Book Nerds Across America

Goodreads Overview:

As the race to find the 39 Clues builds to its explosive finish, Amy and Dan must explore an ancient culture and steal a Clue guarded by thousands of the world's best-trained soldiers. It's the most dangerous Clue search yet. As their enemies crowd in, Amy and Dan find themselves separated for the first time ever. The choice lies before them - find the next Clue, or find their way back to each other.

Jacque's Review:

My son and I have been reading this series together and we are both thoroughly enjoying it.  He isn't a big fan of reading, but the action and adventure coupled with the real life history is keeping him engaged.  In fact, he finished almost this entire book during a long car ride yesterday.  

This portion of the race focuses on China.  We learned about the last Emperor, Mt. Everest, and Chinese martial arts.  We also get a glimpse into the life of Jonah Wizard, one of the Cahill cousins competing in the race for the 39 clues. He is an entertainment superstar and part of the Janus branch.  He has made appearances throughout the series, but this is the first time that I can remember him being an integral character.  

When Dan gets separated from Amy he decides to join forces with Jonah until he can find his sister.  He doesn't have any money and with their cell phones not working in China, his options are limited.  He begins to realize the Janus's can't be trusted and he breaks off on his own again.  Amy and Dan continue to follow the clues independently until they are reunited, thanks to something Grace told them about years ago.

Amy and Dan struggle to come to terms with what "Branch" they belong to, but they realize they are not defined by their family history.  They aren't like their evil family members and they can see that they have made the right decisions when presented with moral dilemmas.   Their combined resources allow them to decipher a clue the others probably think is lost forever.  In addition, Dan's discovery provides them with a lead towards another clue the rest of the family is most likely unaware of.  If they can manage to leave town without a tale, they may be able to get a jump on the competition. 

Get out your flip flops and sunscreen because it sounds like the Cahill kids are on their way to the Caribbean!  I can only imagine what we will learn about from that are....Pirates????

Jacque's Review:

My son and I have been reading the 39 Clues series together.  The one thing that I have enjoyed about this series is that it that it is historical fiction, so I feel like he is learning something while enjoying the fictional elements of the story.  In the fifth installment, Amy and Dan are off to Russia in search of their next clue.  This time we learned about the Romanovs, which was the Russian royal family.  They focus mostly on the Romanov children Anastasia and and Alexei.  We also learned about Rasputin and his involvement with the Romanovs.

It was very coincidental, but my son was learning about Rasputin and the Romanovs in school while we were reading this book.  In addition, my step-dad suggested that I start listening to these "Remarkable Lives, Tragic Deaths" podcasts.  When I pulled them up, the first podcast was about Rasputin, so I feel like quite the expert after this comprehensive history lesson.

Amy and Dan were forced to work with their cousins, the Holts, in order to accomplish this mission.  The clues were spread out all over Russia and there was no way any one team could collect all of them on their own in the designated time frame.  Amy and Dan continue to receive help from the unknown "NRR" .  We finally find out who NRR really is, which was a major surprise.  I don't want to give away any spoilers, but it wasn't who I thought it was all along.

The Kabras trail the Holts and Irina Spasky mysteriously turns up in places Amy and Dan are searching.  She is definitely working against them, but at one point it seemed like she was genuinely concerned about their safety and offered them a warning.  Of course, the kids took it with a grain of salt and continued on with the quest.

Their final discovery appears to be leading them to Australia.  I can't wait to see what we will learn about Australia in book 6.

Jacque's Review:

The third book in the 39 Clues series brings a few of the participants together to work as a "team." 

 Amy and Dan were warned at the start of the contest not to trust ANYONE, but they don't really see another option.  Nellie, their au pair/nanny, just departed Venice on a flight to Japan while they remain stranded at the Venice airport.  Without Nellie, they are forced to accept help from their Uncle Alistair, who has betrayed them on at least two occasions.  He graciously allows them to travel with him on his private plane, but he really just needs their help to determine the next destination in the race.  

While in Japan, we learn about Hideyoshi, who is the first son on the Tomas side of the family.  He was a great warrior and tried to conquer most of Asia.  In an unusual turn of events, the Kabras appear with Nellie and join the alliance between Amy, Dan, and Alistair.  They all have a piece of the puzzle necessary to find Hideyoshi's treasure and hopefully their next clue, which they discover could be in Korea.  They travel to Alistair's home in Korea to continue their investigation.  

Ian begins to soften and Amy believes they are developing a real friendship.  This eventually backfires and the kids are left wondering why they trusted any of their relatives in the first place.  Fortunately, they didn't share ALL of the information they had leading to the next clue and even gave the Kabras some misinformation.  

If they can just get out of the trap the Kabras left them in, they may still be in the race.  

There wasn't much interaction with the other relatives in the contest this time around.  Amy and Dan did encounter the Holts early on in the book, but we didn't see them after that.  Jonah Wizard didn't make an appearance at all and we left Irina Spasky in the dust somewhere on the way to Japan.  We will see if any of them show up in the fourth book, which appears to be taking us to Egypt.  

I didn't think this book was quite as good as the first two in the series, but it is still holding my son's attention, so we will continue on.  He loves the Hawaii Five-O television series, so he was intrigued by the fact that the Yakuza were mentioned in the book.  They are the 'bad guys" that are often referenced in Five-O, so there was a tie in that he could understand.  He was also intrigued by the swords and possible treasure that could be found along the way. 

My 5th grade son has been enjoying all of the Who Is / Who Was books for the better part of this school year.  He really enjoys non-fiction, but his teacher wanted him to experiment with fiction as well as increase his reading stamina by selecting a longer book.  He decided to give The 39 Clues a try.  

In the past he has struggled with story lines that were too far from reality, so this seemed like a perfect fit.  39 Clues is about a couple of siblings, Amy and Dan, whose aunt Grace recently passed away at the beginning of the book.  All of the Cahill descendants are given the choice of taking a check for one million dollars or forfeiting the money for a chance to participate in a scavenger hunt.  They will need to track down clues, but only one individual or team can win.  The contest will be very dangerous and should not be entered into lightly.

Amy and Dan decide to participate in the challenge.  Being minors, they don't have the financial resources most of the participants have at their disposal.  They even have to solicit the help of their au pair (nanny) in order to purchase plane tickets, check into hotels, etc.  

I found this book to be both entertaining and educational.  Reader have the opportunity to learn about Benjamin Franklin and places that were significant in his life such as Philadelphia and Paris.  Riordan did an excellent job of keeping the story realistic while inserting some action and elements of danger, which kept my son continuously engaged.  I felt like this series was equally as informative as the Who Is and Magic Tree House books, but it was presented in a way that children do not feel like they are receiving a history lesson.  It as fun and exciting and allows children a chance to feel like they are part of an adventure. 

Preston has the first 10 installments in the series and plans on reading the next book after he completes another "I Survived" book.  What I find to be unique about this series is that there are several different authors throughout the course of the series.  I will be interested to see if the future books read the same way as the first or if there is an obvious change based upon the different styles of the authors.