Last week, we set up a virtual tour of the Smithsonian Museum of American History produced by Scholastic. The tour was part of their 39 Clues Book Club.

About The 39 Clues from Wikipedia

The 39 Clues is a series of adventure novels written by a collaboration of authors…The books chronicle the adventures of two siblings, Amy and Dan Cahill, who discover that they belong to the Cahill family, the most influential family in history. The main story arc concerns Dan and Amy’s quest to find the 39 Clues, ingredients to a serum that can create the most powerful person on Earth.

Scholastic sent us free curriculum materials to use both before and after the event, including part of an audio book to the last book in the series. We set up at the Somerset Public Library *in style* with a projector and a screen (very fancy)!

The virtual tour was lead by the author of the last 39 Clues book, Day of Doom by David Baldacci. David interviews curators about special artifacts that can be found in the Smithsonian, how they are preserved and where fact and fiction intersect. The length of the stream was about 25 minutes long, and they made it available on their website for future use.

All in all, it was a really fun experience. The kids had fun guessing the trivia and looking at the artifacts in the “behind the scences” areas of the Smithsonian where visitors do not get to venture.

If you’re interested, the curriculum can be found here and here.

Did you or your child get into the 39 Clues series? Tell us about it in the comments.

Krysten