Book Review of The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones Written by Rick Riordan

Title: The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones
Author: Rick Riordan
Page Count: 220
Plot: Orphans Amy and Dan Cahill have to make a grown up choice and decide if they should keep 2 million dollars or go on a scavenger hunt for 39 clues and preserve the Cahill family name.

Book Review:
The book 39 Clues was conceived as a set and meant to be published as so. There are ten books planned for the 39 Clues series. The first in the series is the book I am going to review, it was named The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones and was written by Rick Riordan. The same publishing house that published the 39 Clues book series published Harry Potter and they are hoping that it will be similarly popular.

Apparently each of the ten books is to be written by a different author, so each book may have subtle differences in the authors voice or tone. The book publishers have probably gone the multiple authors' route to get the series completed faster. The first 3 books in the series have already been released, and book 4 in the 39 Clues series should be released on June 2, 2009.

The books in the 39 Clues series are written for children between the ages of 8 to 12. I believe I understand the reasoning behind this age group. Starting with the eight year olds because Dan Cahill (main character) is in fourth grade so children in the fourth grade like him would be aged eight or nine years old. I thought this book might be a little intense for children in the fourth grade though.

I felt like the book was a bit more geared to boys, even though the main characters are sibling's one each a boy and a girl. The book had things that boys seem to have more of an interest in such as: bombs, skeletons, baseball cards, and bodily gasses. Even so, I believe anyone either boy or girl who likes a good detective mystery book will enjoy reading this one.

The first book and the series of the 39 Clues reminds me of the movie with Nicolas Cage called "National Treasure." In the National Treasure movies they were also on a search for treasure but the clues just lead them to another clue and another. Much of the book is based on real life places around the world. Many of the landmarks mentioned while the Cahill's were in Paris, France were unknown to me but a little search on Google came up with wonderful pictures and the history of these landmarks.

Kids will be able to learn about world travel and landmarks while they are reading, making the books fun and educational. As a tie in with the books there are collectable trading cards for the 39 Clues series. There is a website where kids can find out what branch of the Cahill's they are from and enter a contest. They also have some online games to play that go along with the books.

My rating for this book review of The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones written by Rick Riordan is a 5 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed reading this book even though it was written for a much younger crowd. The book is engaging and the ending (of book #1 at least) was not predictable. From an overprotective mothers point of view this book set some good examples. There was no sex or drug taking but there was some violence and talk of poisoning in this book. Overall it was a good mystery thriller book and I will be happy to let my kids read the other books in the series and hopefully watch the movie when it comes out.