The Treasure of Dead Man’s Cove

9780857983831

 

Mayhem at Magic School

9780857983848

 

The Haunting of Spook House

9780857983862

 

Maze of Doom

9780857983855

 

Night of the Creepy Carnival

9780857986696

 

Alien Invaders from Beyond the Stars

9780857986719

 

Super Sports Spectacular 

9780857988416

 

Trapped in the Games Grid

9780857988430

George Ivanoff

Random House,2014-2016

pbk, 140pp., RRP $A14.99

 

It seems even our youngest children have been lured by the appeal of computer-based games as they allow each player to have control of what happens to the characters driven by the decisions he/she makes about the decisions the characters make. So when that power is made available in book form, propelled not by graphics and a controller but by words, reading and understanding, everyone is happy – those who like to control the adventure and those who like to see their children reading.  Harking back to a very popular format of about 20 years ago, where books were the most accessible form of self-driven entertainment and where the reader chose their own adventure by making a choice about what action to take and therefore where to move next in the story, this series ‘You Choose’ puts the power back in the reader’s hands, rather than the author’s predetermined storyline. And each time the book is read a different choice can be made and a new story created.

Written by an author who, himself, was a devotee of this sort of format and only became an avid reader after he discovered it – something I found happened frequently when I offered them to my reluctant readers of both genders- this is a series that not only combines interactivity and reading, but also enables the reader to think about cause and effect, to consider the options, to take the time to make a decision, and to take risks in a safe environment -all traits we encourage. 

The settings are those that will appeal to adventurers with just enough of the dark stuff in them to maintain the suspense but not scare them off completely.  

In ‘The Treasure of Dead Man’s Cove’ the reader finds an old map supposedly belonging to One-Eyed William, a fierce pirate who was buried with his treasure.  So the first decision has to be made – to follow the clues in case it’s real or hand it in to a museum curator. In ‘Mayhem at Magic School’ the reader suddenly discovers magic powers which cause strange things to happen so a decision has to be made about whether to visit a therapist and seek help or keep them secret and use them?  Is the outcome a place in Magic School, a spy for the government or something else?

 Maze of Doom is set in a “lame-looking” sideshow at the fun fair.  However, its exterior belies what it contains inside and if the reader doesn’t discover its secrets, they may be trapped inside forever. The Haunting of Spook House is all that is expected.  The reader is dared to go inside to investigate if a man was indeed mummified there and now haunts the place. 

Night of the Creepy Carnival is set in the new funfair in town but there is something very strange about the creepy clowns and something scary about the freak show tent with its disturbing display cases.  Alien Invaders from Beyond the Stars takes on a science fiction slant when a flying saucer lands and lizard aliens disguised as humans emerge intent on invading the planet.. 

Super Sports Spectacular has the reader involved in a scary game of basketball while Trapped in the Games Grid has the reader is all set for an afternoon of arcade games but not all the games are not what they seem with secret programs, alien tests and other worlds inside a new virtual reality. 

Extreme Machine Challenge and In the Realm of the Dragons are due for release in June 2016.

The appeal and importance of gaming within the formal education setting is becoming the focus of a lot of research and literature and this series provides a great foundation to actively engage and explore options.  Map the story, its choices and consequences on a flow chart; have students add a few twists of their own and discuss how these can have an exponential effect on the outcomes; perhaps even venture down the Technologies strand of the Australian Curriculum and let your budding programmers start to design the coding.  Then set a new scenario and start to explore the pathways and fun of “what if…”, encouraging the students to let their imaginations go, push the boundaries, think beyond the usual as they draw on all they’ve seen and experienced.  As well as offering an engaging read, skilled teachers could use these books as models for an absorbing, integrated project that would draw in their writers, their illustrators, their mathematicians, their computer experts, and their gamers to create something new that accentuates the need for a team, encourages negotiation and compromise as well as the skills of seeing things from another perspective and looking for alternatives, and perhaps, even, the concept of empathy.

So glad this format is back on the reading agenda of the younger readers in my life.