You choose (series) by George Ivanoff

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Random House Australia Children's, 2015.
Night of the creepy carnival. Bk 5. ISBN 9780857986696
Alien invaders from beyond the stars. Bk 6. ISBN 9780857986719
(Age: 9+) Highly recommended. When I received my first copies of books from this series I road tested them on my grandson who is somewhat of a reluctant reader. In fact, he was staying at my place, picked them up and didn't put them down until he'd finished each. To me that's a pretty fair indication of how they will be received in your library. These latest two have gone to another young man who might enjoy them and I await his response eagerly. I know I'm pretty hopeless - I couldn't get past 3 choices until I was exterminated so I hope he does better!
George has cleverly taken all the great aspects of gaming and transformed them into book form where readers can challenge themselves to achieve the end goal. While primarily aimed at Middle Primary to Upper Primary these can be enjoyed by readers of all ages and certainly, if you have readers who struggle these would be a superb choice as the level of engagement and the appeal of the subject matter are perfect. Readers will persist with their reading quite naturally as they attempt to navigate their way through all the pitfalls of each story.
Clowns are considered very sinister in our family so the Night of the creepy carnival is well named and I didn't like being caught out by them at all! Aliens are marginally less scary but still enough to appeal to those readers who like a good safe fright.
I remember so well how my own girls used to love the 'choose your own adventure' format (especially The famous five series!) and think the timing of bringing this style of fast paced interactive reading back to the attention of a new readership is perfect.
Highly recommended for readers aged around 9 and up. Do you have what it takes?
Sue Warren

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