<Tr> <Th> Followed by </Th> <Td> The Sea of Monsters </Td> </Tr> <P> The Lightning Thief is a 2005 fantasy - adventure novel based on Greek mythology, the first young adult novel written by American author Rick Riordan . It is the first novel in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, which charts the adventures of modern - day twelve - year - old Percy Jackson as he discovers he is a demigod, the son of a mortal woman and the Greek god Poseidon . Percy and his friends Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood go on a quest to prevent a war between the gods Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades . </P> <P> The Lightning Thief was published in June 2005 by Miramax Books, an imprint of Hyperion Books for Children and thus Disney Publishing (succeeded by the Disney Hyperion imprint). The book has sold over 1.2 million copies in the subsequent four years, appearing on The New York Times children's Best Seller list and being listed as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's Best Books for Young Adults, among other awards . It was adapted into a film named Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief released in the United States on February 12, 2010 . The sequel to this novel is The Sea of Monsters . The book has a rating of 4.22 out of 5 on Goodreads . </P> <P> Development for The Lightning Thief began when author Rick Riordan made up stories for his son Haley, who had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia . His son had been studying Greek mythology in second grade and asked that his father come up with bedtime stories based on Greek myths . Riordan had been a Greek mythology teacher in middle school for many years and was able to remember enough stories to please his son . Soon Riordan ran out of myths and his son requested that Riordan make new ones using the characters from Greek myths with a new twist . Riordan created the fictional character Percy Jackson and his travels across the United States to recover Zeus's lightning bolt . After Riordan finished telling the story his son asked that his dad write a book based on Percy's adventures, and he did . </P>

When was percy jackson and the lightning thief published