Games for All Ages

I love games. I like playing them (board games, card games, word puzzles), watching them (Survivor, The Amazing Race, the movie Clue), and reading about them. A really cool new series just came out, called 39 Clues. So far, two of the ten books have been published and very soon the third will be out. Each of the books in the series is being written by a different famous children's or young adult author. Rick Riordan, of Percy Jackson and The Olympians fame, wrote the first. All of the books should be out by 2010. Along with the books are collectible game cards and a website with clues, with which readers can actually participate in trying to solve mysteries. There are even prizes (big prizes!) being given out to kids between the ages of 6 and 14. I just wish I was a kid, because I have really had fun reading the books, decoding the clues and exploring the website, and I want prizes for my work! Here is a list of books about games for all ages:

• I Spy books, by Walter Wick (ages 3 to 8)
  
• The Egypt Game, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (ages 7 to 10)
• The Westing Game, by Ellen Raskin (ages 8 and up)
• The Maze of Bones: 39 Clues, by Rick Riordan (ages 8 and up)
  
• One False Note: 39 Clues, by Gordon Korman (ages 8 and up)
  
• The Sword Thief: 39 Clues, by Peter Lerangis (ages 8 and up), coming in March 2009
  
• Word Nerd, by Susin Nielsen-Fernlund (ages 9 and up)
• An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green (ages 14 and up)
• The Apprentice Adept series, by Piers Anthony (ages 14 and up)

Another up and coming series is Skeleton Creek, by Patrick Carman. It's like 39 Clues in that it also has an online component, but from what I can tell it isn't a contest. I haven't read the book yet since it won't be published until March, but it promises to be interesting. This one looks like it targets late elementary age to early high school age.