39 Clues: Vespers Rising

The first book I read for the FFP 24-Hour Readathon was Vespers Rising, book #11 of the 39 Clues series, which I was reading for the launch party organized by Scholastic Philippines and National Book Store the next day.

I was eager to read this book after I finished book 10, Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix, because I wanted to see Dan and Amy return for their next adventure! I originally thought Vespers Rising was the first book in the second 39 Clues series, but it turns out it’s actually the “bridge book” that links the two parts together.

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39 Clues: Into the Gauntlet

Sorry this is a bit delayed — I’m swamped at the moment; it’s been a very busy week!

Spent the weekend prepping for the upcoming 39 Clues: Vespers Rising launch party with three books: 39 Clues #10: Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix; The 39 Clues Black Book of Buried Secrets; and The 39 Clues Agent Handbook.

I realize I wasn’t able to post reviews of the last three books in the series (that I read last year — ooh, that brings my 2010 total to 209!), so let me bring you up to date.

More Cahill family secrets are unraveled in books 7, 8, and 9 as Dan and Amy continue their worldwide quest for the Cahill family treasure, launched with the passing of their beloved grandmother. Grace Cahill, the last Cahill family matriarch, offered all her heirs a choice between one million dollars and the starting clue to uncover the Cahill family legacy, which has produced the source of power and wealth of the Cahills, a family line which has produced prominent personalities in world history and culture, such as Galileo, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Mozart, Van Gogh, Beethoven, Winston Churchill, Mao Zedong, Rasputin, Neil Armstrong, Christopher Columbus and George Washington.

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Preview: The Viper’s Nest (39 Clues #7)

I’m writing a newspaper review of The 39 Clues book 7: The Viper’s Nest by Peter Lerangis, but I just finished it tonight (I couldn’t put it down, even while getting my hair done at the salon) and I’m dying to spill the beans on what happens in this one, but of course I won’t, so here’s a sneak peek instead.

(Spoiler free sneak peek after the cut).

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More Cahill secrets revealed in “In Too Deep”

intoodeepSurprising revelations are in store for 39 Clues treasure hunters as Scholastic’s landmark multimedia action-adventure series comes out with the sixth volume, In Too Deep, in the race to uncover the Cahill family legacy.

Jude Watson (a pen name for Judy Blundell) returns with her second book in the multi-authored ten-book series. Watson previously penned the fourth volume, Beyond the Grave, which led the series to jump on to the US national bestseller lists, hitting the highest bestseller list ranking for the series to date on USA Today.

In In Too Deep, Dan and Amy Cahill find themselves in the Pacific, where the adventure takes them out on the Australian surf, then deep into the Australian outback, and eventually in the tropics of Indonesia.

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39 Clues hits the halfway mark with “The Black Circle”

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Nearly a year after its launch, Scholastic’s groundbreaking action adventure series, The 39 Clues, reaches the halfway mark with the fifth installment of the ten book-series, The Black Circle (book#135 for 2009), by Patrick Carman.

The interactive multi-media series has been making its way to eager young readers around the world. Aside from the simultaneous release of the hardcover and audio editions in various parts of the word, Scholastic reports that the series has been licensed for publication in 17 foreign languages, including Japanese, Italian, German, Chinese, French, Greek, and Hebrew.

The adventure series recently made its debut in Scandinavia with the first three books released in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, and followed by the release of the first three books in Japan. Additional international editions are set for release in 2010.

At the heart of the series is the Cahill family, a powerful family that has produced the movers and shakers in world history. When the last remaining Cahill matriarch, Grace, passes away, she leaves 11-year old Dan and his  14-year old sister Amy a strange bequest: the choice between a million dollars for each of them, or the first clue in the quest for the Cahill family legacy, and a reward beyond measure.

Choosing the path of adventure, Dan and Amy go off on the adventure of a lifetime to beat the rest of the Cahills to the source of their family’s power, getting in touch with the lives of other prominent Cahills along the way:  Benjamin Franklin in The Maze of Bones, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in One False Note, Toyotomi Hideyoshi in The Sword Thief, and Howard Carter in Beyond the Grave.
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