Item - Your Purrr-fect Birthday

This time travel/fantasy entry in the Dragonlarks series (the successor to Choose Your Own Adventure for Younger Readers) is very run-of-the-mill. As is often the case in R. A. Montgomery's works, the decision points are just a device to glue together a series of completely random and disconnected storylines. There is no strategy at all to the gameplay, and there is practically no depth to the time travel stories, meaning that the book is pretty much worthless both as a game and as an educational tool.

The Dragonlarks series appears to have been a financial success, so it is likely this book appeals to children in some way that I'm just missing. Nonetheless, I can't help but compare this to masterpieces such as The Genie in the Bottle by Jim Razzi, which is aimed at the same age group. Even within a similarly small amount of space, Razzi managed to create a much more involving interactive experience. While I did not enjoy Your Purrr-fect Birthday at all, I feel the need to praise Keith Newton's artwork, which is much better than anything I have seen in the Choose Your Own Adventure Reissues so far.

More reviews by Guillermo

The storylines in this book often seem ultra-short and do not usually give a satisfactory explanation of most of the strange things that happen; for example, why does your cat suddenly begin talking to you one day? Even stranger, why do you not seem to find this occurrence to be very strange, even frightening? Still, I did enjoy this book. I have always loved the Choose Your Own Adventure entries that involve time travel, and this book certainly delivers in that regard. Despite the abrupt ends and sometimes choppy dialogue, I did laugh several times while reading this book, and I liked the adventure. The grandness of the illustrations was also of significant aid to the content of the book.

More reviews by KenJenningsJeopardy74