The Cahill Family starts their quest.

Seeing as I now work in the children's department of the library I decided I need to be up to date on some of the new children's literature so I can recommend and advise both parents and kids on some great reading choices. That mindset lead me into the '39 Clues' series.

The first book in the ten part series is called '39 Clues The Maze of Bones'. The cool thing about this series is that each book is written by a different popular author. This first book is written by Rick Riordan who wrote the popular Percy Jackson series. One of the others was written by names like Patterson and Baldacci. The big names lend some credibility to what is classified as a Juvenile fiction series.

Although it is Juv Fiction, it is not 'The dog ran. The dog ran fast.' These books are well written and just complicated enough to make the young readers feel like they are accomplishing something big without discouraging them by being too rigorous.

The series itself centers on 14 year old Amy Cahill and her 11 year old brother Dan. The two are orphans would spend most of their time with their beloved grandmother Grace. It turns out the Cahill clan is the most important family in human history with relatives all over the world past and present, Benjamin Franklin, Mozart, Abraham Lincoln, and Eleanor Roosevelt being among them When Grace passes away she leaves behind a mysterious will, all the members of the Cahill clan have a choice; they can either walk out of the room with a bankers check for $1 million or burn the slip and take the first clue that will ultimately lead to the discovery of something world changing and will make the finders the most powerful Cahill's in history.

7 groups take on the challenge, including Amy and Dan and the first clue takes them over seas to Paris in an attempt to hunt down the second of the 39 clues left by and based on Benjamin Franklin.

I would assume most of you who read this blog are adults and these books are specifically aimed for children but I'll tell you they are very entertaining. It's a day, day and a half read tops and it moves very quickly with action packed sequences and brain teasing puzzles.

If you have children who are skilled readers this is a great series to introduce them to because like I said not only is it fun, but their are ten books, plus other spin offs, that follow the same characters so they will get to know Dan and Amy so well they will feel like they are on the hunt with them. It is a special thing when readings can connect deeply to fictional characters and for children this is a great way to share that special time.

I'm actually really looking forward to book 2 and seeing how the writing styles will differ while telling the same story. Take away lesson for the adults here, Juvenile and Young Adult fiction has come a long way and may surprise you with how good it really is.