I have been trying to read Sea of Monsters since last semester!  I loved The Lightning Thief, so I was looking forward to Sea of Monsters.  I wanted to try to read all three before the fourth one came out, but I'm a little late. 

Sea of Monsters starts out with a bang -- I was hooked immediately.  Things have gone downhill at Camp Half-Blood and it's up to Percy to help save the camp.  The book bogs down a little in the middle (where I am now), so I put it down for a little bit.  I picked it up again recently, and even though it's still a little slow in the middle, I can see the action getting ready to pick up again.

Written by Art Spiegelman, Maus: A Survivor's Tale is an excellent portrayal of one man's (Speigelman's father Vladek) attempt to survive the Holocaust as a Polish Jew. The story is expressed as a graphic novel and is a very smooth read.

Despite the obvious connection to the Holocaust, I was also drawn to the conflict that exists between Art and his father throughout the story. The action is fast-paced and the use of animals in place of humans provides Spiegelman an opportunity to show a greater extent of the violence that took place in Europe during that time period.