Kidsmomo

Obviously, I love to read. But you know what else I love? Television! My DVR is currently 92% full, and I like it that way. I looooooove watching TV!

So I can relate to Oliver and Celia Navel, the heroes of We Are Not Eaten By Yaks (Book 1 in the Accidental Adventures series by C. Alexander London). The Navel twins also looooooove watching TV. In fact, they’re totally obsessed with it — which is too bad for them because they just so happen to be the children of famous adventurers and they live at the Explorers Club. So they’re constantly being dragged on dangerous globe-trotting excursions when all they want to do is veg out on the couch.

And this summer is no exception. Their mother is missing, and — actually, let’s get into the spirit of TV-watching, shall we? Instead of me telling you about the book, why don’t you check out this video to find out what happens to Celia and Oliver:

Intrigued? Well, you should be! We Are Not Eaten By Yaks is funny and gripping, and full of exotic locales, unexpected twists, and yaks. AND Yetis! How can you resist? Don’t even try. Just go read this book. Your TV will still be there after you finish, I promise.*

— Karen

For some reason, Karen’s DVR won’t record Top Chef: Masters properly and she’s missed the last three episodes. It’s making Karen very, very angry!

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* Promise not legally binding. Kidsmomo is not responsible for any thefts or television breakages that may occur while you’re reading We Are Not Eaten By Yaks.
 
 
Review copy provided by the author.

Sure, Nancy and I run a website and we both work on digital stuff for our day jobs too — but neither of us could ever compare to Adam Henderson, the tech prodigy hero of Patrick Carman’s newest series, Trackers.*

Well, “hero” may not be the right word for Adam. He’s definitely the main character and you’re rooting for him, but it appears that he’s gotten himself and his three best friends into some serious trouble. How serious? It’s hard to say, because there’s only one Trackers book so far, and not all the details are revealed. But you learn pretty quickly that Adam and his fellow Trackers (Finn, Lewis, and Emily) are experts at trailing other people by following digital clues. But it turns out… someone else has been watching them! [cue scary music and dramatic flashing lights]

I don’t want to give away too much because the fun of Trackers is that it’s set up for readers themselves to steadily get to the bottom of things, through a combo of the book and short online videos. To be honest, at first I was a little frustrated because I really *hate* not knowing what’s going on. And, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m pretty impatient. Imagine a monkey who sees a banana through a window but doesn’t realize there’s glass in the way. Yeah, that’s me (except not as hairy)… But once I got over it, I really got into the suspense of the story and I enjoyed trying to guess what would come next.

Here, check out the official trailer for a peek into the Trackers experience:

So, now the most frustrating part is waiting for the next book to come out! Luckily Patrick Carman — er,  I mean, the Trackers have put together a Trackers Missions hub where you can take on assignments from them — if you dare! (Okay, okay, the missions aren’t actually dangerous as far as I can tell, but they are addicting! I started working on Adam’s mission just now, and I almost forgot to come back and finish writing this post!)

— Karen

Karen still remembers the first time she went on the internet. It was 12th grade. She was at a friend’s house, and Karen was all like, “What’s this search doing? Where are these pages coming from?” That same day, she discovered mp3s and it blew her mind!

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* Trackers is published by Scholastic, which is where I work, but I have no involvement in the making of the series. Wish I did! Then I’d know what’s coming in the next book!

You probably thought the saga of The 39 Clues ended with Book 10: Into the Gauntlet, which came out last month. But guess what — you thought totally wrong! Don’t feel bad. In fact, if you’re a fan of the 39 Clues series, then you should probably rejoice, because what I’m trying to say is: there’s a new 39 Clues series coming up! (And yes, I do work for the company that publishes the books, but believe me, I didn’t know any of the details until they were announced to the rest of the world. I guess I don’t have high enough clearance at my rank…)

The 39 Clues Part 2: Cahills vs. Vespers, will launch on April 5, 2011. The new series will kick off with Vespers Rising, written by four familiar authors from the original 39 Clues series: Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson. There will be six books in total, with the final installment coming out in March 2013.

Obviously, 2013 is pretty far away. So the question is: will the new series be intriguing enough to keep you interested until the end? If you’re a dedicated Cahill agent, then I’m pretty sure the answer is: YES! Of course, I haven’t read the series, so I can’t say for sure, but check out the details from the official announcement:

Within the world of The 39 Clues, the Cahills are the most powerful family the world has ever known, secretly dominating every area of human endeavor over the past 500 years. The source of their power has been lost, hidden in 39 Clues scattered around the world. In The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers, the Cahills discover they’re not the only ones who have been searching for the Clues. The Vespers, a ruthless cabal lurking in the shadows for their turn to stomp across the world stage, have also been hunting for the source of ultimate power. The Cahill family must unite to protect the Clues, and the world, against the Vespers, who have sinister plans darker than the Cahills could ever imagine, dating back to the mysteries of ancient times.

Come on, if you’re a 39 Clues fan and that doesn’t make you curious, well, you clearly left your sense of adventure back in a Cahill branch stronghold somewhere!

Unfortunately, the world will have to wait until April for Book 1: Vespers Rising. But in the meantime, you can prepare yourself for the Cahills vs. Vespers fight by studying The 39 Clues: The Black Book of Buried Secrets, a guidebook to the world of The 39 Clues with an introduction by Rick Riordan — it comes out in October.

So… are you ready to rumble? If you’re a 39 Clues fan, I want to hear your thoughts on this big news! Are you looking forward to the new series? And what did you think of the end of The 39 Clues Part 1? Leave a comment and let me know!

— Karen

Karen kept her hat prop from the Mystery Book Theater video about The 39 Clues. She’s trying to figure out how to use it in a Halloween costume this year.

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Obviously, we love Rick Riordan’s books. Based on the amount we’ve talked about Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Kane Chronicles, you’d think we’re a teeny bit obsessed. But you’d be wrong — because we’re actually majorly obsessed. So, of course, we’re super excited to share news about Rick Riordan’s new series, The Heroes of Olympus!

A while back, we heard that Riordan would be writing a PJTO spin-off about a new group of demigods at Camp Half Blood, but we didn’t have any details. Well, this week, Riordan finally spilled some juicy info:

And you can learn even more about the new series on the official website, where you’ll also find… are you ready?… A SNEAK PEEK OF THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawesome!

Can you tell I’m excited? Just a tad? Let me put it this way: I intended to read just a little bit before going to bed last night because I was really, really tired. But once I started, I could not tear my eyes away. And when I got to the last page, I clicked “Next” anyway — even though I knew I had reached the end — because I just wasn’t ready to stop reading. So yeah, you could say I kind of dug it. Kinda.

So… what are you waiting for? Go check out all the goodies at the Heroes of Olympus site! The first book in the series, The Lost Hero, won’t be in stores until October 12th, but at least Riordan’s giving us some entertaining stuff to keep us busy until then. I just wish he’d included a few more chapters. Sigh.

— Karen

Karen once took a quiz to tell her which Percy Jackson character she’d be. The answer was Annabeth Chase. Well, obvi. Because Karen’s wise. Right?

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