The 39 Clues (Book 1): The Maze of Bones
I picked up a copy of The Maze of Bones yesterday and aside from being tricked into buying a card pack that “goes with it” (according the the sales clerk), it’s been a good experience so far. I created an account on the 39 Clues website (the39clues.com) and I’m in the Tomas branch of the Cahill family. I enjoyed adding my cards and solving the puzzles. I’m eager to see this play out. I’m about half-way through the book and greatly enjoying it (Riordan’s writing in this book is superior to some of his later Percy Jackson books). It’s like the Da Vinci Code for kids! And I love that the follow up book is only 82 days away. While this is has been a heavily marketed book and clearly designed to suck up your dollar on accompanying cards, if the experience is worth it, I don’t have a problem with it.
“Fortunately, the librarians were having a slow day, and Amy wasn’t shy around them at all. She loved librarians. When she told them she was doing a summer research project on Benjamin Franklin and needed to use historical documents, they fell all over themselves to help her.” (p 89)
Now that sounds exactly like Librarians 
39 Clues Audio Sampler
I’m currently listening to the 39 Clues Audio Sampler I picked up at ALA Annual. Now, I usually dislike audio books – just listen to the Twilight (by Stephenie Meyer) audio recording and you will hear what I mean) but there are a few I’ve heard that are exceptional: the Harry Potter series (both Stephen Fry’s reading and Jim Dale’s), The Golden Compass (read by the author, Phillip Pullman, and a full cast), and The Alchemist (read by Jeremy Irons).
David Pittu read 39 Cluesand I liked it right off the bad. I enjoyed his reading, with distinct voices for each character. He pulls it off in much the same way Jim Dale does. But I enjoy David’s narrative voice even more. This is one I will be adding to my collection and recommending to my mother (who has a Harry Potter CD in her car’s CD player and the house CD player AT ALL TIMES AND GOD FORBID YOU TOUCH IT!). I think she’ll like this one enough to swap out a Potter from one of those players.
