digs the soil.

(pretend to dig)

The gardener plants the seed....

(pretend to plant seeds)

The rain falls on the ground...

(flutter fingers down to ground)

The sun shines bright and warm....

(hold hands in circle overhead)

The plants begin to grow...

(slowly raise hands from ground)

Flowers all around...

(hold hands outstretched)

Fresh vegetables to eat...

(pretend to eat)

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I also found this cute rhyme at Surlalune about what kinds of animals (and bugs) might be found in the garden, and lets the kids identify each one based on sound.  I also made one of my favorite props, "animals-on-a-stick", in case they needed more help guessing.  These props are so quick and easy to make!  Just find clip art, cut it out and laminate it, then hot glue to craft sticks.  Voila!

"In My Garden"

There's something in my garden,

Now, what can it be?

There's something in my garden,

That I can't really see.

I hear it's funny sound....

RIBBIT - RIBBIT - RIBBIT

A FROG is what I found!

RIBBIT - RIBBIT - RIBBIT

THUMP - Rabbit

SQUEAK - Mouse

CAW - Crow

TWEET - Bird

BUZZ - Bee

WIGGLE - Caterpillar

FLUTTER - Butterfly

How It Went 

In general, all the kids I visited during this rotation were more restless than usual. I don't know if it was the theme, the time of year, or the weather. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed in the books I was able to find. I really wish I could have found some that explained the whole process of growing a garden and how seeds sprout that were really engaging. I really liked the concept of My Community Garden, but it was just too wordy and the kids and I both found the off-scale of the pictures confusing. I've tried doing Up, Down, and Around several different ways, but it is never as well-recieved as I'd like it to be, and they often get too distracted by the very numerous bugs and critters in each picture.

They kids did really like the funny books, Muncha, Muncha, Muncha; Carrot Soup (my personal favorite); and There's a Billy Goat In The Garden. They did okay with the others as well. I thought they would enjoy the song since they could act out the motions, but none of them really seemed to get into it like my regular storytime group does. They were impressed with my felt flower set, however. I think it was the faces in the centers with the googly eyes; googly eyes make everything better!

If you know of any really engaging books about gardening and/or plant growth cycle, especially any good pop-ups that are in print, please share in the comments!

Mythology-Inspired Fiction For Younger Readers

Ten years ago, Rick Riordan's book Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief first hit bookshelves and was followed by the movie version four years later. This led to a surge of interest in mythology and mythology-inspired fiction. 

While many kids have heard about Percy Jackson and are interested in mythological fantasy as a result, there are many younger and/or reluctant readers who are not quite ready for Rick Riordan's books due to content, length, reading level, etc. Here is a list of lighter mythology-inspired series that are less challenging in length and/or reading level for younger readers, or those who prefer a quick and easy read with illustrations. These are listed in approximate order of length, from shortest to longest, but reading levels vary.

Joan Holub now has a series of board books based on the Greek myths called Mini Myths for the youngest of readers. I don't know if toddlers can really be mythology buffs, but their parents and siblings can!  

I think these books would be great for encouraging older siblings to spend time reading with their younger siblings, and a good way for very beginning readers to practice by reading to younger kids. Plus, these books use the myths to help promote things like patience, kindness, sharing, etc.

For those newly independent readers, Joan Holub has also written early reader versions of several myths as part of the Ready-To-Read series. These readers are divided into levels based on vocabulary, sentence length, subject, plot complexity, etc.

I'm not sure how many of these there are, but I have seen the one about the cyclops shown, as well as Pandora and the Trojan Horse, and both level 2 and level 3 books. These leveled readers are often a good place to start for beginning readers since the vocabulary and sentence complexity are controlled, so the reader is less likely to get overwhelmed or frustrated.

Greek Beasts and Heroes is a 12-book series by Lucy Coats that is ideal for newly independent readers. This series are a re-formatting of Coats' original compilation of Greek myths as told through the journey of Atticus in Atticus the Storyteller's 100 Greek Myths.

Each stand-alone book is a re-telling of one of the stories of Greek mythology in an 80 page book; the stories are short and the plots are simplified. There are color illustrations on every spread throughout the books.

Lucy Coats' newest series, Beasts of Olympus, tells the story of Demon (short for Pandemonium), the son of Pan who is summoned to Olympus to be the caretaker of the mythical beasts of the gods, with the promise of immortality. Demon finds his new role very challenging and the series follows his trials and tribulations dealing with mythical creatures and their owners.

The 5th book of the series was just released, with the 6th and final book due to be released in late August of 2016. While the reading level actually isn't lower than the Percy Jackson books, the length is much less intimidating and there are illustrations.

Think you already know the stories of Greek mythology?  Kate McMullan offers a very different version of the Greek myths in her series, Myth-O-Mania; each book is a parody of the original stories, told with a modern setting with Hades as the storyteller.

In Hades' versions, Zeus is portrayed as a liar and an opportunist and Hades is of course portrayed in a much more positive light. The original "hero" of the story is often portrayed as a fool who needs Hades' help completing his task. These stories are humorous with a modern twist, and there are even a few discussion questions at the end.

Beast Quest is a huge series written by many different authors under the publishing name "Adam Blade" about all different kinds of fantastical creatures. There are somewhere around 90 books in total, broken up into several sub-series within the Beast Quest series. 

These stories do not really follow classical mythology, but many of the beasts are inspired by creatures from classical mythology, such as the minotaur in the book shown. These are very short and engaging, and a very good choice for reluctant readers. My own son had no interest in reading at all until he came across this series in 3rd grade, then progressed to Percy Jackson, and now he is a voracious reader as a tween.

The Heroes In Training series by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams tell the stories of the Greek gods and heroes, but with a twist! In these stories, the gods and heroes are ten-year old children, who must discover their true identities and ultimately defeat their Titan enemies led by Cronus.

At this time, there are twelve books in the series, telling the stories of Zeus, Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Perseus, and more. These books a fair quick and easy to read, with modern language and a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor, with black-and-white illustrations as well. A bit of an irreverent take on the Greek myths that young readers will enjoy.

Holub and Williams also coauthored the Goddess Girls series which, similarly to their Heroes In Training series, re-tells the stories of Greek mythology with a modern, and slightly irreverent, twist. This series follows Athena, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Artemis through their teen years at Mount Olympus Academy, where Zeus is the principal. Various other gods and mortals from Greek mythology and other traditions appear as well. There are currently 20 books in this series, and they get longer as you progress through the series.

The young goddesses face many of the same issues navigating the difficult tween/teen society as kids do today, so this series is very relatable to tween girls and has been very popular at my library.

The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence is an historical fiction series set in ancient Rome. The series features four main characters:  Flavia, a Roman girl; Nubia, an African slave; Jonathan, a Christian Jew; and Lupus, a beggar who is mute. The four of them have adventures and solve mysteries in Rome, Greece, and beyond. There are 17 books in the series as well as several companion books.

While this series is not based on mythology, fans of mythology-based fiction would probably enjoy them because of the setting in the ancient Roman empire.

Thor's Wedding Day by Bruce Coville is the only book I came across for younger readers that is based on Norse mythology. It was inspired by the ancient Norse poem, Thrymskvitha. The giant Thrym has stolen Thor's hammer, leaving the gods vulnerable to attack, and Thor must do whatever it takes to get it back, even dress up as a woman and pose as Thrym's potential bride, and accept assistance from the goat boy.

This story is a hilarious take on Norse mythology with modern language that young readers are sure to enjoy.

For readers who have already read these and are ready for the longer and more complex stories of Percy Jackson and beyond, check out my list of Mythology-Based Fantasy/Adventure Series For Tweens & Teens.

Let's Have A Hoot! - Owl Preschool Storytime

I decided to spin off from my "Bird"-themed storytime last week on the Storytime Bus and focus on "Owls" for my regular storytime today.  

As usual, we started with our welcome song.  Then, instead of just telling them what the topic was during the introduction, I modified a rhyme I came across on several sites (Storytime Katie, North Mankato Library, Upper Hudson Library System) to see if they could guess:

"The Owl"

There's something in the tree,

With big, wide eyes,

And a pointed nose,

Two pointed ears,

And claws for toes.

[pause and see if they have a guess yet]

When he sits up in the tree and looks at you,

He flaps his wings, and he says "Whooo? Whooo?" 

After they correctly guessed "owl" at the end (they first guessed "tiger", which was reasonable, especially considering last time we did "Lions, Tigers & Bears"), then I talked a little bit about how owls are nocturnal, what that means, and that their big eyes help them to see well at night when it's dark.  Then I showed them a picture of me holding a large owl from our animal program last summer (see below).

We proceeded with our story song, to which I added "say whoo, whoo" and "flap your wings", then we were ready to settle down and read our first book, the classic Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Patrick Benson. I love this story of three little owls waiting for their mother's return.  The larger two are brave at first and confident she'll return soon with food, but begin to get worried.  Little Bill just wants his mommy!  Children can easily relate to the baby owls missing their mom and being excited when she returns, and they love saying little Bill's line, "I want my mommy!" over and over.

Next, we did a fun song where they got to pretend to be owls:

"Be Like An Owl"

(to the tune of "London Bridges")

Open your eyes up big and wide, big and wide, big and wide.

Open your eyes up big and wide, just like an owl.

Flap your wings and fly around, fly around, fly around.

Flap your wings and fly around, just like an owl.

Land on the ground and hop along, hop along, hop along.

Land on the ground and hop along, just like an owl.

Fly up in the tree and sit on a branch, sit on a branch, sit on a branch.

Fly up in the tree and sit on a branch, just like an owl.

Turn your head and say "Who, who", say "Who, who", say "who, who".

Turn your head and say "Who, who", just like an owl.

**Source:  Upper Hudson Library System

We also talked about how owls can turn their heads all the way around, unlike people, and let them try to do it to see for themselves.

For our second story I chose one of Jonathan Allen's "Little Owl" stories, finally deciding on I'm Not Scared!  In this story, Little Owl is taking his stuffed animal Owly for a stroll in the forest at night, bumping into Badger, Bear, and Bat.  Little Owl begins to get very frustrated with everyone telling him he shouldn't be out at night, even though he is an owl and owls are nocturnal, and assuming he would be scared.  "I am NOT scared!  And I SHOULD be out in the woods at night.  It's what owls DO!" he shouts.  In the end, he admits his friend Owly was just a little bit scared.  This is another opportunity to talk about owls being nocturnal, and to talk about how everyone gets scared sometimes, and that's okay.

Next, I combined two different "Five Little Owl" poems.  The first one counts up, and the second one counts down.  That way we would get practice with both addition and subtraction. I had the kids use their fingers, while I used a magnetic board and various clipart owls I had printed out, laminated, and attached magnets to (Leah at Sunflower Storytime has also generously shared printable clipart owls that she made you could use as well).

"Five Little Owls"

One little owl when the moon was new,

Along came another owl, and that made two.

Two little owls perched high in the tree,

Along came another owl, and that made three.

Three little owls flew to the barn door,

Along came another owl, and that made four.

Four little owls lined up side by side,

Along came another owl and that made five.

*Five little owls hooted "Whoo, whoo, whoo,"

Then they flapped their wings and away they flew.*

Source:  North Mankato Library

*I skip this last verse above, and the first verse below when I'm combining the two rhymes*

*Five little owls on a dark, dark night,

Five little owls are quite a sight.*

Five little owls!  Are you keeping score?

One flies away, and that leaves four.

Four little owls, as happy as can be.

One flew away, and that leaves three.

Three little owls calling, "Who, who, who."

One flies away, and that leaves two.

Two little owls, having lots of fun.

One flew away, and that leaves one.

One little owl, and we're almost done.

She flies away, and that leaves none!

Source:  Upper Hudson Library System

I pause at the end of each verse and let the audience fill in the number.  If I hear several wrong answers, then we will stop and count them before moving on.

Our final story was Tim Hopgood's Wow! Said The Owl.  I like how this story starts off by explaining that owls are nocturnal and adapted to see at night, another opportunity to reinforce a new vocabulary word.  One curious owl decides she would like to see what things are like in the daytime, so she naps at night and wakes up before dawn. She discovers a world of beautiful, bright colors, but decides the star-filled night sky is still the most beautiful sight to see.  The audience can participate by saying the repeated "'Wow!' said the owl" line and naming all the colors.

Then, they liked the "Be Like An Owl" song so much, we did it again, followed by our closing song, then I gave everyone an owl sticker.

How It Went

The class seemed to be having a bit of a rough morning; when I got there two of the kids were in tears and the noise level overall was fairly high.  But we got everyone calmed down and ready for storytime pretty quickly.  They know the routine now, and they tell me when it's time to do the welcome song, story song, and closing song, and they know all the words.

They really seemed to like the owl theme quite a bit.  Owl Babies was the clear favorite, but I seemed to lose them towards the end of Wow! Said The Owl, but that could have been just because I did it last, rather than any fault of the book.  They really liked the "Be Like An Owl" song, so much so that I had to ask one girl to please stop singing it while I was trying to read the next book!  So of course we had to do it again at the end.  As I was leaving, I noticed most of them were still walking around, flapping their "wings" and hooting :)

Elliot the Eurasian Eagle Owl

They also liked seeing the picture of me holding Elliot the Owl from our animal program last summer.  First I just showed it to them, and they were all looking at the owl, then I started hearing several of them saying, "That's you!" when they realized I was the person holding the owl.  Most of them thought that it was really cool I got to hold a big owl like that, but one little girl seemed concerned for my safety and sweetly said she would save me from the owl. I explained that he was a very nice owl and used to meeting lots of people when he visits libraries and schools all over the place.

Mythology-Based Fantasy/Adventure Series for Tweens & Teens

Mythology-Based Fantasy/Adventure for Tweens & Teens

Looking for something similar to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series?  Give these a try:

The most obvious choice is Riordan's second series, Heroes of Olympus.  The story continues from the first series, but with a twist.  This series takes on the Roman interpretation of the gods of Olympus and introduces new demi-gods born from the gods' Roman identities who have their own camp named Camp Jupiter.  Percy and his friends are in this series as well.

If you've already read the second series and love all the characters, then good news!  The first book of a third series called The Hidden Oracle will be released on May 3, 2016!  The Trials of Apollo series will follow the life of Apollo after being kicked out of Olympus and made mortal by Zeus and will feature most of the characters from the first two series.

In addition to the Percy Jackson novels, there are also all the companion books, non-fiction mythology books, and graphic novel versions that Rick Riordan has published as well.

Riordan also has a relatively new series based on Norse mythology, with a loose connection to Percy Jackson.  The first book in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, The Sword Of Summer, was released last fall.  This series features young Magnus Chase, the cousin of Annabeth Chase, who discovers he is the son of the Norse god, Frey.  The second book of the series, The Hammer of Thor, is due to be released in October, 2016.

And that brings us to the remaining Riordan series, The Kane Chronicles, based in Egyptian mythology.  This series features Sadie and Carter Kane, descendants of pharaohs, who have been raised apart but discover they must unite to battle the evil god Set and save the world.  

Now, moving on to other authors, we have Kate O'Hearn's Pegasus series. This is another fantasy/adventure in which a seemingly ordinary tween/teen finds out they have a connection to the gods, in this case the Roman gods of Olympus.  The series begins with an injured Pegasus crashing onto the roof of Emily's apartment in The Flame Of Olympus, changing her life forever and putting her in the middle of a battle to save Olympus.

Red Sun is the first book of new author Alane Adams' series, The Legends of Orkney, based on Norse mythology.  In the first book, young Sam Baron's normal life takes a strange turn as he discovers his mother is a witch, his missing father is a descendant of Odin, and he must return to the magical realm of Orkney to stop it's destruction by the curse of the red sun.  This is a little shorter and a little darker than Riordan's The Sword of Summer, and does not have the same character and plot development or humor.  The second book, Kalifus Rising, is due out in September of 2016.

The Blackwell Pages by K. L. Armstrong and M. A. Marr is another adventure series based in Norse mythology featuring young teens that are descendants of the gods; Matt Thorsen is a descendant of Thor, while Fen and Laurie Brekke are descended from Loki.  The difference in this series is that most of characters know all along that they are the descendants of the gods and that they have special powers, they just don't expect to be called up to unite and work together to save the world from destruction in Ragnarok.  I find this series to be more similar to Riordan's style than the Orkney series by Adams.  Another unique thing about this series is that there are illustrations, which might make it more appealing to reluctant readers.  The first book is titled Loki's Wolves.

Kate O'Hearn also has a series based in Norse mythology called Valkyrie, the story of young Freya, who does not look forward to turning 14 and beginning her duties as a Valkyrie, or Battle Maiden, reaper of the souls of the brave who die in battle.  On her first mission, a dying soldier who's last words send her to earth on a dangerous quest, where she learns what it is to be human.


The following are not as similar in style and plot to Percy Jackson as the series listed above, but also involve mythology, fantasy, and adventure:

The Cronus Chronicles series by Anne Ursu - Greek mythology
The Fire Thief trilogy by Terry Deary - Greek mythology
Pandora series by Carolyn Hennesy - Greek mythology
Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs - Greek mythology (for teens)
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman - Norse mythology

And remember, to read more about the original mythologies, try the non-fiction section at your public library in the 291's & 292's.

Some additional fantasy/adventure novels and series that are not classical mythology, but have to do with mysticism, legends, myths, and other worlds that fans of mythology-based fiction might also enjoy are:

Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
The Colussus Rises by Peter Lerangis
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan
Runemarks by Joanne Harris
The Akhenaten Adventure by P. B. Kerr
Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R. L. LaFevers
The Unwanteds Lisa McMann
Gods of Manhattan by Scott Mebus
Fablehaven by Brandon Mull
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
Middleworld by J & P Voelkel
City of Fire by Laurence Yep

I'll be doing a follow-up list of mythology-based fiction for younger readers next, so stay tuned...