39 Clues

So I'm reading these books, it's a scholastic series called the 39 Clues. I just finished book 8. Book 9 comes out late May. The premise of the story goes something like this...

Several hundred years ago there was a family. The four siblings got in some huff and all parted ways, each with their own unique ability that would be passed down through the generations. Such that each branch of the family is known for something different; the arts, athletics, inventiveness, and cunning. Many generations later, the Cahill family is spread throughout the world and is responsible for most of the major events and wonders and finds of the world. If someone famous comes to mind, they were most likely a Cahill. There are these two kids in the family, Dan and Amy, their parents died in a fire and they live with their great aunt. Now their rich grandmother dies. About 100 Cahills from all different branches of the family are invited to the reading of her will. Each is given a choice, 1 million dollars or a hint to the first of 39 clues, the lost Cahill secret, that would make you the most powerful person in the world. It's a contest of sorts. Each person is trying to get the clues for themselves and their branch of the family. Everyone except Dan and Amy who are doing it because it's what their grandmother would have wanted them to do it. They don't even know what branch of the family they belong to.

What I like about these books is they get kids all excited about the history and people and geography of the world. So far the hunt has led them to Philadelphia and Ben Franklin, Paris and the catacombs, Austria and Mozart, Tokyo and Hideyoshi, Egypt and Nefertiti, Russia and the Catherine Palace, Australia and Amelia Earhart, Indonesia, South Africa and Shaka Zulu, and most recently China which included visits to the Great Wall, The Bird's Nest, and Mount Song, culminating with a stop at the summit of Mount Everest. I'm sure that list is incomplete. Dan and Amy are off to the Caribbean next.

Another thing I like is they have several different authors writing the series. So far the first 8 have been written by five different Authors and books 9 & 10 are being written by two new authors.

So in these books everyone is scheming to get the clues. It's family against family. But there is this young generation which includes Dan and Amy and several multi times removed cousins. So as I'm finishing up the latest book this morning this thought occurs to me. What if all of these young people were to say' so what, who cares about the power'? What if this hunt for the clues that seems to be pulling the family further apart is really a means of bringing the family together. Maybe the 39 clues is just a bunch of gibberish. Maybe what real power is the family working together, many different parts, forming a whole. Maybe that's the real power. That would make a nice ending to the series, don't you think. Maybe the lost secret is the lost family.

Reminds me of this other family idea, many parts, one family, one goal...