| "THE MAZE OF BONES"
Author: Rick Riordan
Interest Level: Middle Grades (4-8)
ATOS Reading Levels: 4.3
AR Points: 7.0
Publisher Recommended Age: 9-12
Publisher: Scholastic
Book Type: Hardcover
Book Description:
Minutes before she died Grace Cahill changed her will, leaving her decendants an impossible decision: "You have a choice - one million dollars or a clue." Grace is the last matriarch of the Cahills, the world's most powerful family. Everyone from Napoleon to Houdini is related to the Cahills, yet the source of the family power is lost. 39 Clues hidden around the world will reveal the family's secret, but no one has been able to assemble them. Now the clues race is on, and young Amy and Dan must decide what's important: hunting clues or uncovering what REALLY happened to their parents.
Book Reviews:
Publishers Weekly (Starred Review): "...mixes just the right proportions of suspense, peril and puzzles in a fast-paced read...The humor is spot on. This ought to have as much appeal to parents as it does to kids-it's Webkinz without the stuffed animals, and a rollicking good read."
About the 39 Clues Book Series:
The 39 Clues is a new series spanning 10 books, 355 trading cards, and an online game where readers play a part in the story and compete for prizes. The books will be written by different authors, starting with books by Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman and Peter Lerangis.
The 39 Clues series begins with the death of Grace Cahill, grandmother of the main characters Amy and Dan. Just before her death, Mrs. Cahill added the following to her will, creating the premise for the plot. "For your inheritance, you may have the first of thirty-nine clues. The first team to successfully put together the clues, which are scattered across the world, will discover the secret of Cahill power and become the richest, most important people in history." The 39 Clues books set the story, and the cards, website and game allow kids to participate in it.
Kids visit the website - www.the39clues.com - and discover they are lost members of the Cahill family. They set up online accounts where they can compete against other kids and against Cahill characters to find all 39 clues. Through the website, kids can track their points and clues, manage their card collections, dig through the Cahill archives for secrets, and "travel" the world to collect Cahill artifacts, interview characters, and hunt down clues.
Collecting cards helps: Each card is a piece of evidence containing information on a Cahill, a clue, or a family secret.
About the Author:
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is a terrific Young Adult series by former middle school teacher and mystery writer Rick Riordan that revamps Greek mythology in a fun, fresh way kids find enthralling. A trouble-prone teen with attention deficit disorder and dyslexia, Percy is the half-blood son of Poseidon, one of 12 Olympian gods making mischief right here in 21st-century America.
Praised by critics, librarians, and teachers, the Percy Jackson books have been honored with numerous awards and appear consistently on The New York Times bestseller list. The series grew out of a sequence of bedtime stories Riordan invented for his son Haley -- who, at eight, had just been diagnosed with learning disabilities. Although Haley was having trouble in school, he loved the Greek myths and asked his dad to tell him some stories about the gods and heroes.
Riordan ran through the standards from mythology, then began to invent new tales featuring some of the same characters and introducing a brave boy hero enough like Haley to make things interesting! Haley begged his father to write the stories down, and in 2005, The Lightning Thief was published to excellent reviews. It was an instant hit with preteens, who loved the concept of a kid much like themselves -- i.e., embroiled in the everyday problems of school, family, and relationships -- embarking on heroic quests, soothing vengeful gods, and battling monsters.
In addition to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Riordan also writes books for adults, most notably a series of high-octane Tex-Mex thrillers featuring private investigator Jackson "Tres" Navarre, a complicated loner with an offbeat pedigree. (Tres -- pronounced "Trace" -- is a tai chi master with a Ph.D. in medieval literature who turns to detective work when he is unable to find a teaching job!) The first novel in the series, 1997's Big Red Tequila, scooped the Anthony and Shamus Awards, two of the three most prestigious prizes for Mystery & Crime fiction.
Riordan completed the trifecta when his sequel, The Widower's Two-Step, won the coveted Edgar Award in 1999. Between the two series, Riordan remains incredibly busy.
For several years, he balanced writing with teaching English to middle school students. Reluctantly, he has left teaching (a career he thoroughly enjoyed) in order to write full-time, but he still harbors hopes that someday he'll return to the classroom. Meanwhile, he makes frequent visits to schools and enjoys meeting young readers on his book tours. |
