The 39 Clues

1 Story, 10 Books, 7 Authors

The 39 Clues is a series of children's adventure books for 9-14 year olds.

At the centre of the series is the powerful Cahill family.  Throughout history the Cahill family has produced the most talented and famous people eg. Einstein, Mozart, Benjamin Franklin to name a few.  Now with the death of family matriarch, Grace Cahill, the secret to the world's ultimate power lies in wait for its new owner.  The beneficiaries named in Grace's last will and testament are presented with a challenge: either walk away with one million dollars and renounce all claims to any other piece of Cahill legacy OR surrender this inheritance for something far more valuable - the first in a series of clues that will reveal the source of the family's power.

So begins a worldwide hunt for the 39 clues with 7 teams of Cahill family members in pursuit.  Of course there can only be one winner.  It's Cahill vs Cahill in a race to beat the competition and be the first to assemble all 39 clues.  Follow 14-year-old Amy Cahill and her 11-year-old brother Dan as they travel the world in their hunt for clues.  Always in their shadow are a legion of scheming, underhand relatives who will stop at nothing to win the game.  Alliances are made and broken, traps plotted and the only rule to live by is trust no one.

The idea for the series came from Rick Riordan (of Percy Jackson fame) and fittingly he is responsible for the first book The Maze of Bones.  In an innovative and very cool move he has enlisted the help of several famous children's authors to contribute to the series: Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson, Patrick Carman, Linda Sue Park and Margaret Peterson Haddix (Shadow Children & Missing series).

Stephen Speilberg acquired the film rights to the series in 2008 and the movie is scheduled for release in 2014.

The complete series is available in the fiction section of our Library.  To help you locate them the following is the full list of titles and authors:

• The Maze of Bones - Rick Riordan
• One False Note - Gordon Korman
• The Sword Thief - Peter Lerangis
• Beyond the Grave - Patrick Caman
• In Too Deep - Jude Watson
• The Vipers's Nest - Peter Lerangis
• The Emperor's Code - Gordon Korman
• Storm Warning - Linda Sue Park
• Into the Gauntlet - Margaret Peterson Haddis
• Vesper's Rising - Rick Riordan

In April this year the book, Vespers Rising, was released.  This book serves as a transition between The 39 Clues series and the new Cahill's vs Vesper's series.  The first book in this new series, The Medusa Plot, is written by Gordon Korman and is scheduled for publication August this year.  The second book, penned by Jude Watson, is due for release December this year.  Other authors contributing to the series include Peter Lerangis, newcomer Roland Smith, Linda Sue Park and another newcomer David Baldacci (best selling author known for his legal thrillers) who will pen the 6th book and final instalment due for release in March 2013.  Look out for this series on our Library shelves!!

Billie B Brown - Sally Rippin

Meet the new addition to our Library shelves - Billie B Brown - the biggest thing to hit the early reader scene in 2010!

Billie is the creation of author Sally Rippin, born over a coffee and conversation with her publisher lamenting the lack of early chapter books for girls with a strong female role model character.

The character of Billie is different to most girls her age - she's a sassy, soccer playing tom-boy who wears boots with her frilly skirts, sports messy pigtails, freckles and a cheeky grin.  But more importantly she's an independent thinker who is not afraid to standup for what she believes in and is fiercely protective of her friends.  Slipping even further from the usual stereotyped girl character, Billie's best friend is her next door neighbour, Jack, who is good at building cubbies but not as good as Billie on the monkey bars!  Together they share a lot of adventures.

The books explore themes that most girls Billie's age are fascinated with such as school, friendships and sleepovers and provide a refreshing change for girls sick of princess and fairy stories.

Currently there are 11 titles in the series and all of these are available in the Red Spot section of our Library.  Each books features a 44 page, large print, stand-alone story complete with cute illustrations provided by Aki Fukuoka.  They are perfect for girls beginning to read chapter books. 

So girls grab one of the Billie B Brown books - she's brave, bold, creative and full of spark and I'm sure she will be your new best friend in no time!

Billionaire Boy - David Walliams

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a million dollars?  Or a billion?  How about a trillion?  or even a gazillion?

Inside this book you'll meet Joe Spud who has all that and more...  Joe is the son of the man who invented Freshbum - the toilet paper that's moist on one side.  So Joe's rich.  Really, really rich - the wealthiest 12 year-old in the land.  Joe's got his own bowling alley, cinema and formula one racing car.  He even has his own butler!!  But Joe isn't happy.  Why not?  Money buys you happiness doesn't it?

David Walliam's third children's novel is another cracker.  Once again it is full of humour (look out for the hilarious list of names teachers SHOULD NOT have!!) and craziness.  The wonderful character observations and gentle reminders of some of lifes realities will hopefully lead Yellow Spot readers to the moral of the story.

This time the cute illustrations are provided by Tony Ross.

Mr Stink - David Walliams

Mr Stink stank.  He also stunk.  And if it is correct English to say he stinked, then he stinked as well.  He was the stinkiest stinky stinker who ever lived.

So begins the second hilarious children's novel written by David Walliams.

Chloe is just about the loneliest girl in the world.  But then she meets Mr Stink, the local tramp.  Yes, he smells a bit - but he's the only person who's ever been nice to her.  So when Mr Stink needs a place to stay, Chloe decides to hide him in the garden shed!  But Chloe's about to learn that some secrets have a way of leading to disaster.  And speaking of secrets, there just might be more to Mr Stink than meets the nose...

This well written, thought provoking tale is a magical read (in a similar style to Roald Dahl) with lots of laugh-out-loud moments to tickle your funny bone.

Quentin Blake once again provides the illustrations.

The Boy in the Dress - David Walliams

David Walliams is an English comedian,writer and actor.  He is probably best known for his partnership with Matt Lucas on the TV show 'Little Britain' - he's the tall one!!  The Boy in the Dress is his debut children's novel.

In this book Yellow Spot readers will meet Dennis.  Dennis will show you that when you open your mind life becomes anything but boring and that it's ok to be different.  How does he do this?  Well a clue might be in the title!!

This delightful, easy to read book races along at a great pace.  It tells a hilarious and heart-warming story that will have you laughing out loud - but don't be fooled, it will also have you scratching your head and thinking hard about issues relevant to young people such as tolerance, loyalty, friendship, diversity and acceptance.  You'll laugh out loud, you'll cry and once you've met Dennis, he'll live with you forever...

Quentin Blake's quirky pencil drawings complement the story.

Zac Power/Zac Power Test Drive - H I Larry

Zac Power is a fun, action series featuring a 12 year-old secret agent with mysteries to solve, bad guys to catch and a bag full of cool spy gadgets. 

Since the series began in 2006 Zac's world of espionage and adventure has been extremely popular and has gained an enthusiastic and loyal fan base especially among primary school aged readers, in particular BOYS!!

All of Zac's daring adventures are available in the Red Spot section of our Library.  Each book features an 85-90 page fast-paced, stand-alone story complete with illustrations and labelled diagrams of Zac's gadgets.

February 2009 saw the release of the first books in the Zac Power Test Drive series.  It is a simplified version of the Zac Power series, developed for emerging and/or reluctant younger readers aged 5-8 years-old looking for fun adventure stories with a simple text.

These books introduce Leon, code name Tech Head, who is responsible for developing lots of cool gadgets and vehicles that Zac gets to try out.

These books have large print with a maximum of 40 words per page.  They are packed with illustrations of gadgets and blueprints of vehicles.  Each book is a stand-alone story of approx 60 pages and best of all they are chapter books!!


Now for the 'true identity' of author H I Larry.  Until recently this has been a closely guarded secret however it has now been revealed as a real 'team effort'.  The very first of Zac's adventures was written by Hilary Badger, with the help of her editor Hilary Rogers.  Because they both share the name Hilary they created the 'pretend name' H I Larry.  Hilary became so busy writing books to keep up with the demand from Zac's fans that she asked her sister, Meredith Badger, for help (Meredith will be known to our Red Spot readers as the writer of the Space Scout books).  When Meredith turned her attention to her own writing projects new author Chris Morphew joined the team (Chris will be familiar to our Yellow Spot readers as he penned the sci-fi series The Phoenix Files).

Hiding Edith - Kathy Kacer

IMAGINE having no safe place to call home.  IMAGINE being hunted down by armies.  IMAGINE if your life depended on an entire town keeping one big secret.  This is the true story of Edith Schwalb.  In 1938, Edith and her family joined the many Jewish people forced to leave their homes to escape the Nazis.  In a desperate bid for survival, Edith went to live at a children's home in Moissac, France, where other Jewish children were hiding.  With amazing courage, the entire town of Moissac promised to keep the children's identity a secret.  Could they possibly succeed?  Would Edith ever see her family again?

Hiding Edith, part of the Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers, is a moving story of one girls experiences during World War 2.  It details not only the amazing courage and struggles of Edith but also the inspiring spirit and bravery of those she met: Shatta and Bouli Simon, the dedicated and selfless couple who ran the children's home and taught the children everything they needed to survive and the entire town who conspired to conceal the presence of hundreds of Jewish children, allowing them to attend the local school and walk the streets without having to conceal their Jewish identity.

This is a sensitively written book giving an insight into both the horrors and hopes that children experienced living life in Nazi occupied Europe.  The book is sprinked with photos of people and places to enhance readers understanding of the story.