It all began with a bedtime story about modern-day demigods, told to a youngster who recommended that his Dad write it down. As a middle-school English teacher, Rick Riordan asked his students to and "test drive and " the work-in-progress that would become The Lightning Thief-the first novel in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. More series, a film, awards, and even real-life camps based on the books followed, and now Rick's classroom has gone global.