Rick Riordan

To me, there are a lot of different types of heroes. Of course, there are the military heroes, sports heroes, fire department and law enforcement heroes, or  all who put there lives on the line everyday for the benefit and safety of others. Other types of heroes to me may not be so obvious at first. Take doctors for example. Doctors help others survive the dangers and struggles of life everyday, quietly without the fame and recognition of others. But, what the word hero means to me most is someone who inspires others to investigate by sparking their curiosity and creating the desire to learn through creative writing. Yes, great writers are heroes, too. There are many great writers, and Rick Riordan is one of them. This is the primary reason that I picked him as my hero.

Rick was born on June 5, 1964. He was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He is currently 50 years old. He enjoys swimming, playing guitar, and traveling with his family. He spends lots of time with his wife, his two sons, Haley and Patrick, and his dog, Speedy. Rick's mother was a music teacher and his father was a ceramist or, as Rick puts it, his father taught people how to create objects and express themselves with clay. While he was still in middle school, he officially became a published writer when UTSA literary magazine published two of his short stories. Since his early years in school, he was interested in Greek and Norse mythology. Later, while he was attending Alamo Heights High school, he enjoyed reading fantasy and science fiction works. While he was attending high school, he won third in state for the UIL feature writing while working as an editor for the school newspaper.

However, Ricks' career was not always as a writer. When he was in college he was a summer camp music director for 3 years at Camp Capes Summer Camp. Rick said that this was the location that inspired the fictional location in some of his later books called Camp Half Blood. He also had a second job teaching at a middle school in New Braunfels, Texas. He later moved to San Francisco with his wife where he taught at the Presidio Hill School for 8 years. It was while living in San Francisco that they had their two sons named Haley and Patrick. A short time later, they relocated back to San Antonio, Texas with the boys. In San Antonio he taught at Saint Mary's Hall as an English and Social Studies teacher for grades 6-8. Each year, he would teach mythology because he enjoyed the subject and his students were eager to lean and participate as well. After another 6 years of teaching, he retired to a life of a full time writer.

After committing all his time and intelligence to becoming a full time writer, he wrote over three book series! The first series that he wrote was Percy Jackson and the Olympians (which is about a teenager who figures out his dad is an ancient Greek god). After this, he wrote The Kane Chronicles which features a brother and a sister who are forced to deal with Egyptian gods. This was published on May 4, 2010. After this great success, it encouraged him to write a pentalogy named The Heroes of Olympus which was similar to the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. All of these incredible books motivated me to learn about Greek, Egyptian, and Roman mythology. I have read all of Rick's books and I encourage kids of all ages to read them. Rick is an incredibly talented writer and deserves more fame and recognition than he receives. I picked Rick Riordan as my hero because he is one of the biggest motivators to learn in my life.