When I was a kid, I was addicted to those choose-your-own-adventure books. You know the ones: white cover with a fantasy or sci-fi illustration in the middle. As a small confession, I used to bookmark all over the place while reading those, so if I got a bad ending, I could backtrack and not have to start over from the beginning. I guess that carries over to my adulthood and my need to backtrack or repeat the same things over and over in grindy video games.
However, I do have fond memories of reading these stories, so I was pretty excited when Fable Fox Press offered to send over a few samples of their new adventure books aimed at young kids. My twins are just about 6-years old now and thought this would be a great activity to do with them.
My First Adventure Books are aimed at kids 6 years and up but can be enjoyed with any kids if you are willing to read to them (and why wouldn’t you).
Gameplay Overview:
My First Adventure Books put the reader(s) into the shoes of a hero embarking on an adventure. Instead of flipping around throughout the book to make choices, the stories feature branching paths where pages are split with different choices.
For example, while navigating your submarine through the ocean, you’ll need to decide if you want to explore the surface, the midwater, or the depths. After making your choice, you’ll turn the part of the page with the relevant section, revealing more of the content.
What’s interesting, is that there are 4 dials built into the covers of the book. One of these will track which character you are, and the other three will track things you find throughout your adventure.
The general crux though is that you’ll find things early in the story, mark them on your wheels, and use them later in the story to succeed at challenges. If you get a perfect play though, you’ll get the best ending and be the hero of the story. If not, you’ll be tasked with restarting, but with the knowledge of the choices you’ve made to help you in future journeys.
Game Experience:
Much like the choose-your-own-adventure books back in the day, My First Adventure Books are really more of an activity than a game. You’ll read the story, make choices, and see what ending appears. The books are only about 30 pages, so you can zip through them in about 10 minutes or so. That being said, my kids had an absolute blast with these.
This was their first introduction to a choose-your-own-adventure book, and once they got the concept, they were all in. We had three books sent to us, and they made me read all three to them in a row. And then again the next night. They were enthralled with using the wheels to track the progress of their missions and eventually started learning from their mistakes about decisions they needed to make to get better endings. It was fun watching them explain the concept to their mother (she already knew, but they were excited) as they really dived into the narratives.
From a production standpoint, the books are pretty great. The only bad thing is that the wheels are a bit hard to turn. However, Fabled Fox Press says that will be addressed in an upcoming print run. But the story is family-friendly, and the art is really well done and easily captured my kid’s attention.
What’s interesting is that even though my kids can’t read yet (they are getting close), I’ve seen them “reading” the book on their own. I’ve come downstairs and seen one of them sitting on the couch, flipping through the pages of the book. I’m not sure if they just remember the story and are going through it, or just enjoying the artwork. In either case, anything that gets me a bit of P & Q is an all-around win.
One last thing I’d note is that the stories are fairly short, so you probably want to get a few books if you are interested. I could see just reading one over and over getting a tad repetitive, but with three books, you could rotate between them, and give yourself a break from one narrative with of the others. Just something to keep in mind.
Final Thoughts:
Even though it’s not really a game, it’s a wonderful activity to do with your kids (or allow them to do it if they can read). When there were three of us, I let them take turns making choices, so they both could feel immersed in the story.
If you have fond memories of reading choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid like I do, then the My First Adventure Books are worth grabbing to introduce to your young ones. You are never the wrong age to be a hero.
