Books like The Maze of Bones

Book one of The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones, by author Rick Riordan, is an exciting young readers adventure book that will leave you sitting on the edge of your seat; your toilet seat. That's because the only place worth reading this book is while you've got a few minutes of privacy on the porcelain throne.Amy and Dan Cahill are typical squabbling siblings who believe one another are the most annoying brother and sister in the world. However, that all changes when they get summoned to their mega-rich grandma Grace's funeral, along with the rest of the extended Cahill family. After the funeral they are all presented with a strange challenge from Grace given through her lawyer. They are offered the choice of either one million dollars or a clue to a riddle that the fate of the world depends on the Cahills solving. Amy and Dan reluctantly accept the clue, forgoing the million dollars, along with most of their relatives. This clue leads them on a wild adventure to many mysterious locations teeming with danger in an attempt to beat their rival relatives to the finish line.And this book had me thinking about its finish line the whole time. Riordan and Scholastic, the publishers, have done an amazing job at pumping out a mass-marketed piece of crap. These are some of the shallowest, most meaningless characters I have ever read about. This book is nothing more than a horrifically written kids' version of the National Treasure films. The only credit I'll give this book at all is that it seems my students, for the most part, really liked it. It is certainly written for a kid's mentality. However, I've read many young readers books that are still extremely well written and appealing to adults as well as kids, so this simply doesn't pass the grade.