John Rocco
Author of Percy Jackson's Greek Gods
About the Author
John Rocco grew up Barrington, Rhode Island. He studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design and School of Visual Arts in New York City. John collaborated with actor/comedian Whoopi Goldberg on the picture book Alice. Shortly after the project was finished he moved to Los Angeles where show more he worked as a creative director. At Walt Disney Imagineering John designed many attractions at Disney's Epcot, including the Post-Shows for Spaceship Earth and Mission Space. He also served as the art director for DisneyQuest, an interactive theme park in Downtown Disney. At Dreamworks, John was the pre-production art director for animated film Shrek. In 2005 John shifted his focus to writing and illustrating children's books and created Wolf! Wolf! which netted him the Borders Original Voices Award for best picture book. His next book was Moonpowder (May 2008) followed by Fu Finds the Way (Oct 2009). John continues to collaborate with authors and has illustrated Boy, Were We Wrong About the Solar System (Sep 2008) for Kathleen V. Kudlinski and The Lightening Thief (Dec 2009) for Rick Riodan. He also illustrates all the covers for Rick Riordan's bestselling YA series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. In 2012, his title Blackout was a Caldecott Honor recipient and made the ALA Notable Children's Books list. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Rocco on a SCBWI panel, November 2011 By SCBWI-LA_2008.rhcrayon-0238.jpg: Rita Crayon Huangderivative work: Jonathas Davi (talk) - SCBWI-LA_2008.rhcrayon-0238.jpg, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17422687
Works by John Rocco
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Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1967-07-09
- Gender
- male
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Reviews
I didn't care for the narration style where the author was continually in the story. It was also highly fictionalized in a modern style. I am more interested in how the ancient greeks understood their gods.
Jake's Dad has been lost in afishing boat accident so 14 year old Jake must work as a quahogger ( clam catcher) on another boat to save his family's diner from a mob who want their debts paid.
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- Works
- 15
- Also by
- 16
- Members
- 4,795
- Popularity
- #5,238
- Rating
- 4.2
- Reviews
- 246
- ISBNs
- 96
- Languages
- 11
- Favorited
- 1
This was better than I expected. It gives a pretty reasonable overview of the Greek mythology (the part more directly involving the gods, since a forthcoming book will cover the great heroes). Percy's teenage snark makes it very accessible and entertaining to read. It will help if you are familiar with Riordan's books, so that you know who Percy is, but it is not absolutely required. The myths are not watered down, you get the sex and violence of the original stories, but Percy's wit smooths it over with non-explicit language.
Do not expect any poetry or literary beauty here. However, while the Greek mythology can sometimes become a bit repetitive, in Percy's voice it never becomes boring. It is extremely easy to read and an excellent choice for young readers or even older ones who are not necessarily attracted to the subject.… (more)