The Clue Finders 5th Grade Adventures: The Secret of The Living Volcano - Premise

Premise

The ClueFinders are on a mission with Captain Clark, Leslie's sailor grandfather, to find out why so many ships have been disappearing in a certain area of the Pacific Ocean, à la the Bermuda Triangle. In one of the wrecked ships, Joni and Santiago discover a pair of metal plaques with strange symbols written on them. However, just when their own ship comes into view of a tiny uncharted island, a tsunami promptly forms and hits their ship.

Later, Joni and Santiago gain consciousness and find themselves stranded all alone, except for LapTrap, on the beach of the island with the wreck of Captain Clark's ship nearby. They make contact with Owen and Leslie via Santiago's red videophone, but the whereabouts of Captain Clark and the ship's crew remain unknown. Owen and Leslie, however, are trapped in an underground chamber that has walls coated with plaques similar to the ones that Joni and Santiago found earlier.

Making contact with the islanders, many of whom are descended from castaways stranded on the island hundreds of years ago, and English-speaking sea worms underwater, Joni and Santiago learn that the mysterious plaques are called CrypTiles. Both the islanders and the sea worms tell them that the island is "alive" and the islanders claim that the island has been purposefully impeding their attempts at escape for centuries. Santiago in particular is highly skeptical of the idea of a "living island," finding it unscientific.