Does your child enjoy playing on the beach? Do they believe in magic?  If you answered yes, they will love the adventures in this book, with 10 different possible endings. Let your child have a say in how the story goes with this Choose Your Own Adventure book. As the first page explains, simply "Read until you reach a choice. Turn the page of the choice you like best. If you don't like the end you reach, just start over!" Each set of pages includes large, vibrantly colored ink and watercolor pictures and up to a half page of large printed words. This book makes the reader the star by using the less-common second person narrative, speaking directly to the reader with "you" statements.

No matter which choice you follow, each adventure within the book requires readers to make multiple choices of which path to follow, and which page to turn to and read what happens next. This provides your child with more independence than they usually have when reading a story. It also provides practice in decision-making and teaches that every decision has a consequence. The possible story endings range from learning to accept help from someone else, being shrunk to the size of an ant, dressing up and putting on a play with new friends, to defending your sand castle against a dangerous eel! Choosing their own adventure also provides children with practice following directions; the bottom of each page directs them to either the next page, or a specific page number.  

My five year-old niece Emily received this book for her birthday. It was her introduction to the Choose Your Own Adventure style books. She loved it! The more magic and creativity the story line involved, the most excited Emily got about it. She enjoyed the stories that involved the characters being shrunken, and asked, "Do you think they will meet any smurfs while they're small?"

 

--Audra