They're Baaaack!

choose your own adventure.JPG
Originally uploaded by Laura Laura Laura.

Remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books from the 80s? They were really cool books that were interactive and gave the reader the power to choose the outcome of the story. Just as they always say how everything comes back, these books are hitting bookshelves once again after about ten years.

The great thing about these books is the interactivity factor - the fact that you can have about 40 possible outcomes is amazing. A youngster reading it has a sense of empowerment by deciding what to do at the crossroads of the story and can start all over again, embarking on a whole new adventure. The timing couldn't be more perfect either in this age of hyper personalization.

Another cool thing is, the books were born from role playing games which were extremely popular in the late 70s when the books were conceived by a husband/wife team who really wanted to create a fun and educational book for children. Now, the stories are going further into interactive territory with a DVD series that gives children the power to decide. Looks like these books and it's influence will be around for a while.