Each student will need a copy of the short stories The Son of Sobek, The Staff of Serapis, and The Crown of Ptolemy by Rick Riordan.

Parents need to know that these three short stories, which combine main characters from Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and Kane Chronicles series, were previously available separately as ebooks only. "The Son of Sobek" was released in 2013, "The Staff of Serapis" in 2014, and "The Crown of Ptolemy" in 2015. The hardcover book Demigods & Magicians: Percy and Annabeth Meet the Kanes includes all three stories, a forward by Percy Jackson, eight full-color illustrations, and a peek at the first chapter of The Hidden Oracle, the start of a series to be released in May 2016. Kids will need to have read at least some of the main Percy Jackson series (five books) and the slightly more complex Kane Chronicle series (three books) to get what's going on when Greek mythology and Egyptian mythology and magic collide. Expect the same kinds of fantasy violence in these shorts that you saw in the other series -- battles against monsters and gods where they get stabbed with swords or blown up. The good guys -- all teens -- get injured but heal with their magical nectar and potions. Readers will learn a bit about Alexander the Great and how he united the Greece and Egypt in his giant empire.