For Readers Age 9 - 12
Grades 4th - 8th
 

The 39 Clues Book 5: The Black Circle - Suggested Activities
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Suggested Activities Book six focuses on the maturing of our main characters. Taking place in Australia, there remains much of Aussie history and geography that you don’t want to miss out on! A few ideas to start with include... Identify evidence of Amy and Dan’s use of wisdom and judgment which can then be tied to classic Greek literature for classroom use, the family’s cultural values for home use, or doctrines of the world’s main religions for either home or classroom use.

• Discuss how Amy conquers her misunderstanding of her own role in the parent’s deaths. It is common for children to assume unwarranted guilt in family tragedy such as divorce or death. Amy, with the help of her brother Dan, pulls herself out of this dilemma and acknowledges greater internal strength from it. This can create talking points to discuss personal doubt or hardships either individually or in a group setting with children.
   

• Dan states that Australia has the highest concentration of deadly creatures in the world. That would make a great science activity, researching the poisonous taipan snake, deadly spiders or other critters. Students can learn about those mentioned in the book or, instead, try to find critters not mentioned in the book but native to Australia or one of the other locations mentioned in the story (which further ties in geography). Lessons about the physical environment surrounding the creature will help readers feel Amy and Dan’s situation, and parents/teachers might also explore cultural myths surrounding these critters as well.
   

• The family or class might want to develop a trivia game of Aussie facts. Fun!
   

•  Another fun game could be to create a word game of Aussie slang, pulled from the book. This could take many forms, such as matching the Aussie slang phrase to one of similar meaning from the student’s own culture/country. Or students could form teams that answered questions on these phrases. This would build language skills in their own culture (by gaining a deeper understanding of meaning) as well as aid comprehension of the story.
   

• Certainly Amelia Earhart is profiled in this story and a study of her could enhance science, history and geography lessons alike.
   

• Students can also be encouraged to research an Australian historical figure and present a report on that person.

(For more suggested reading, visit our bookstore.)