Choose Your Own Adventure Books are a unique series of books where the reader chooses what happens next in the story. These books are great for reluctant readers because of how engaging the stories are and how they immerse the reader. Books can be read multiple times and have different endings based on the choices that the reader makes. There are good endings based on the choices that the reader makes. There are good endings and bad endings in the story. Part of the fun is seeing what kind of ending the reader will get.
Inspired by all these choice based books, and our summer theme of Imagine Your Story, I created a fun Choose Your Own Adventure Game for families to read and play through as part of our Virtual Summer Reading Club. The adventure starts when the reader must decide to go through a door or run away. Click on the different choices as you progress in the story to see what happens. When you get to an ending, make sure to click the submit button, so I can see how many people went through the adventure. You can play it as many times are you want. Will you run away or open that door? What kind of ending will you get? Play it and see what happens.
If you enjoyed playing the Choose Your Own Adventure Game, the classic Choose Your Own Adventure Books are available at the Abilene Public Library. However, newer choice based books are also available appealing to a wide range of readers. These books fit in with our theme of Imagine Your Story focusing on fairy tales and fantasy stories. Little Red Riding Hood by Eric Brawn is a book in a series that features fairy tale retellings. The classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood changes into a thrilling on the edge of your seat adventure.
Hocus and Pocus: The Legend of Grimm’s Woods is a graphic novel that contains puzzle solving elements to lead to choices for readers. For example, counting the number of spots on wolves leads to different choices if counted correctly or incorrectly. "Hocus and Pocus" has an exciting plot line which has Hocus or Pocus, brother and sister, solving the mystery of why children are disappearing in the woods. The story pulls from many different fairy tale stories such as jack and the Beanstalk and Hansel and Gretel. The colorful art is appealing and draws the reader in.
For tweens and teens, Matt Forbeck has written The Endless Quest Series which is based on the popular roleplaying game: Dungeons and Dragons. The reader is given a specific character class like cleric or fighter. The reader goes on a fantasy adventure to become a hero or fail and face death.
Choice based books create an exciting experience for the reader. There are many different genres available that can appeal to a wide range of readers. The reader can make different choices and get a different ending a number of times. Be sure to stop in and check out one of these amazing adventure books at the Abilene Public Library.
Article Contributed by Ellene Cudd, Children’s Librarian at Main Library