Moving on, the book (or rather series) I'm recommending today is The 39 Clues series. This series is written by different authors and consists of 11 books (in the picture, book 1 is the last book while book 11 is the first one). The series mainly surround the plot of orphan siblings Amy & Dan Cahill, along with their au pair Nellie Gomez, competing against their distant relatives on a hunt for 39 Clues around the world to become the greatest Cahill in history. How did this whole thing start off? Before Amy & Dan's beloved grandma Grace passed away, she set up a challenge for all the Cahills; to take 1 million dollars or take the first Clue & start the hunt for the rest. At her funeral, this challenge is relayed to all the relatives through Grace's lawyer. Amy & Dan decide to take up the challenge, along with other fame-hungry relatives as well. From then on, they travel around the world, looking for clues based on historical figures that were apparently part of this influential Cahill family. It may seem a little complicated now so read the first book, Maze of Bones, to find out more!
Some background on the Cahills: there are 5 branches of the Cahill family; Lucians, Tomas, Ekaterinas (or Ekats), Janus & the most powerful and mysterious one, Madrigals. Each Cahill has a special characteristic that identifies what branch they're from, for example, the Janus are usually talented in the arts, having historical figures like Mozart in their branch. All the branches are at loggerheads with each other, leading to the fierce competition that Amy & Dan face during the hunt from their relatives, who use their individual skills & tactics to trick each other & get ahead in the hunt.
This book is so full of suspense & adventure that it is such an exciting read. You never know which scheming relative will come out & trick Amy & Dan during the hunt. There are also so many mysterious characters that you don't know who is good or bad. This is why I usually borrow 3-4 of these books from the library at one go so I can immediately move on to the next book & find out what comes next! I finished reading book 10 & can't wait to finish the series with book 11! For all those who like adventure & a little bit of history while using your brain to figure out the meanings behind the Clues, this is THE book for you. Once you start reading, you'll find it hard to stop!
Another interesting thing I found out about these books recently: When reading book 8, I noticed certain words or sections of a word were circled (not in pen, in the printing). If you combine all the circled words, it forms a message! How cool is that? Books 9 & 10 have symbols at the page number margins & the "guide" to decoding the coded message is somewhere in the book (for these 2 books, they were at the page with the publishing info at the start of the book & the blank pages at the end of the book). Go ahead & read the other books in the series & have fun decoding the messages!
From what I hear, there's gonna be a movie of the book coming out probably in 2014 so I'm especially excited for it. Also, after reading this series, you can check out another series, Cahills vs Vespers, about the Cahills' greatest enemy, the Vespers and there's even a new series coming up soon this October, Unstoppable, so there's a lot in stall for 39 Clues. Definitely go & check out this series & hope to hear your views on the books soon. Again, if you have any books you want us to review, please drop us a comment or email us at bookpicks4all@gmail.com. We'll be happy to hear from you! Happy reading!
Lydia
