Riveted Press
Dist: Simon & Schuster
September 2024
ISBN13: 9780645869392
LIST PRICE: AU$ 17.99 / NZ$ 19.99
I don’t recall ‘choose your own adventure’ books when I was reading as a child but I certainly remember those my girls enjoyed in the 80s. My Kim’s especial favourites were the Enid Blyton adventure game series. She had a lot of fun with those [and it was before she was a dedicated reader, which proves their allure IMO].
And naturally, when I took over my first library in the 90s, that ubiquitous ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ endless series was still strongly in place, and on high rotation. There were others, but they seemed to pale in appeal. Then there appeared to a lull in popularity of all this genre. Until, that is, George Ivanoff’s ‘You Choose‘ series came along, and it fired up all over again. I’ve had the huge pleasure of seeing George explain his methodology in constructing one of these fantastically engaging stories, and my brain almost exploded! This series just flew off the shelves.
All of that means, that this new series from Rachel Jackson is bound for success with a whole new wave of young adventurers, willing to take the risk of choosing their best option. And who better to write a squillion mystery options, than a senior intellligence analyst?!
It’s chockful of pirates, both nasty and nicer (just not quite as nasty) with plenty of scope for the reader to become the Pirate Captain, should they make the right choice. I won’t pretend I tried out all 64 options but I did try about 20. Sadly, I never made it to Captain, but neither did I meet with a violent end every time, so I deem that a positive.
The series is called ‘Solve it Your Way‘ and while it is pitched primarily at 8 – 12 years, it would work very well for your struggling readers who are a tad older, given that some of the story threads might only be two pages long. This is particularly useful for those kiddos hooked on gaming, as this mode offers much of the same quick-fire narrative and responses with fast resolutioins. There are plentiful illustrations by the author (doubly talented!) to break up the text and enliven the reading.
All in all, I predict this will be a huge hit with your upper primary readers especially. It gets a piratical 5 🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️ rating from me – argggggghhhh!
Psssst! Stay posted for an upcoming Q&A.
Just So Stories 
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