Beginning September 9, the first of a 10-volume set of books titled “The 39 Clues” will be published from the same company that publishes J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series. The title of the book series is an homage to the late director Alfred Hitchcock’s “The 39 Steps,” a trivia fact that the franchise’s demographic of 8 to 12 year olds is unlikely to be aware of.
As we reported in June of this year, famed director Steven Spielberg is already looking to turn the novels into a film franchise. He acquired the filming rights to the series earlier this year.
“The 39 Clues” follows young Amy and Dan Cahill and their worldwide search for the secret to their family’s unique abilities. The first book, “The Maze of Bones,” is written by Rick Riordan of “The Lightning Thief” fame and has an announced first printing of 500,000, according to The Associated Press.
Each volume is written by different authors including such novelists as Jude Watson and Gordon Korman.
Scholastic, headed by executive director David Levithan, is in charge of all aspects of “The 39 Clues” venture.
“The word we always used was ‘groundbreaking,'” stated Levithan in a press release. “We wanted to be the first out there to introduce this kind of multidimensional thing.”
Addressing the concern for consistency if different authors are being used for the 10 volumes Leviathan added, “It’s a different kind of challenge. To use a movie analogy, each director of the ‘Harry Potter’ films brings their own voice and their own vision to what J.K. Rowling has done. You still feel there’s a consistency there, and part of the fun is seeing what they add to it.”
The idea for “The 39 Clues” sprang from a study by the Amerian Library Association that revealed many librarians across the country have been successfully using games to capture the attention of their young patrons to get them interested in reading books versus hanging out with their gaming console or computer.
“I love the gaming aspect of ‘The 39 Clues,'” says Jenny Levine, a digital specialist for the library association. “I could also see a lot of libraries forming ’39 Clues’ clubs the way they’ve had Pokemon clubs.”
With the introduction of such landmark books like the Harry Potter series, “The Sisterhood of Traveling Pants,” and most recently, Stephenie Meyer’s vampire novels titled “Twilight,” the desire to read among young people is back on the rise.
The key to this whole catching on thing, according to Beth Puffer, manager of the Bank Street Bookstore, is to simply get the word out there to the right demographic. “You need the kids to grab onto a book and tell each other about it,” said Puffer.
Most book dealers and bookstore managers feel this one will be huge and are investing heavily into its success.
“We’re investing big in this,” says Anderson Bookstores co-owner Becky Anderson. “I think we see it as a way to get some of those nonreaders into reading.”
Leave a Reply