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The 39 Clues: The Dead of Night by Peter Lerangis Review

April 7, 2014 by Daniel Johnston Leave a Comment

Note: This post was originally written in March, 2012.

Recently, Scholastic released the newest book in the explosive The 39 Clues action series, The Dead of Night by Peter Lerangis. This has long been one of my all-time favorite kids series, and I usually finish the book the very day it comes out.

For those who don’t know, The 39 Clues is a series about two kids, Amy (14) and Dan (11) Cahill, who realize they’re part of the most powerful family in the world, the Cahill clan, at their Grandmother Grace’s funeral.

The source of the family’s power is hidden in the form of 39 special clues, which will make whoever finds them the most powerful family in human history. Of course, Amy and Dan aren’t the only ones who want the clues. Their vicious relatives will do anything to find them first.

Click here to find out more about The 39 Clues

Summary

At the end of the last book, Dan got a text from his father (Arthur Trent), who was long presumed to be dead in the fire that destroyed their old home. Dan doesn’t know what to make of it, but he’s worried his dad may be working for the Vespers (or even be Vesper 1).

Atticus Rosenbloom (Dan’s best friend) was kidnapped by the Vespers). Not only is he a super genius, but his mother (now deceased) was a Guardian, a group that has worked with the Madrigal’s to guard secrets for years, although Atticus (11) doesn’t know what it is he’s guarding.

The Vespers are ruled by a Council of Six, headed by Vesper One (whose identity is currently a secret). In each book he sends them on a task, and threatens to kill one of the hostages if they’re late. Because they withheld information from Vesper One, Atticus was kidnapped.

They want information from Atticus, but he doesn’t have it. He only just found out he’s a Guardian in the last few days, but if he doesn’t do something, they’re going to kill him. Will Atticus’s cunning allow Amy and Dan to save him?

This time they travel to Samarkand, Uzbekistan (the oldest city in Central Asia) in search of “stale orbs” at the prodding of Vesper One, bringing Atticus and Jake along to ensure nothing happens to him again.

Amy and Dan are in search of the planetary work of Ulugh Beg meaning “Great Ruler” (his real name was Mīrzā Mohammad Tāraghay bin Shāhrokh), a revolutionary mathematician and astronomer, who had a huge observatory and plotted the course’s of stars and planets extremely precisely.

In addition, just as Lerangis played up the romance between Amy and Ian in Book Three (many avid readers are still on “Team Amian”), he hints at Amy liking Jake-already spurring “Team Jamy.” To compound things, Amy already has a boyfriend, Evan Tolliver, who is working with the Cahills because of his technological knowledge.

Vesper Five is also revealed as Interpol continues their attempts to catch Amy and Dan. Ian goes off the map, in search of a connection between the Vespers and the Lucian’s.

Meanwhile, the hostages try to escape. It was all Phoenix Wizard’s idea, but it backfires heavily.

On the good side, Amy and Dan request a picture, and a reptile crawls in while it’s being taken. Nellie gets a crazy idea that gives the Cahills an idea to where the hostages are being held. And it points straight to where they have tracked Ian.

Amy and Dan learn that McIntyre (their Grandmother’s lawyer and top Madrigal agent) died, and more texts from the man identifying himself as Arthur Trent come in. What is the connection between Amy and Dam’s father and McIntyre perishing? And what is the real identity of the mysterious texter?

Review

I wasn’t actually expecting this book to be too good, but it exceeded my expectations. I thought The Sword Thief was the weakest and worst written of all the books in the series, and I didn’t like The Vipers Nest much either. This book, however, was great.

As usual in the series, this book paints a good historical picture, sprinkling in all sorts of historical details. It’s 190 pages with small pages and average text, so it’s not a long read, meant for ages 8-14.

In this book, the action scenes were pulled off spectacularly, and by no means was the writing too relaxed (the main problem in earlier books by Lerangis). He also managed to retain funny moments, as well. This is definitely more reminiscent of the previous series, and might be the best book in the Cahills vs. Vespers so far.

If you haven’t read the previous books yet, I’d recommend starting with the first book in the Cahills vs Vespers series. If you have, this book is a great addition to the series.

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4 Lessons I Learned from 4 Weeks of Volunteering at the Library

February 21, 2014 by Daniel Johnston 4 Comments

More than four weeks ago, I started volunteering at the Spanish Fork Library. It’s a fairly small library but has two floors and a good collection of books.

I’ve been volunteering there every Tuesday since, and it’s been a lot of fun. I’m mainly reshelving stuff, so it’s a good time to listen to audiobooks and think.

I decided I was going to evaluate what it was like volunteering at the library after four weeks, and these are my main thoughts:

1. People Check Out more DVDs than Books

It’s sad, but it’s true. In the back of the library there’s a rather small section of DVDs. Compared to the quantity of books in the library, it’s nothing. Yet there are more DVDs to reshelve than books.

I guess it’s good that people are taking advantage of the public service of libraries to enjoy movies and TV shows, but it still is a little upsetting to me. Sure, I’ve checked out some movies from the library in the past. Yet it doesn’t compare to the amount of books I’ve taken out.

All indications show me, though, that people are reading more books than ever. I guess we’ve still got a long ways to go.

2. Most Kids Books are Fantasy

Inside the library is a Young Adult section. I can’t remember exactly what the sign says, but it has the picture of a Merlin-type hat and says something like Magic Corner. Sure, there are some realistic fiction books in there, but they are completely overshadowed by fantasy books. Fantasy books are also checked out much more often.

Are all kids now fantasy nerds? I don’t think so. Most kids I know don’t read that type of stuff. So it’s weird. Maybe kids who are into fantasy read more. At least that’s been my experience.

3. Being a Librarian isn’t Glamorous

It’s easy to picture a librarian sitting at her desk, her nose in a book, pausing every now and then to smile at people and give exciting book recommendations. However, that is hardly the truth.

The librarians are always busy at the Spanish Fork library. They are barely able to keep up, let alone have downtime. I sometimes have a few minutes here and there where there’s nothing to do, but definitely not enough to get much reading done. And most of my interactions with people are them apologizing for getting in my way.

I’d guess being a school librarian is a little more exciting, but in a public library it is a pretty tedious job.

4. Books are about more than Writing and Reading

When I think about books, I first think about writing them (I process I absolutely love), and then people reading them (something I love or not depending on the book). But there’s a lot more that goes into a book.

Once it’s written, then it has to be sent to publishers. Then it has to be chosen, a contract signed. It has to go through ferocious editing. Then more editing. It has to get a cover design. Then more editing. It has to be marketed. It has to be printed, shipped off to book stores. And then who knows if anyone is going to buy it.

My Aunt is an editor, so I know a little about that part of the process. Me; I’ll stick with writing and reading. After all, this is The Readers and Writers Paradise 🙂

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Four Book Series for Tweens that are Breathtakingly Awesome

January 30, 2012 by Daniel Johnston 4 Comments

Looking for some great books for tweens? You’ve come to the right place. Here are six awesome books for tweens. A bonus is that these are series, so the total amount of great books you’ll get out of this post is significantly greater than five.

1. The 39 Clues

This is a very exciting action-adventure series. It is still ongoing, and they’re currently on the second series of it, called Cahills vs. Vespers. Edit: Several years later the series has moved on, but new books are continuing to come out. I can only speak for the high quality of the first series and most of the second one.

This is a series about two kids, Dan and Amy Cahill (11 and 14 respectively; although their age changes throughout the series), who find out when their grandmother Grace dies that they’re part of the greatest family the world has ever known. Businessmen, inventors, scientists, mathematicians, politicians, spies; you name it. The source of their power is thirty-nine clues, which over the years have been scattered all over the globe. Whoever finds all thirty-nine clues will be the most powerful person in human history.

So they get a choice at the funeral, two million dollars or a hint to the first clue. For two penniless orphans, two million dollars is a fortune, but, of course, they take the clue.

It turns out there are four branches to the family, and thousands of Cahills, each willing to do anything possible to get the clues first; even kill. They travel all over the world in a search for the clues. Shocking secrets, amazing escapes, and even deaths accompany the hunt. There is also a ton of historical information, so you can learn a lot, too.

Another cool thing about it is that it’s a multi-author series, featuring famous authors such as Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Patrick Carman, Margaret Peterson Haddix, and more.

What really sets it apart is that it’s not just the books, but there are also cards included that you can enter into their website, and also plenty of games in your own search for the clues.

Although you can start anywhere, I’d advise starting at the beginning of the series. Highly recommended.

Buy the first book in The 39 Clues series, The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan.

2. Swindle

This is also an on-going series, written by the author of four of the books in the above series, Gordon Korman. There are currently seven books out. They are all action-packed adventures about a kid named Griffin Bing (The Man with the Plan) and his friends. Griffin is always trying to get into things and right wrongs. In Swindle, Griffin and his best friend Ben Slovak find a 1920 Babe Ruth baseball card. They take it to a collector to see if it’s worth anything and the guy totally swindles him. Griffin takes a mere hundred and twenty bucks for a rare card that is worth nearly a million.

So they try to right this wrong and steal the card back. The heist involves several other kids, and even the police get involved eventually. Very, very, exciting fast paced and exciting books. All of the books in this series (except for the fourth, which is still more lighthearted but still good) follow this kind of similar pattern of Griffin and his friends taking matters into their own hands. Kids just love this series!

Buy Swindle by Gordon Korman.

3. Last Shot

This is the first book in a sports series by John Feinstein. The main characters are fourteen year-olds Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol. They are the two winners of a writing contest so they get to travel out to write about the Final Four basketball tournament.

While there, they realize there is a plot to blackmail one of the star players, Chip Graber, to throw a game on purpose. Stevie and Susan Carol work together with Chip to find out what is going on and to catch the guys who are orchestrating this. There are similar types of stories in books focused on baseball (Change Up), football (Cover Up and The Rivlary; the former being the Super Bowl and the latter being about Army vs. Navy), tennis (Vanishing Act), and swimming (Rush for the Gold) all with different plots and mysteries. There is no regard for previous plot-lines except in regards to character development, and that is pretty minor, so you can start with the book that covers your favorite sport.

John Feinstein is a well-respected sports journalist who knows the industry well and also a fine mystery writer, so these books are a treat. There are many twists of plot that make them exciting from cover to cover.

Buy Last Shot, Vanishing Act, Cover Up, Change Up, The Rivalry, or Rush for the Gold by John Feinstein.

4. On the Run

This is another series (one six-book series and a follow-up trilogy called Kidnapped) by Gordon Korman, the same author of the Swindle series, about two kids named Aiden and Meg Falconer whose parents get convicted as terrorist-aiders and sentenced to life in jail in “the trial of the century.” The Falconer family become the most hated

This is very bad for Aiden and Meg, obviously. They try foster care, but their parents being so well-known and so ubiquitously hated is major problem. Eventually they get sent to a low-security prison in order to take them out of the spotlight for a few years (despite the fact they have committed no crimes).

It is a horrible situation. They have to work on a farm and do school most of the day, living among thieves and murderers. Meg wants to get out of there to prove their parents innocent, but Aiden realizes there’s no way to do it. Except for one day, a fire breaks out. Aiden decides to let it go and burn the place down, so they can escape. Others jump, too, but one by one, the others get caught while Aiden and Meg manage to stay on the run.

Aiden and Meg know their parents are actually innocent. They were working for an FBI agent, not for terrorists! But he has disappeared off the face of the earth. To prove their parents innocence, they have to track him down, something the Falconers’ high-priced criminal attorneys were unable to do. And they must do it with the FBI chasing them down and a crazy killer who wants to make them dead.

This is one of my all-time favorites, an action-packed adventure that will keep you guessing.

Buy the first book in the series, Chasing the Falconers by Gordon Korman.

I’ve just told you about four great series that combine for a total of forty-three books. These should keep you busy for a while!

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