Perfect for the active (inter-active, over-active, any kind of active!) children, the Choose Your Own Adventure books allow your child to pick what happens in the story, resulting in eight different possible endings. 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 pictures that are a mix of ink and watercolor 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. For example, Your Grandparents Are Zombies! Begins, "You wake up on a Saturday morning. Instead of watching cartoons or playing outside, you decide to make a potion. A zombie potion!"

The decision points are cliff hangers, leaving readers eager to decide which story line to follow and find out what happens next. No matter which choices you follow, each adventure within the book requires readers to make at least two choices of which path to follow. This provides your child with more independence than they usually have when reading a story, or having it read to them. It also provides practice in decision-making and teaches that every decision has a consequence. The main character (you!) in this book convinces her zombie grandparents to either take her to a scary movie or the fair. Both adventures are filled with shenanigans that will make your child laugh and excited to see what happens next. 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.  

After reading a few different outcomes in this book with my five year-old niece Emily, I asked her if she would ever feed her grandparents - or her aunt - zombie juice to get us to do whatever she wanted. She smiled, giggled, and asked innocently, "Would you drink it if I did?" I smiled back and said, "No way! The only way you can get me to take you to the fair is to be a nice little girl and ask politely." She rolled her eyes and said, "Oh auntie, I KNEW you would say that!"

 

--Audra