The idea is this:
- Produce a rip-roaring adventure in some far-flung place (e.g. Everest, Mars, or The Amazon)
- Pepper the pages with some really good graphics and drawings
- Give a reader TWENTY-FOUR (yes, 24!!) possible endings, with just ONE path to survival
- Make your protagonists a 14-year-old boy from Montana, and a 14-year-old girl from Thailand--i.e. a great multicultural feel that will appeal to both boys and girls
- And Bob's your Italian Uncle--the reluctant readers will snap it up and beg for more... at least that the hope.
(Snuck up and captured this rare shot of Readerensis Reluctibus. Note the ripped jeans. Would much rather be tree-climbing than reading. However, AMAZON caused him to take a moment from his busy day to book-snuggle.)
Here's what he had to say about it:
"I really liked how it had you choose how to survive. And my favorite part was the part about the bees. There were some really great drawings. I could really relate with the characters.
Being in the Amazon was dangerous, which I liked. It's one of the best books I've read. And I'd really like to read the books about Everest and Mars."
THUMBS UP, FOLKS!! You can get a flavor of the books from this excerpt from Scribd and view the concept in this video (from MARS, another of the books in the series.)
I've got a copy of AMAZON to send your way, whether you have a reluctant reader or not. Just leave a comment, extra Brownie points for Tweeting.
(May is Middle Grade Mafioso's first anniversary. I'm twirling my fedora trying to come up with a fitting commemoration, so stay tuned. There's bound to be eggplants, accordions, and plenty of prosciutto. Have a great week. Ciao!!)
This is always on my Happy Haul-idays list, but I have not gotten to see a copy. Choose Your Own Adventure books make me slightly crazy, since I want to work out ALL the possibilities, but my students certainly enjoy them. And will there be cake for your anniversary? You've accomplished a lot in a year!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to try this on my daughter. I think she'd love it!
ReplyDeleteI bet my 10 y.o. would love these! What a perfect spotlight for MMGM. And because I like brownies so much, I tweeted and +1'd. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great idea for relunctant readers or grade schoolers in general. My daughter probably would have liked them at that age.
ReplyDeleteI have an 11 year old male reluctant reader. Maybe mine will snuggle up with this one. I can only hope :)
ReplyDeleteI also tweeted this giveaway.
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/#!/Books4Learning
Sounds like another great one! Thanks for the chance to win it.
ReplyDeleteReaderensis Reluctibus! Love it!
ReplyDeleteAh, 24 possible endings, eh? Gosh, working out all the possibilities as Ms. Yingling wants to do could potentially take you until the end of the universe as we know it.
Readerensis Reluctibus - lol. (does he know you used the words book-snuggle to describe the photo?)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a whole lot of fun, a definite maturing of the Choose Your Own Adventure books from my childhood.