Local student follows the clues

Youth

November 6, 2009

Diane Raver The Batesville Herald Tribune Fri Nov 06, 2009, 08:19 AM EST

Cassie Hooten is on a mission, one that thousands of other youth around the world are also trying to complete.

She has been reading a collection of books called "The 39 Clues." The series is about the Cahills, the most powerful family in the world. Grace Cahill, the matriarch, left a challenge in her will for her surviving relatives, according to the Scholastic.com Web site.

In the book, they can either take $1 million or the first in a set of clues that will reveal the source of the family’s power. "A boy and a girl, Dan and Amy Cahill, are competing against each other to win fame and glory," the Batesville resident notes.

Others can also join in the adventure by reading the books and searching for answers. The 9-year-old discovered that reading can not only be fun, but also profitable when she won $250 playing the online game. "I completed my mission before everyone else."

After finding out that she had won, Hooten says, "I was kind of surprised because the whole world is playing."

The young lady explains how she got started: When logging on to the Web site (scholastic.com/kids/39 clues), "you have to take a little test" to determine which branch of the family (Lucian, Ekaterina, Janus or Tomas) "you will be categorized in .... Then you get your pass" to play. "I’m a Tomas," she reveals.

Hooten and other Batesville Intermediate School book enthusiasts are part of a 39 Clues Club. "We go to the library and have lunch and go online and play games.

"There are quests, and you get clues at the end of them .... People all over the world play .... (and) every time you log into your account, it registers you in the sweepstakes."

Over the course of three years (2008-10), 10 books will be released. So far, five have been published, with the sixth coming this month. The race is on to solve the mystery.

The fourth-grader became interested in the series because "I just wanted to know what it was about." Her favorite book so far has been No. 3, "39 Clues: The Sword Thief," because "it tells you most of the clues for the online game and had more details than any other one I’ve read."

The daughter of Holly Hooten and Dan Hooten has a younger brother, Kody, 7.

She is putting her prize money "in the bank, and when I get enough, I will buy three or four tickets to go to Oklahoma to see the rest of my family."

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