A book that shaped me is actually a book series called The 39 Clues. There was a team of about 14 writers who took turns writing the books which was an interesting approach because it seemed to allow them to release more books in quicker succession. I read this series in my late elementary school years and throughout middle school which is important to note because that put me around the same age as the main characters in the books. I think that partially contributed to my love for this series since I was able to better relate to and place myself in the shoes of the characters. This is also the first series of books that I remember finding on my own instead of having them passed down to me from my older sister. Having that sort of ownership over finding books on my own, just for me was really awesome for me at the time.
The books fall somewhere in the action, adventure, mystery genre which built on my developing love for everything mystery and sleuth-y. The characters were thrown into this crazy scavenger hunt that took them to many different locations and different countries. This aspect of the series made them even more interesting to me because it stretched my imagination and made me want to go travel to all of the places mentioned in the story. As a result of the travels taken by the characters, the books were actually pretty educational. I learned about some important events, landmarks, and historical figures around the world as the story and scavenger hunt progressed.
Like I mentioned before, there were a lot of books in the series. That meant that the story was able to dive deep and develop an extensive background for the main characters as well as the supporting characters. There was also an online component where you could go to a website to plug in the clues you uncovered while reading the books to try and solve the puzzles and keep track of the hunt that was taking place in the series. Being able to immerse myself so fully into the fictional world created through these books was something that really appealed to me as a young reader. I was given so many tools through this series to be able to get lost in the narrative and lives of the characters which I absolutely loved.
Overall, this book series really fed and boosted my sense of imagination and curiosity surrounding the world through a fictional, adventurous and mystery narrative. I vividly remember getting so excited every time a new installation in the series was released and have only the best memories regarding these books. Truly a wonderful young adult fictional series.
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