Summary

Chapter 1

The book opens with a warning to the reader. If the reader is trying to find out about half-bloods or thinks that they might be one, they should put the book down because they could be placing themselves in danger. Percy is a 12-year-old boy living in New York and, as he states in the opening chapter, he's been sent to a boarding school called Yancy Academy, which is for troubled students. He is considered a troubled kid because he can't read English, though he finds out at the Museum that he CAN read ancient Greek...which he finds 'odd'. He also challenges authority and is impulsive. The reader learns later that this is a chief characteristic of half-blood children to the gods.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art Percy's teacher, Mr. Brunner, calls upon Percy to talk about the ancient Greeks...