5 Minutes For Books

Choose Your Own Adventure series

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Does anyone else remember the Choose Your Own Adventure Stories? I was SO DELIGHTED to see them in a local bookstore as I have fond memories of reading these books voraciously when I was younger. I remember that I would always try to pick the option that would lead to the longest story. I remember sharing the books with my best friend. We would pour over these books for hours, trying to see how many story conclusions could be drawn per book.

If you have somehow lived your life hidden under a rock and are not familiar with the Choose Your Own Adventure stories well, just sit down! Let’s catch you up. Choose Your Own Adventure stories are stories where you get to do exactly that. You are put “into” the story. You, the main character, get to decide which option you’ll take in causing the story to unfold. You and you alone get to hunt for the abominable snowman. You and you alone (say this with a deep and mysterious voice:) will search for the lost jewels of Nabooti. Oh yes, my friends. The adventures are dangerous, sometimes deadly, frequently mysterious and very. very. curious.

There is a new Choose Your Own Adventure series (that I had never seen before) specifically tailored for kids between the ages of 9-12. The books are about 50 pages long and very between having 9-12 possible endings. For example, in the book Your Very Own Robot you are given a (surprise!) robot. You must choose what you are going to do with him from whether or not you are going to paint him or not (with varying results) to whether or not you will choose to attack a band of pirates with him (with varying degrees of success depending on which option you choose). You can choose whether or not your robot will have friends and how those friends will be. The illustrations in this look very much like a cartoon you’d see on tv. The characters are therefore easy to identify with because they have a familiar look about them. It is simply a matter of what you will choose to have those characters do.

Then, of course, there are the traditional classic stories which are being reprinted. You can get the first four in the series in a boxed set for convenience sake and it contains the following titles: The Abominable Snowman, Journey Under the Sea, Space and Beyond, and The Lost Jewels of the Nabooti. They also have a relatively new series under the Choose Your Own Adventure umbrella. The first book in the series is called The Golden Path: Into the Hollow Earth which is a series that is a little more up-to-date with this modern world. However, all the stories are so fantastical that I don’t think the “classic” series is really out-of-date in any way. They are creative, imaginative and I’ve never seen anything else quite like them.

What about you? Do you have fond memories of this series? Well, then, you’ll be glad to note that you can share them with your kids also. Remember: YOU and YOU ALONE decide the adventure so BEWARE!

Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know.

Speaking of sharing them with your kids (or grandkids!), the Choose Your Own Adventure Company has graciously agreed to give away a copy of the first four titles in the classic series to one of our readers, signed by author R.A. Montgomery.

In order to win, leave a comment below. U.S. Residents only, please. Good luck and may your adventures be safe!

Click on the banner above to enter our other Summer Fun Giveaways. All winners will be announced on June 11.

Comments

  2. It is always so much fun for the children to choose their own adventure. R.A. Montgomery is a fabulous author, too. Thanks for the opportunity to win theses delightful books, and what a treat to have them signed by the author as well.

    JDSG

    visionquest2020 (at) msn (dot) com

  3. Oh my goodness, seeing that image of the original cover gave me a shiver of nostalgia for long summer days in the tree house, devouring CYOA books (and chips). Wow. My favorites, that I read over an over were “Help! You’re Shrinking” and “The Mummy’s Tomb”

  4. I loved the Mayan mystery; I must have read it a million times. That’s how I learned the term “attache case.”

    heathernkemp(at)hotmail(dot)com

  7. I know my neighbors kids would love these! Please add me to the contest.

    desertrose5173 at gmail dot com

  11. My 2 older sons, Bobby and Jacob, will go absolutely bonkers if we win these wonderful books. My son, Jacob, who is 10, needs to develop a love of reading – these books would satisfy his need for adventure!! Blessings!!

  12. I loved these books as a kid, especially the “Time Machine” spin off where you went on a mission back in time.

    I have happy memories of sitting with my fingers stuck in the book at various spots because, obsessive person that I am, I had to make sure I read every possible ending. So I’d start by doing what I’d do. Then when I hit an end, I’d back track to the last branch and see where the other path led. It got complicated, but I didn’t mind in the least.

  17. My oldest loves the Choose Your Adventure series and he would be thrilled to get the newest adventures for himself.

  20. My son would LOVE these! He has a couple of my old ones and a few other books written in the same page-flipping style. Thanks for the contest!

  21. I’d love these for my son! We’ve been reading my old Star Wars Choose Your Own Adventures together and I’ve been searching for more to add to our collection.

  24. Thanks for the walk down memory lane, Carrie!

    Sign me up–I think my nephews might enjoy these!

  29. Oh wow! I remember these books! I LOVED them! I would read them over and over to come up with different endings. I think my son would love them just as much as I did.

  30. I was just thinking about these books the other day. I loved them when I was about my kids age. I am sure they would enjoy them as well.

  31. I love these books! Hubby and I were talking about them last week. We both read almost the entire series when we were kids.

  34. Can I tell you how happy I am to see these books make a come back? My son has the entire collection of the first series (he scrunged garage sale boxes to find them all!) Now my daughter who is 7 years younger than him will have a chance to get her own!

  37. I have 3 readers like myself in the family that would enjoy these books.

  40. I loved Choose Your Own Adventure when I was growing up. I actually kept most of the books that I read as a kid. I always loved You Are A Shark.

  41. the choose your own adventure series was one of my favorite series as a kid!

  42. I remember these when I was a kid and my boys have just recently discovered them. Thanks for sharing~

  44. my friends and I all loved the choose your adventure books when we were little. We would trade our books all the time and do the adventures as a team!

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