This week, for our Rick Riordan event, our store once again had ballpoint pens printed to hand out to all the attendees. And just as last year’s pens matched the cover of The Titan’s Curse, this year’s pens match the cover of The Battle of the Labyrinth. I love picturing kids all over town carrying their own personal Riptides!
The text on our pens reads as follows:
WARNING:
THIS PEN SLAYS TITANS
If found please return to
Percy Jackson c/o
Wellesley Booksmith
The best thing about these pens is the pleasure of watching kids’ reactions to them. It’s a pleasure almost as great as watching their reactions to Rick’s presentations. For the second year in a row Rick wowed all of us with his humility, his candor, and his winning sense of humor. Throughout the almost three hours in which he signed books for 650 of his adoring fans, he appeared genuinely interested in hearing what every one of them had to say or ask about his books.
The fact is: authors don’t come nicer than this one, and I don’t think an author presentation could be more engaging than Rick’s. Every kid and parent in our crowd loved hearing him talk about his books and read from The Battle of the Labyrinth, just as every kid revelled at the opportunity to show off their knowledge of Greek mythology when Rick peppered the audience with questions.
Just ask the attendees at our event who had driven all the way up from Virginia and Maryland (!!) — this is a person for whom it is worth going the distance. (And darn if his books aren’t an absolute delight too!)
Alison, I couldn’t agreee more! I had both the privilege and the pleasure of meeting Rick after inviting him to visit our students at Kendall Elementary in Boerne, TX. Kids and adults alike simply enjoy being in his presence. We look forward to getting our books signed every year when he visits Boerne. It is SO refreshing to know there are authors out there who genuinely care about kids! P.S. Great idea with the pens!!
All praise to you and your team, Alison! The turnout was tremendous; at first it looked as though the autographing process was going to be more trouble than it was worth. But your volunteers kept it humming and Rick was incredibly gracious. He treated his readers with great respect and made them (and their parents) feel absolutely special. He stayed to ensure each book was signed and in many cases, they were dog-eared paperbacks, not newly purchased hardcovers. Well done! That’s how an Independent Bookstore rolls…
As a public librarian, it’s always a pleasure to read about the huge turnouts for Rick Riordan’s appearances. I use it as an example to say to people, the surveys are wrong. Kids do read. Thank you. Lesa Holstine (currently reading The Battle of the Labyrinth) http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com
Your Anaklusmos pens are brilliant for so many reasons. I’m jealous. Rick speaks so highly of you and the store. See you at BEA?
THIS IS COOL!I WANT 1!
I would of loved to be there! But as always Im stuck in Olde Poshe England thinking if I’m the long-lost daughter of Pan or the spirit of Athena! I absolutely love your idea for the pens and the are so authentic. I bet when you hold it, you feel like that your enemies are scared of you and the gods are helping you writing that essay! I wish I have one, because my speeches would be as sharp and demanding as Riptide’s blade and my poetry shining and flued as Anaklusmos’ reflection in its creators realm as in the sea…
i really would have loved to be there, rick is my fave authour! his books have been an ispiration to my own! i read his books and spent months wishing i was a demigod, prefferably a daughter of hades but i’m not fussy. so i decided to write a book where i was one, but it’s really hard so i think i’ll leave it to the professional from now on!
Where do you get those pens!? I want some!
Man I would kill (preferably Kronos) for one of those pens!
awesome were can i buy one of those pens they look cool!!!??
I love Percy Jackson! Can’t wait for the movie!
those pens are cool!!! i want one
i love this series!!!! Rick Riordan is so engaging and i really enjoy his witty comments and sarcastic and satirical remarks. Rick Riordan really developed the characters (ANNABETH ALL THE WAY!!!!) though i would want to be a child of Poseidon because they have awesome powers! where can i get one of those pens?
i LOVE the series! my mom thinks i am obsessed it is sooooo true! but i am on the battle of labyrinth!I am just wondering how do u make the books soooo good i just cant stop reading them?! Where can i get one of those pens they look awsome!? Are u making a sixth one?
p.s. sorry about all the questions
p.s.s LOVE the pens!!!!!
If one person can create a character as awesome as Thalia, then I want to meet him!!! BTW, the pens are cool but I never really thought of them looking that way…oh, and someone tell Rick that Annabeth should’ve become the Hunter and that Thalia and Nico should’ve hooked up, because it would be much better that way…Thanks for writing those books,Rick!!!!
P.S Can you please please please please please do a book signing in Phoenix, AZ? Thats where I live and I’ve been absolutely DYING to meet you. THX!!!!!!
those pens are cool!!! i want one
where do you get those pens? I want 1.
i luv the series. where can you get a pen i want one so bad
those pens are the hottest thing in town can you do an author visit at my school michael griffin elementary in katy texas i love the pens plzzzzzz
Hey People! I adore the percy jackson series and i wanna be a demigod! Rick writes his books in a way that makes me want to read them over and over again!!!
Luv Emzzzzzzzzz:D
P.S: Rick please please please please please come to Taunton one day soon! You are awesome and I am dying to meet you!
Nice books. lol
I have the biggest crush on percy. not the books. Percy.
Hi
I am in 5th grade and I finised reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians in the begnning of 4th grade. I have all of your books. No kidding! I have all the Percy Jackson and the Olpmpians (all 5), the Kane Chronicles (2), The Heroes of olympus(2). I told my brother (who is in Fourth Grade) that its an awesome book. Now he is reading it and wont stop. I really enjoyed Percy Jackson and I learned alot about Greek Gods. I just finished your book The Lost hero and I am doing a book report on it. Lots of kids at my school reads your books.
P.S Can You please come to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Come to our school Esther Starkman School.
Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians is the only reason i learned about Greek mythology and now love it.