The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones Summary and Reading Activity

 Book Introduction

Many of the well-known names in history are said to be part of the real life Cahill family- "the most powerful family in the world." Names such as Marie Curie, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Napoleon Bonaparte were all in one of the four family branches. The branches are: the power-hungry Lucians, the strong and sporty Tomases, the inventive Ekatrinas, and the creative Januses. Clue hunters are also warned to "beware the Madrigals," but what the Madrigals are is not revealed in this novel.

While most of the characters in the book know which branch they belong to, the main characters do not. Amy and Dan Cahill, the protagonists of the novel and their grandmother, Grace's, favorite grandchildren, attend Grace's funeral after her death. A choice is given to a select number of heirs: to find the 39 Clues, which will make the winner the "most powerful and influential person(s) on the planet", or to take a million dollars and walk away. Amy and Dan decide to accept the challenge…  

Free Activity

We have created a FREE activity that you can access by clicking here. There are 25 reading discussion questions that you can use with the book The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones. These questions are open-ended and require students to use higher level thinking on Bloom's Taxonomy. Many of the questions put the students in the situations of the main characters. The questions are broken down by chapters.

Reading Comprehension Activity Guide

We have created a reading comprehension activity guide and answer key for The 39 Clues: The Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan. It contains 20 pages of activities (44 total pages including the answer key, assessments, and scoring rubrics).

This is one of the most comprehensive reading packets you will find directly related to this book. Included are comprehension questions for each chapter with an emphasis on reading strategies such as visualizing, summarizing, predicting, making connections, and many more. Also included is a list of key vocabulary words broken down by chapter. Grading rubrics are included for assessing your students understanding of the key reading strategies, end of the novel extension activities, and for the comprehension guide itself.

The Reading Common Core Standards that are met are as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

You can click on the picture at the top of this blog, or the picture below to access this amazing guide!