Duluth Superior Magazine / February 2012 / Series Books For Teens and Tweens

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Series Books For Teens and Tweens

I love books for tween and teen readers, with their incredible stories about fantastic monsters, different worlds, clues and quests. I think that’s because one of my favorite books as a kid was, and still is, A Wrinkle in Time. The two books I’m recommending here are reminiscent of that wonderful classic — kids going on important and puzzling quests with deeper issues than simply fighting one enemy in every volume of the series (sorry Harry Potter).

The Mysterious Benedict Society
Trenton Lee Stewart
Little Brown, 2008
In a story that reminds me of the works of Roald Dahl, 11-year-old orphan Reynie Muldoon responds to an ad in the newspaper wanting “gifted children looking for special opportunities,” and winds up in a world of mystery and intrigue. After succeeding in mastering the series of tests and puzzles that dozens of children have failed, Reynie is now a member of the Mysterious Benedict Society, and he’s off on a secret mission with his three new colleagues, Sticky Washington, Kate Weatherhill and Constance Contraire. They travel to a remote school where a dastardly villain is training children for evil purposes, and Reynie and his friends must use their wits to discover how and why — and readers will enjoy solving the mysteries along with them.

The Maze of Bones (The 39 Clues, Book 1)
Rick Riordan
Scholastic, 2008
The author of the Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, and the Kane series (about Egyptian mythology) wrote the first book in this series and outlined the other nine, which were written by other writers. The 39 Clues starts like this: When Dan and Amy’s beloved Aunt Grace dies, she leaves them, and the other Cahill descendants, with a choice. Inherit one million dollars, or go on a dangerous treasure hunt. She has hidden 39 clues around the world, and the first to solve them will win the family fortune, and a whole lot more. Dan and Amy take up this quest, competing against not-so-nice factions of the family, and it propels them on a fast-paced adventure filled with world history. Accompanying these books is an online game (www.the39clues.com), adding to the fun.