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The 39 Clues is a series of adventure novels written by a collaboration of authors, including Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson, Patrick Carman, Linda Sue Park, Margaret Peterson Haddix, Roland Smith, and David Baldacci. The books chronicle the adventures of two siblings, Amy and Dan Cahill, who discover that they belong to the Cahill family, the most influential family in history. The main story arc concerns Dan and Amy's quest to find the 39 Clues, which are ingredients to a serum that can create the most powerful person on Earth.^[1] Since the release of the first novel The Maze of Bones on September 9, 2008, the books have gained popularity, positive critical reception, and commercial success. As of July 2010^[update], the book series has about 8.5 million copies in print and has been translated into 24 languages.^[2] The major publisher of the books is Scholastic Press in the United States. Steven Spielberg acquired film rights to the series in June 2008, and a film based on the books will be released in 2014. The series also originated tie-in merchandise, including collectible cards and an interactive internet game.

Characters[link]

• Amy Cahill and Dan Cahill are the series' protagonists. They are the grandchildren of Grace Cahill. They became orphans when their parents died in a fire seven years earlier. Since then, they have been in the care of their great-aunt Beatrice, before traveling to find the 39 Clues. They both have jade-green eyes, but Amy has reddish-brown hair, while Dan's is a dark blonde. At first, the siblings do not know to which branch they belong. The Viper's Nest reveals that Amy and Dan are part of an unknown fifth branch, the Madrigals.
• Grace Cahill is the Cahill matriarch and Amy and Dan's grandmother and led the Madrigal branch. She has traveled all over the world and settled in Attleboro, Massachusetts. The Maze of Bones begins with her dying and her last minute change in her will.
• Nellie Gomez is the Cahill's au pair. She can fly a plane, race cars, and speak over ten different languages. Amy and Dan enlist her to be their guardian on the hunt for the 39 Clues, unknowingly at first, but she later decides to help the children. She is of Mexican and French descent.
• William McIntyre is Grace Cahill's mysterious lawyer, advisor, and "closest confidant for half of her life". He helps an ominous character, the Man In Black, who follows the Cahills on the hunt and whom Storm Warning reveals is Fiske Cahill, Amy and Dan's great-uncle.

Series One: The 39 Clues[link]

To promote the series, Scholastic includes six cards in each book in the 39 Clues series. Each card unlocks one online clue, which readers can unlock by entering the code on the cards on their 39 Clues account.

[edit] Book 1: The Maze of Bones

The Maze of Bones is the first book in the series, written by Rick Riordan. It was released September 9, 2008. Grace Cahill, on her deathbed, requests Mr. McIntyre to change her will and dies. At the funeral, Mr. McIntyre informs her grandchildren, Dan and Amy, of a choice: one million dollars or a chance to be the greatest Cahill in history (and the most powerful people in the world).

Amy and Dan choose the chance and enter the Clue hunt, competing against more experienced Clue hunters: the Holts, Alistair Oh, the Starlings, the Kabras, and Irina Spasky. Pursuing clues hidden in Grace's library and the Franklin Institute, Dan and Amy discover that Benjamin Franklin has hidden a clue in Paris. After convincing their au pair Nellie to chaperone their trip, Amy and Dan travel to Paris. While on the journey, Amy and Dan discover the conflict-ridden history of the Cahills that Grace hid from them to protect them. Racing through Paris—above ground and underground—the siblings solves codes and ciphers and find the clue in a vial. The Kabras steal the vial, but Dan solves the puzzle on the envelope they received at the beginning of their hunt and discovers the clue: "iron solute". Amy's Internet searches for Franklin leads them to the probable location of the second Clue: Vienna, Austria, the home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

[edit] Book 2: One False Note

One False Note is the second book in the series, written by Gordon Korman. It was released December 2, 2008. After Amy, Dan, and Nellie obtain the first clue, they and the other Cahills travel to Vienna, Austria to find a clue relating to Mozart and his sister, Maria Anna "Nannerl" Mozart. The clue is Tungsten.

[edit] Book 3: The Sword Thief

The Sword Thief is the third book in the series, written by Peter Lerangis. It was released March 3, 2009. A pair of swords from Vienna leads Amy, Dan, and Nellie to Japan for a clue related to the Japanese warrior Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Teaming up with Alistair Oh and the Kabras, the three follow a trail of clues to Korea, where they stay at Alistair's house. A book in Alistair's secret library leads them to a mountain called Pukhansan. The group finds an entrance to a cave. Inside, they find all of Hideyoshi's treasure, and the third clue, gold. Dan discovers and decodes an anagram and tricks the Kabras, who escape and seal everyone else in the cave. After escaping, Dan, Amy, and Nellie head for Egypt, as hinted in the anagram.

[edit] Book 4: Beyond the Grave

Beyond the Grave is the fourth book in the series, written by Jude Watson. It was released June 2, 2009. Dan, Amy, and Nellie search for a clue in Egypt while being pursued by the other Cahills. They find the clue which turns out to be myth.

[edit] Book 5: The Black Circle

The Black Circle is the fifth book in the series, written by Patrick Carman. It was released August 11, 2009. After receiving a telegram from a mysterious person known only as 'NRR', Dan and Amy leave for Russia. Allying with the Holts, Amy and Dan infiltrate a Lucian stronghold.

[edit] Book 6: In Too Deep

In Too Deep is the sixth book in the series, written by Jude Watson. It was released November 3, 2009. Dan and Amy head to Sydney, Australia to learn about what their parents knew about the 39 Clues from their dad's cousin, Sheppard Trent. They discover that Ian and Natalie's mother, Isabel Kabra, has joined the hunt. Isabel hunts the two down to kill them, but the siblings escape and follow a clue to Krakatau (the ring of fire), where they meet Alistair. Isabel sets fire to their hut. Irina Spasky dies while saving Amy, Dan and Alistair. After the fire, the three look in Irina's bag and find song lyrics, revealing the clue, water. At the end of the book, they start to suspect that Nellie spies on them for someone else.

[edit] Book 7: The Viper's Nest

The Viper's Nest is the seventh book in the series, written by Peter Lerangis. It was released February 2, 2010. The search begins the morning after the fire that killed Irina Spasky. Meanwhile, after using their code breaking abilities, Dan and Amy figured that the last words Irina spoke was actually a song, which points them to their next destination: Pretoria, South Africa. They infiltrate a Tomas stronghold, and the Holts chase them. While leaving South Africa, Dan and Amy were captured by the Kabras. Flying Grace's old plane The Flying Lemur, the siblings escape with a vial of green liquid. During a quarrel, the vial breaks and the green liquid spills onto Dan's arm. It turns out to be a Kabra poison. To get the antidote to save Dan, they fly to Grace Cahill's home in Madagascar, where they find out that the clue is aloe and their parents were Madrigals, whom Amy and Dan have been taught to fear.

[edit] Book 8: The Emperor's Code

The Emperor's Code is the eighth book in the series, written by Gordon Korman. It was released April 6, 2010^[3][4] Amy and Dan go to China to find the next clue. Amy and Dan split up following an argument but reunite at Mount Everest, where they find a Janus vial left by British Cahill mountaineer, George Mallory. They battle Eisenhower Holt and Ian Kabra over the serum. Ian falls, and Amy sacrifices the Janus serum to save Ian.

When Dan thinks they have lost the clue, Amy shows him the poem on the piece silk fabric they found in Beijing and tells him the next clue is raw silkworm secretion. They also realize that the formula on the silk, "Lucian + Janus + Tomas + Ekaterina = Cahill," means that all the serum of the branches add up to one master serum. Then Dan shows Amy the locket he found at a Shaolin temple, and they see a name of a pirate named Anne Bonny. They decide their next destination is the Caribbean.

[edit] Book 9: Storm Warning

Storm Warning, by Linda Sue Park, was released May 25, 2010. Amy and Dan continue their hunt in the Bahamas and Jamaica. They distrust Nellie after discovering that she worked for William McIntyre. After that, they head out to the Port Royal excavation site with Lester, Miss Alice's grandson, and find a box Grace donated that can fit the objects they collected: the Ekat dragon necklace, the Lucian snake nose-ring, the Janus Wolf Fang, and the Tomas Bear Claw. However, they cannot open the box, and after a non-Cahill ally dies, the siblings decide to quit the hunt and return to their Aunt Beatrice. However, instead of driving them to the airport, Nellie stops at Moore town, and gives the box to the Man In Black, an ominous figure who has been following Dan and Amy. The Man In Black gives the siblings one hour to open the box. As he walks away, he says that in the game all sides are one and all are needed to survive. After many tries, they figure out that on the strip they found is an unfolded möbius strip. Amy inserts the strip to the final slit and the box springs open. It contains a poem by Madeleine Cahill, and the clue, Mace.

The Man In Black reveals his true identity as Fiske Cahill, Amy and Dan's great-uncle and Grace's younger brother, and tells them about Madeleine Cahill and the Madrigal branch, as well as granting the two active Madrigal status. He then also gives Nellie active Madrigal status even though she isn't a Cahill. After reading the poem, Dan concludes the siblings' next stop is England. There, they must finish the clue hunt and stop the other branches from fighting, as per their new status as active Madrigals.

[edit] Book 10: Into The Gauntlet

Into The Gauntlet, the one before the final book in the first series, was released August 31, 2010, written by Margaret Peterson Haddix. In the book, all the teams come to the island of the original home of Gideon Cahill. Isabel Kabra captures them, and forces each of them to say their clues, by threatening to kill their loved ones. Amy saves them by smashing the serum over Isabel's head, knocking her out. Amy and Dan are left with a list of everyone's clues in their hands, which each team gave them, "Because they don't trust themselves around the serum, and the great power it wields."

[edit] Book 11: Vespers Rising

Vespers Rising serves as a transition between the first and second series. It was written by Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson. The book was released April 5, 2011. This book has four plot lines. The first describes Gideon's discovery of the master serum and betrayal by his friend and the first Vesper, Damien Vesper. The second recounts Madeleine Cahill's life and her attempt to reunite the Cahill family. The third tells of Grace's first mission to Casablanca, as she competes against George S. Patton to retrieve Gideon's gold ring. The fourth describes Amy and Dan's retrieval of Gideon's ring that Grace bequeathed to Amy, while escaping from Casper Wyoming, a Vesper member who is after it.

Series Two: Cahills vs. Vespers[link]

This section requires expansion.

Two years after the Clue Hunt, all who succeeded in finding Gideon's serum recipe have become Madrigals. The feud between the Cahill branches has ended, and the family unites to battle a new enemy: the Vespers. The Vespers are a secret organization an anonymous man called Vesper One leads. They have been the Cahills' enemies since the time of Gideon Cahill.

[edit] Book 1: The Medusa Plot

This section requires expansion.

The first book in the second series, The Medusa Plot, released August 30, 2011, was written by Gordon Korman,^[5] who also authored One False Note and The Emperor's Code. The Vespers kidnap seven Cahills and hold them hostage, demanding that Amy and Dan steal for them Caravaggio's Medusa. The duo team up with Hamilton Holt, Jonah Wizard, Sinead Starling, Ian Kabra, and Amy's boyfriend Evan Tolliver to save the hostages, while being pursued by the Vespers and Interpol. The Vespers shoot one of the hostages, Nellie, in the shoulder because Amy and Dan missed a deadline, and Jonah's twelve-year-old cousin Phoenix Wizard performs surgery to remove the bullet. Vesper One tells Amy and Dan that they gave him a fake. Amy and Dan find out someone stole the real Medusa and steal it back. Dan finds a message on the back of the real Medusa, leading them to the Colosseum in Rome. He then finds out that the snakes on the Medusa's head are actually a map for the tunnels under the Colosseum. They find the original copy of The Travels of Marco Polo. Jake Rosenbloom calls Interpol because Amy and Dan refuse to give him the book and are in a restricted area of the maze beneath the Colosseum.

[edit] Book 2: A King's Ransom

This section requires expansion.

Jude Watson, the author of Beyond the Grave and In Too Deep, wrote A King's Ransom which was released December 6, 2011.^[5] The leader of the Vespers, Vesper One, tells Dan and Amy to steal an ancient map created by a Renaissance cartographer, Albertinus de Virga, which has not been seen since 1932. Amy and Dan travel to Germany and the Czech Republic to track the map down, while Jonah Wizard and Hamilton Holt help them by traveling to King Ludwig of Bavaria's castle. Amy and Dan encounter Dan's friends, Atticus and Jake Rosenbloom, who agree to help them fight the Vespers. Amy and Dan discover that their father, Arthur Trent, had ties with the Vespers, leading Dan to believe that that their father was evil. Vesper Six, Cheyenne Wyoming, and her twin Casper decide to sabotage Amy and Dan in their attempts to impress Vesper One. Casper kidnaps Atticus when Amy delivers the map to Vesper One. Vesper 6 is revealed to be Cheynne Wyoming, Casper's twin sister.

[edit] Book 3: The Dead of Night

This section requires expansion.

The third book, The Dead of Night, is written by Peter Lerangis and was released March 6, 2012. The Vespers have Atticus Rosenbloom, Dan's only friend. Unless Dan and Amy comply with the Vespers' demands, Atticus will die. Vesper One asks Amy and Dan to find a stale orb, which the siblings discover is an anagram for astrolabe. They fly to Samarkand, Ubekistan to find the astrolabe and deliver it to Vesper One. Atticus escapes, and Dan suspects his father murdered William McIntyre and is Vesper One. Ian goes off alone to New York, suspecting Isabel to be Vesper 1, and Isabel manipulates him into staying. The hostages are rumored to be in Argentina because of a lizard Nellie holds in a photo. Dan has gathered seventeen ingredients of the thirty-nine for his own master serum. Dan has been receiving texts from a Vesper claiming to be his father, so he texts back a question to confirm this and is shocked that the answer is correct. Vesper 5 is shown to be Luna Amato.

[edit] Book 4: Shatterproof

This section requires expansion.

Shatterproof, to be written by Roland Smith, will be released September 4, 2012.^[5] Among Interpol's most wanted, Amy and Dan must comply with Vesper One's demands to steal the Jubilee diamond to keep Vesper One from killing a Cahill. It will also reveal Vesper Three: The Mole. ^[6]

Book 5[link]

The fifth book is to be written by Linda Sue Park, the author of Storm Warning, and is to be released December 4, 2012.

Book 6[link]

The final book is to be written by David Baldacci, a best-selling author known for his legal thrillers and will be released March 26, 2013.^[7]

Supplementary works[link]

Scholastic has expanded the 39 Clues universe with several books. In 2010, Scholastic published Agent Handbook, which explores the techniques that the clue hunters in the series use to find clues, and The Black Book of Buried Secrets, which provides more information about events in the series.^[8][9] On the last week of December 2011, the Scholastic editorial team released seven short stories as part of The 39 Clues: Rapid Fire e-book series.^[10] As part of the multimedia interactive experience to promote the series, Scholastic includes six cards in each book of the 39 Clues series. Each card unlocks one online clue, which readers can unlock by entering the code on the cards on their 39 Clues account online.^[11]

Themes[link]

The 39 Clues series consists of adventure novels; however, the novels also fall within the genre of historical fiction. The stories switch back and forth between different characters' points of view.^[12] Each novel focuses on one historical figure and geographical location as Dan and Amy explore a clue related to a prominent Cahill family member in an exotic location.^[8]

One theme of the series is the relationship between talent and success. Each branch of the Cahill family has specific talents in a certain area; for example, the Ekaterina branch specializes in technology. Amy and Dan's competitors' talents give them an advantage, yet Amy and Dan consistently are ahead in the hunt and are viewed as the main threats. Over the course of the books, Amy and Dan discover their own talents.^[13]

Origins[link]

An editorial team in Scholastic came up with idea of an interactive series with online games and asked Rick Riordan to write the first book.^[14] Riordan agreed because he thought it was a good idea, and as a middle school teacher, he loved making history enjoyable for younger readers.^[15][16] The project was kept secret for about two years.^[17]

Awards[link]

As of June 11, 2010, The 39 Clues series has been on the New York Times bestseller list of Children's Series books for 48 weeks.^[18] Books in the series have also appeared on the USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.^[8]

Film[link]

Steven Spielberg acquired film rights to the series in June 2008. Spielberg and Scholastic Media president Deborah Forte will produce the series,^[19] while Brett Ratner, director of X-Men: The Last Stand and the Rush Hour film series, is interested in directing the first film. Screenwriter Jeff Nathanson, who worked with Spielberg on Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and with Ratner on Rush Hour 2 & 3, was hired to write in September 2008.^[20] The movie, titled The 39 Clues: The Movie, is going to be released in 2014.^[21] The film, jointly financed Universal Studios, Spielberg's DreamWorks, and Walden Media, the studio behind The Chronicles of Narnia film series, will be released in North America by Universal. DreamWorks, through Disney's Touchstone Pictures division, will handle the international distribution. In May 2012, it was said that Shawn Levy, the director of the Night at the Museum movie was given the rights to direct the said movie.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The 39 Clues (official page)
• 39 – Various – A wiki devoted to The 39 Clues]
• First Prize: World Domination
• Scholastic Plans to Put Its Branding Iron on a Successor to Harry Potter
• 39 Clues Wiki