Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) engages in a fiery battle. Photo by Murray Close/20th Century Fox Film Corp.

It’s been more than three years since Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, the first film installment of Rick Riordan’s ultra-popular “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series (Hyperion) jumped onto the screen. The half-blood (or demigod) Percy, son of the omnipresent but unseen Poseidon, takes off on another adventure in this visual equivalent of a loud and boisterous amusement ride. In Sea of Monsters, the 17-year-old (Logan Lerman) wants to prove that he’s not a “one-quest wonder,” but this movie franchise-wannabe doesn’t escape that dig. The first film, directed by Chris Columbus, had a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, especially in the teen’s interactions in the real world and his reaction to his very ancient lineage. Ironically, by taking place in a world of monsters and angry gods, Percy comes off as more ordinary this time around.

To recall the back story, viewers might want to have read the source material (or be up on your Greek mythology). Regardless, moviegoers won’t get confused. The characters are basic stock figures: the kid next door; the hapless comic relief of Grover (Brandon T. Jackson), a satyr from the waist down; and the know-it-all Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), daughter of Athena. No, you’re not experiencing déjà vu. There are plenty of obvious comparisons to the “Harry Potter” series.

Percy Jackson and Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario). Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox Film Corp.

The movie’s story has been “a millennium in the making,” as one character intones. Someone, or something, wants to invade and annihilate Camp Half-Blood where Percy and his peers are heroes-in-training. The camp’s protective giant tree has been poisoned, and a bronze bull has been on the attack, so the three sneak out, along with Tyson (Douglas Smith), a Cyclops and Percy’s half-brother, in search of the Golden Fleece, which heals anyone or anything. The fabric has been held hostage by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island in the middle of the Sea of Monsters, better known as the Bermuda Triangle. Along the way, Hermes (Nathan Fillion) hams it up, and Cronus makes a catastrophic cameo. (Incidentally, Percy is not the only one with distant deity daddy issues.)

The trio’s journey makes the Maze of the Minotaur seem fairly straightforward, and a list of the plot differences between the book and movie would be as long as any web Arachne could weave. (A chariot race, a Pegasus, and Tantalus are among those missing in action.) Everyone is fluent in movie-speak, as in Hermes’ advice to Percy, “One thing I’ve learned in three thousand years, don’t give up on family;” or when the main villain threatens, “The Olympians who scorned us will know death.” Percy also gets into the act: “I make my own destiny.” But like the book, the saga moves at a clipped, out-of-breath pace, and the work of the 3D special effects team adds a jolt of energy when the creepy and cranky creatures are on the rampage.

Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox Film Corp.

In the books, Percy has to figure out what to do or how to solve the meaning of his many premonitions. On screen, he and his cohorts are more reactive, pawns of the gods, really. They are quick on their feet, but none of them have special powers or abilities except for what has been given to them by the Olympians, like a mystical tape gun or a ball-point pen that turns into a retractable sword. Percy is even told the coordinates to find the island. How can Percy really be a hero if he is given the devices or is told what to do? He’s not saving the gods, the gods are saving him.

Directed by Thor Freudenthal

Rated PG

106 min.

Opens nationwide August 7.

None other than Mo Willems made a guest appearance at the event, telling attendees that, after a decade with Pigeon, he wanted to write “a dirty book.”  Therefore, in April of 2014, The Pigeon Needs a Bath will debut, what Willems calls, “the most fecal book” he’s ever written. During Willems read of the book, the audience—as all Pigeon lovers do—quickly joined in participating in the books refrain.

Author and poet, Marilyn Singer was also in attendance, and shared her upcoming book, Rutherford B. Who Was He: Poems About the Presiden (December), illustrated by John Hendrix. It is a great book for teaching facts about the president using poetry.

Here is an example:

Theodore Roosevelt
A city boy who loved the country,
an animal lover, who loved to hunt.
A Rough Rider, rancher and a scholar,
a diplomat, yet also blunt.

He took on greedy corporations
and foreign powers with this trick.
A president should speak quite softly,
but always carry a very large stick.

A book trailer for the new title has also been created:

Hidden among the veteran writers at the presentation was Cristen Terrill, a debut author. She treated the attendees to a reading from All Our Yesterdays, her time travel young adult novel told in a dual narrative that takes place both in the present and past.

Another YA title that was featured was Elizabeth Wein’s Rose Under Fire (September).  Set in a concentration camp during World War II, it is told from the point of view of Rose Justice, an American pilot (and poet) who is shot down and sent to Ravensbrück.

We were also introduced to a new British import, the series “Lockwood & Co.” by Jonathan Stroud.  The first book in the series is The Screaming Staircase (September), which features a group of kids who open the Physic Detection Agency to battle an epidemic of ghosts in London.

Yet Don’t Play with Your Food (January), Bob Shea’s tale of how a group of bunnies outsmart a monster was the highlight of the preview for many.  It was performed by the Disney Hyperion folks, who donned hand puppets to act out scenes from the book.