Prizes!

So, Scholastic has released information about the prizes with listings for each participating country. Looks like some good stuff is up for grabs! It looks as if the $10,ooo grand prize the publisher is offering only applies in the U.S. and Canada. It's $5,000 in New Zealand and Australia, £5,000 in the U.K. To be the Grand Prize winner, kids collect all 39 Clues and must remain in the top 39 point scorers in the online game.
All areas with the exception of Australia are offering Book Prizes as well. After reading each book, children add the included trading cards to their online collection to see if they won up to $500!
The site will host Missions for the kids to do too. Playing along with a Clue Mission gets you in the running for as much as $250.
Let's not forget the Episode Prizes, an episode is a book, a Clue Mission, trading cards and other activities on the web site with more chances for cash. In Australia, kids compete for gaming consoles for Episode Prizes.

UNITED STATES
GRAND PRIZE: Collect all 39 Clues and be one of the top 39 point scorers, and you can compete for the $10,000 grand prize.
BOOK PRIZES: Read a Book, add the cards to your online collection, and you have the chance to win $500.
MISSION PRIZES: Start an online Clue Mission, and you have the chance to win $250.
EPISODE PRIZES: The top point scorer for a 39 Clues Episode (that's one Book, one Mission, card combos, and other online activities) wins $1,000.


CANADA
GRAND PRIZE: Collect all 39 Clues and be one of the top 39 point scorers, and you can compete for the $10,000 grand prize.
BOOK PRIZES: Read a Book, add the cards to your online collection, and you have the chance to win $500.
MISSION PRIZES: Start an online Clue Mission, and you have the chance to win $250.
EPISODE PRIZES: The top point scorer for a 39 Clues Episode (that's one Book, one Mission, card combos, and other online activities) wins $1,000.

UNITED KINGDOM
GRAND PRIZE: Collect all 39 Clues and you have the chance to win the £5,000 grand prize.
BOOK PRIZES: Read a Book, add the cards to your online collection, and you have the chance to win £250.
MISSION PRIZES: Start an online Clue Mission, and you have the chance to win £125.


NEW ZEALAND
GRAND PRIZE: Collect all 39 Clues and you have the chance to win the $5,000 grand prize.
BOOK PRIZES: Read a Book, add the cards to your online collection, and you have the chance to win $500.
MISSION PRIZES: Start an online Clue Mission, and you have the chance to win $250.

AUSTRALIA
GRAND PRIZE: Collect all 39 Clues and be one of the top 39 point scorers, and you can compete for a home entertainment center valued at $5,000.
EPISODE PRIZES: The top point scorer for a 39 Clues Episode -- that's one Book, one Mission and other online activities -- wins a gaming console.

With all of these great prizes and lots of cash just waiting to be claimed, this will be a fun and exciting adventure for all kids!

Book 2 release date!

Book 2 "One False Note" by Gordon Korman in The 39 Clues book series will be release Dec. 2.

Don't forget to grab a card pack as you pick up the new books. The cards will provide lots of helpful hints and earn kids points for prizes. The 39 Clues Card Pack One comes with 16 randomly assorted cards relating to books 1, 2 and 3, as well as a 16-page Clue Finder Guide. The games begin Sept. 9.

More story background from Scholastic...

This is the information provided about the story line of "The 39 Clues" book series:

Minutes before she died Grace Cahill changed her will, leaving her decendants an impossible decision: "You have a choice - one million dollars or a clue."

Grace is the last matriarch of the Cahills, the world's most powerful family. Everyone from Napoleon to Houdini is related to the Cahills, yet the source of the family power is lost. 39 clues hidden around the world will reveal the family's secret, but no one has assembled them. Now young Amy and Dan must decide what's important: hunting clues or uncovering what happened to their parents.

The books will set the scene, telling the basic story while the cards, website and game allow kids to participate. Kids visit the website and discover they are lost members of the Cahill family. They set up online accounts where they compete against other kids and Cahill characters to find all the clues. Through the site, kids can track points and clues, manage card collections, dig through the Cahill archives and "travel" to collect artifacts, interview characters and search for clues. Collecting cards helps: Each card is a piece of evidence containing information on a Cahill, a clue or a family secret. Prizes will be given away through the books, website and cards, including a grand prize of $10,000.

"The 39 Clues" news

Scholastic plans for "The 39 Clues" book series to be a multi-platform adventure for ages 8-12 launching the program simultaneously on September 9, 2008 in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. "The 39 Clues" book series will include 10 books over 2 years, 350 trading cards (each carrying unique codes) and an online game where readers uncover information beyond what is revealed in the books and cards. Each book will come with six cards, assorted packs of sixteen cards will be available separately.
New York Times best-selling author Rick Riordan, who wrote the Percy Jackson series, outlined the story arc. Other titles will be written by a team of best-selling authors, including Gordon Korman (Book 2 in January 2009), Peter Lerangis (Book 3 in April 2009) and Jude Watson (Book 4 in July 2009). Authors for the remaining books and publication dates will be announced later.