"Cruz leaves his tranquil home in Hawaii to join 23 talented kids from around the globe to train at the Explorer Academy with the world's leading scientists to become the next generation of great explorers. But for Cruz, there's more at stake. No sooner has he arrived at the Academy than he discovers that his family has a mysterious past with the organization that could jeopardize his future. In the midst of codebreaking and cool classes, new friends...

On an island nation in the Indian Ocean, the explorers venture through a vast underwater world and take part in a friendly robotics competition. But the tides of good fortune change quickly. Suddenly, Team Cousteau jumps into action to rescue a faculty member from the brink of death. Meanwhile, the team follows the Cruz's mother's clues to a magnificent tomb and center of spirituality precariously perched on the side of a cliff. There, Cruz is confronted...

"Cruz Coronado grapples with an important secret as the gang heads to China in search of the second-to-last piece of the cipher. Under the watchful eye of a new adviser, life on the ship returns to almost normal ... Almost. Just as things seem to be going smoothly, a familiar face shocks Cruz back into reality, and the final piece in this life-and-death scavenger hunt veers toward a dead end"--

You've read along as Cruz Coronado and his fellow explorers travel the globe. Now let National Geographic Kids help YOU explore and chronicle your own adventures! Go on cool training missions in your backyard, draw your own pair of emotoglasses, plan out your future world travels, learn the tips and tricks that real National Geographic explorers use in the field, and plot where you would hide your cipher pieces in your own mission-saving scavenger...

"Amid assignments that take the Explorer Academy recruits from the iceberg-filled waters of Antarctica to the bone-dry deserts of Argentina, Cruz Coronado is scrambling to complete the last piece of the cipher. With Nebula agents and the elusive explorer spy still out there, his opportunity to recover his mother's world-changing formula is slipping away. But as Cruz has learned from his time aboard Orion, true explorers must never give up. Even after...