The 39 Clues: The Sword Thief - Peter Lerangis

The 39 Clues: The Sword Thief

Title: The 39 Clues: The Sword Thief

Author: Peter Lerangis

Publication Date: 2009

Pages: 156

Genre: Children's Literature / Fiction

How I Found It: We're listening through the series.

Date Completed: 12/30/16

Summary: Amy and Dan Cahill take their search for clues to the family secret to Asia.

What I Thought: We listened to this book on the way home from Christmas in the Midwest. As I've mentioned in posts about previous books in the series, they make for good road trip entertainment. They are fast-paced and fun. They also require a serious suspension of reality and adult wisdom. These kids do all sorts of stuff without any adult involvement or supervision. Sure, there are some token adults around from time to time, but they do way more on their own than would ever be possible in the real world.

Case in point: in this book, Amy and Dan are booted from their international flight when their also-underage cousins pose as them and end up on the flight with their au pair instead. Thus, Amy and Dan are left to wrangle passage to Asia on their own. Sure, they run into an uncle who helps, but my gosh. Everything about this storyline is absurd. 

The 39 Clues: One False Note - Gordon Korman

One False Note

Title: The 39 Clues: One False Note

Author: Gordon Korman

Publication Date: 2008

Pages: 174

Genre: Children's Literature / Fiction

How I Found It: We're listening through this series

Date Completed: 12/24/16

Summary: The Cahill kids, Amy and Dan, continue their international hunt for family clues which hold the key to global power.

What I Thought: Kevin and I listened to the first book of this series when we traveled north for Thanksgiving. It was silly and fast-paced and entertaining enough to keep us engaged. It felt natural, then, to continue the series on our epic Christmas journey (24 hours+ hours in the car over a week). We actually made it through this one, Book Two, and Book Three. I'll be talking about Book Three next week, but let's focus here for today.

While Book One had the Cahills and company running around America and Europe looking for a clue from Benjamin Franklin, this book led them to Vienna and Venice in search of a clue related to Mozart. The musician in me really liked the use of music throughout this book and it was fun to have a little dose of music history infused as well. The parts in Venice also made me really excited for the trip to Italy we are planning.