Getting clued in about 'The 39 Clues' at Borders
Quick Summary
Three authors from the 10-book "39 Clues" series will read from their books at Borders this Thursday.
Photo credit: Handout | "The 39 Clues," a series of books focusing on the fictional Cahill family, is pictured.
'The 39 Clues" is a series of 10 books focusing on the fictional Cahill family. In Book 1, written by smash-hit juvenile-fiction author Rick Riordan, readers learned that matriarch Grace Cahill changed her will five minutes before she died. Family members were shocked when the new will gave them a choice: Accept a bank voucher for $1 million taped underneath each person's chair and walk away, or compete in a global scavenger hunt for 39 clues leading the winner to the secret of the Cahill family's power and riches. It was revealed that some of the most famous people in contemporary history - Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Houdini, for instance - were actually Cahills.
Seven teams opted for the quest; one consisted of underdogs Amy Cahill, 14, and her brother, Dan, 11, orphans who had dearly loved their grandmother Grace. The first book, "The Maze of Bones," was launched in September 2008 and debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times' bestseller list, and a new book has been published every few months. Book 6, "In Too Deep," was released yesterday; the last book will come out in September 2010. Books 1 through 6 have more than 5 million copies in print. Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks has optioned the movie rights for all the books.
But "The 39 Clues" is more than just a series of books aimed at 8- to 12-year-olds. An online game and more than 250 collectible trading cards also are based on the books. Scholastic, which publishes children's and young-adult books and has the U.S. rights to the "Harry Potter" novels, masterminded the multimedia project. But while the "Harry Potter" books eventually spawned movies, video games and trading cards, "The 39 Clues" launched all of that in an integrated way from Day One.
Each hardcover book ($12.99) comes with six trading cards, and more can be purchased ($6.99 for a package of 16). The free online game, at the39clues.com, assigns registered users to one of four branches of the Cahill family to help unearth the 39 clues. The books give away only 10 clues; readers need to go online if they want the other 29. Anyone who succeeds has a chance to win a $10,000 prize. An iPhone and iPod Touch app was released in September.
Three authors, '39 Clues'
Since Peter Lerangis wrote Book 3 of "The 39 Clues," there have been days he's felt like a rock star. Take the speaking engagement at a California school where kids were screaming and yelling and high-fiving him as he arrived.
"It's like they mistook me for a Jonas brother," Lerangis says. "It was because of a book, of all things. Not music, not movies, but a book."
Lerangis - a 1973 graduate of Freeport High School - was approached by Scholastic to join "The 39 Clues" team of seven authors. Some of the authors have appeared twice on Webcasts hosted by actress Whoopi Goldberg, and Lerangis video-blogged a trip through the United States, searching for clues on the Scholastic Web site.
Author Gordon Korman, who lives in Great Neck, has a live-in critic for his contribution to the series. His son, Jay, 10, a fifth-grader at E.M. Baker Elementary School, is a fan. "He's gotten more than half the clues online," Korman says.
The authors say they love that the books introduce children to history through the Cahills' international journey to uncover the mystery; Korman, for instance, introduced readers to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Some schools are using the books as part of their curriculum.
The worldwide journey also appealed to author Jude Watson (aka Judy Blundell, a National Book Award winner), who lives in Katonah, N.Y. Watson penned the just-released Book 6, which takes place in Australia and involves historical heroine Amelia Earhart. "I'm a physical coward, and I'm not a great traveler," Watson says. "To be able to do this armchair traveling and create all these adventures and these wonderful scraps to get Amy and Dan into is the most fun in the world."
The books and the authors
Book 1: "The Maze of Bones" by Rick Riordan, September 2008
Book 2: "One False Note" by Gordon Korman, December 2008
Book 3: "The Sword Thief" by Peter Lerangis, March 2009
Book 4: "Beyond the Grave" by Jude Watson, June 2009
Book 5: "The Black Circle" by Patrick Carman, August 2009
Book 6: "In Too Deep" by Jude Watson, November 2009
Still to come:
Book 7: Anticipated release February 2010, by Peter Lerangis
Book 8: Anticipated release April 2010 by Gordon Korman
Book 9: Anticipated release June 2010 by Linda Sue Park
Book 10: Anticipated release September 2010 by Margaret Peterson Haddix
WHAT In a powerhouse showing, three authors from the 10-book "39 Clues" series will read from their books, answer children's questions and sign copies. Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis and Jude Watson are scheduled to attend. Watson's Book 6, "In Too Deep," was just released yesterday.
WHEN | WHERE 7 p.m. Thursday at Borders, 425 Jericho Tpke., Syosset
INFO Free; books available for purchase and signing; 516-496-3934, borders.com
With warm, sunny weather, it's the perfect time to explore the best parks for kids.
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