Each student will need a copy of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan.

In The Titan's Curse you'll find plenty of action in the way of monster skirmishes using swords, arrows of all kinds, throwing knives, burritos (yup), and poison darts. Undead warriors tracking the heroes shoot guns -- they also get limbs lopped off and reformed the way zombies do. The bigger deal in Book 3: One major character is kidnapped at the beginning of the story and two characters die on the quest to save her. One we assume dies after a metal giant she's inside is electrocuted, and the other dies slowly from a poison bite and is heavily mourned. There's a running joke at Hoover Dam that uses the word "dam" a lot. Percy will do anything to save his friends and is not tempted by anyone offering him power.