“The 39 Clues,” a popular interactive and worldwide children’s series, combines video games, collectible cards and an insatiable desire to read. There are cash prizes, too.
And Gig Harbor’s Victor Thigpen, 9, is one of the winners. He was awarded $100 by Scholastic for taking second place in the mission’s section of “The 39 Clues” for the third book, “The Sword Thief,” by Peter Lerangis.
Thigpen competed against players from all across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
“I got the first book at the book fair about a year ago,” Thigpen said, referring to “The Maze of Bones” by Rick Riordan, who outlined the overall arc of the series.
“The book is mostly about a mystery that the Cahills are trying to solve,” Thigpen said.
The mystery is a deep one, stretching across time and centered on the powerful Cahill family, which somehow is directly connected with almost every important figure and every important event in history.
The story kicks off with the death of Grace Cahill, the grandmother and guardian of the main characters, Dan and Amy Cahill. In her will, Grace gives Dan and Amy the option to either inherit a small fortune or receive the first of 39 clues to the Cahills’ power.
Dan and Amy choose the clue, and the adventure begins.
“You get books, and there’s cards inside every book, and there’s also a card case,” Thigpen said. “There’s a mystery on every card, and if you solve them, you get a prize.”
The prize is another clue. But there are other avenues players must take to find clues.
“There’s an area in the Web site called ‘missions,” Thigpen said. “You go in and you talk to people, and if you say the right things, they let you pass. On mission four, I talked to this one cheerleading girl, but she was actually an agent, and she was trying to get the clue.
“If you don’t say the right things, you have to start the mission over.”
The agents are fictional, of course.
Not every player will have the same missions. The Cahill family over time has split into four distinct branches.
“It gives you questions when you first enter,” Thigpen said, referring to the four branches of the Cahill family. “It gives you four answers. Any answer is right. How you answer makes you a Tomas, Janus, Lucian or Ekatarina.
“In the book, Dan and Amy don’t know their branch,” Thigpen added.
Victor’s mom, Kristi Thigpen, has been impressed by the books.
“I’ve noticed there’s a lot of historical people,” Kristi said. “Like today, he was doing a mission that taught him about Fort Knox. I think there’s a lot of things they learn just by osmosis.
“I like the fact that they came up with the idea of using the computer, which is something the kids are doing right now,” she added. “It captures their attention. They are actually learning.”
She’s also been impressed with Victor.
“I kind of OK’d the Web site, but he did this on his own,” Kristi said.
Besides getting a prize for finding clues, the book helped Victor with some other things.
“I got an A on my book report,” Victor said.
The books also have aided Victor’s creativity, because he likes writing stories of his own.
“They have extremely helped me,” he said. “I used some of the places in the books, like Paris.”
It’s all perfect for Scholastic, the publishing group and education company responsible for “The 39 Clues” series.
“Scholastic is really involved in getting kids to read and getting kids excited about books,” said Rachel Griffiths, senior editor at Scholastic Press. “We wanted to have something that used video games and card collecting that dropped kids back into books.”
Griffiths said each of the different books focuses on a historical figure.
“We also do puzzles,” she said. “There’s a lot of critical thinking involved.”
There’s more in store for “The 39 Clues,” even as the series is past the halfway point.
“Steven Spielberg’s production company has optioned for the film rights, and he’s looking to direct,” Griffiths said.
“Given the success of the program, we’re really excited how new media brings kids back into reading,” she added.
Scholastic is working on a book series for high school students called “Skeleton Creek” that utilizes the Internet, as well.
Playing the games and solving the mysteries are fun, but it’s the reading that’s really exciting, Victor said.
“Yes, they are my favorite books ever,” he said. “Even if I read all of them, I’d read them all again.”
Join the hunt at www.the39clues.com.
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