Proud Products of Texas Public Schools

Rick Riordan

Alamo Heights High School
Alamo Heights ISD

Rick Riordan is the multi-award-winning author of the Tres Navarre mystery series for adults and The New York Times bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series for children.

Riordan taught English and history at public and private middle schools in the San Francisco Bay area and in Texas for 15 years. In 2002, Saint Mary’s Hall honored him with the school’s first Master Teacher Award.

His adult fiction has won the top three national awards in the mystery genre: the Edgar, the Anthony, and the Shamus. He has presented workshops for such organizations as the International Reading Association, California Association of Independent Schools, National Council for Teachers of English, Colonial Williamsburg Teacher Institute, and Texas Library Association. His short fiction has appeared in Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. In 2003, he was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters.

His Percy Jackson series, which features a 12-year-old dyslexic boy who discovers he is the modern-day son of a Greek god, draws on Riordan’s experience teaching Greek mythology and his interaction with students who have learning differences. The Lightning Thief was a New York Times Notable Book for 2005. Film rights have been purchased by Twentieth Century Fox, and a feature film is in development. The Sea of Monsters was a Child Magazine Best Book for Children for 2006 and a Publishers Weekly and BookSense national bestseller. His most recent title, The Titan’s Curse, is a New York Times children’s series bestseller.

“My eighth-grade English teacher, Mrs. Pabst, was the first person to tell me I should get my writing published. I still have the original short story I wrote for her class, with her comment, ‘Rick, this is great. Let’s try to get it published.’ I still have the rejection note from the magazine, too! But because one teacher believed in me, I started on the road to becoming a novelist. In high school, my English teacher, Mrs. Seaholm, and my journalism teacher, Mrs. Norman, continued to nurture my love of writing. They also appreciated my off-beat sense of humor and rebellious spirit, which wasn’t easy back then! I have no doubt that I became a teacher as well as a writer because I experienced firsthand what a few great, caring teachers can do to impact the lives of the students. When it comes to good public education, it’s all about the teachers.”

—Rick Riordan