Squabbling Siblings Seek World Domination in "39 Clues"
By Mason Kelly, Special to SantaCruzWire.com
SANTA CRUZ (August 2010) - Action, adventure, suspense and a little humor now and then. If you like those things, then I would recommend The "39 Clues" books to you. In this series, you will read about exciting adventure as the two main characters (siblings Dan and Amy) travel to Venice, the Bahamas, Tokyo, Boston, Moscow, Paris and many other interesting places to find the 39 clues.
Dan and Amy have always been fighting - the 14-year-old bookwormish , shy sister, and the 12-year- old action-loving, athletic brother. Amy just can’t believe that (in her eyes) this dorky, annoying, impulsive little boy is her brother. On the other hand, Dan can’t believe that (in his eyes) this fun-hating, book fanatic, depressing girl is his sister. They argue about everything. But they learn to cooperate when they embark on an amazing journey to find the 39 clues and become the most powerful people on earth.
When their grandmother dies, Dan and Amy are given a choice at her funeral - get a million dollars and live with their cranky old nanny for the rest of their lives, or participate in a worldwide clue hunt in which, if they collect all the clues, will make them the most powerful human beings in the world. (The powers they stand to gain aren’t revealed until the third book.) They choose the 2nd option. But they’re not the only people trying to get the clues, and the others are willing to kill for the prize. If you had that option, what would you do? I would take the million big ones, if it were me.
Deceit and lies follow Amy and Dan as they follow trails to new clues. They have to be on the lookout for the other competitors: their clever uncle Alistair Oh, ex-KGB agent Irina Spasky, the famous Jonah Wizard, the strong (but not very bright) Holt family, the brother and sister pair of Ian and Natalie Kabra, the dangerous Madrigals and the Mysterious Man in Black.
There are nine books out in the "39 Clues" series. (My sources tell me there will be 11 books at the end of the series.) One of the interesting things about these books is that each book is written by a different children’s book author. It is hard to tell that these books are written by different authors. But if you really focus on the writing, you will recognize the different styles in each book. For example, in the third book, "The Sword Thief", author Peter Lerang is has one of the characters saying “dude” in just about every sentence. (It got pretty annoying after awhile.)
The first three books are my favorites. (Rick Riordan wrote the first one, so of course, I loved it!) Books four and six bored me a lot. I can barely remember what they were about. (I have a sneaking suspicion I fell asleep halfway through the sixth.) The fifth was mildly entertaining. I didn’t fully understand the end, though. The seventh was good, but not great. My favorite part in the seventh book was when they found out they were … but I shouldn’t tell you. The eighth is okay, I guess, and the ninth is pretty good. It has the most dramatic ending, and that’s impressive with this series. But the best opinion is yours, and I would definitely recommend this series.
A common trend that I have noticed with a lot of these young adult books is that the main characters are often brothers and sisters. The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan and the Alchemist series by Michael Scott are just two series I can name off the top of my head. I think that they use bro/sis combinations because they're easy to relate to. The authors of the "39 Clues" really brought that out in this series.
These books can make you laugh, cry, vomit (don’t ask) and will make you want more. I would give this series four-out-of-five stars. I have high expectations for the next two books, so they better not let me down. I would recommend these books to elementary-, middle- and high-school students. Trust me – despite the boring parts, this series will make any kid obsessed with reading after the first few pages.
Mason Kelly is a student at Georgiana Bruce Kirby Preparatory School in Santa Cruz. Click here, or here, to read Mason's other reviews.
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