The 39 Clues - 1ab - The Maze of Bones product reviews

I tried this audio book out on the children I babysit (one eight year old girl and a six year old boy) and discovered that audio books take a lot longer to listen to than I take to read! We only got to chapter four before it was time for the kids to go to bed. That late at night, the boy was getting a bit nervous and complaining that it was 'scary' though I am not entirely sure why. Perhaps the music in the background? The events themselves seemed relatively innocuous.

Still, the audio book was very well voiced - my little girl loved the way that the man managed to do so many different voices - and the music and foley fitted very well. Some of the humor was perhaps a little too old for the children, (maybe more ten plus) but they managed to identify with the two main characters rather well (mirroring their own relationship with a michevious and annoying younger brother and a shy older sister).

I could tell that the cards were threatening to cause an explosion of sibling rivalry so I very quickly shuffled them all together and told the kids that they were a 'team' like Amy and Dan and that they both owned all of the cards. They were not completely convinced...

I left the whole pack with them and their mother over the weekend and came back the following Monday to see what they thought. The girl is very excited by the whole idea and would definitely be keen to get the next book. The boy said it was 'cool' but had no interest in finishing the story.

My conclusion (based on a very low number of participants) is that this series is probably most attractive to children the same age as Amy and Dan (11 - 14). Much older than that and it might become a little cliche? Younger and they do not seem to quite follow... it requires too much thinking and just isn't appropriate for their developmental stage. Having said that, once the kids are finished with this set I will definitely be listening to the rest myself. I find the story intriguing enough to want to know what happens next...