1. The Dandee Diamond Mystery
Authors: Jane O'Connor and Joyce Milton
Illustrator: Daryl Cagle
First Published: 1982
ISBN: 0-590-32742-9
Length: 56 pages
Number of Endings: 10
Plot Summary: You and some relatives compete to meet the challenge
left in a rich uncle's will: to find the Dandee Diamond.
My Thoughts: Although the setup here is very familiar and the
storyline lacks the consistency that I prefer in interactive works, this is
a fairly good adventure for younger readers. Some of the choices are fairly
interesting, the illustrations are appealing, and the layout is quite nice;
the inclusion of a copy of the will, complete with sloppy handwriting, in
the text was a cute touch, and other notes (and even a maze) add further
visual excitement to the proceedings. Perhaps this is only a triumph of
style over substance, but at least it's a triumph of something.
2. The Roller Coaster Ghost
Author: Fran Manushkin
Illustrator: Dave Ross
First Published: 1983
ISBN: 0-590-32814-X
Length: 60 pages
Number of Endings: 9
Plot Summary: Your father has been hired to run a fancy new roller
coaster, which would be great if not for the fact that it's haunted.
My Thoughts: Although this book deserves some credit for portraying
a consistent mystery for the reader to solve (unlike the previous volume), it
is inferior to its predecessor in most other respects. The artwork isn't as
attractive, the layout isn't as interesting, and the writing is more
condescending. It's a relatively satisfying read, but nothing too memorable.
3. The Great Baseball Championship
Author: Richard Wenk
Illustrator: David Gothard
First Published: 1983
ISBN: 0-590-32813-1
Length: 59 pages
Number of Endings: 11
Plot Summary: There's a major little league game today, and if all
goes well you'll be accepted into the Babe Ruth League!
My Thoughts: This is quite a change of pace from the previous book.
While that adventure was fairly tightly plotted, this one is all over the
place. The choices and consequences are almost all entirely random, and the
book explores some pretty weird territory ranging from time travel to kidnap
attempts. Some of these adventures might be entertaining to the book's
target audience, but they're not too thrilling and don't really come together
to form a satisfying whole. On an unrelated note, the book deserves an award
for corporate name-dropping; Wheaties, Burger King and several other famous
brands all get mentions during the course of the adventure.
4. The Amazing Bubblegum Caper
Authors: Jane O'Connor and Joyce Milton
Illustrator: Jerry Zimmerman
First Published: 1983
ISBN: 0-590-32893-X
Length: 60 pages
Number of Endings: 10 (including one "ending" which leads
back to page 2)
Plot Summary: It promises to be a boring summer until scientists
report mysterious pink orbs looming over the Earth....
Translation: Spanish
My Thoughts: This book is by the same team of authors that created
the first book, and it shares many of its characteristics: low internal
consistency compensated for by good layout and interesting choices and
puzzles. There's a maze, a rebus, a "find the errors" page, and
even a rather tricky logic test (see page 49). What makes this an
improvement over the first book is the plot, which is very strange and often
rather amusing, featuring eccentric alien creatures and bizarre
megalomaniacs. This is my favorite entry in the series so far thanks to its
mix of originality of plot and quality of game design.
5. The Super Trail Bike Race
Author: Richard Wenk
Illustrator: David Gothard
First Published: 1983
ISBN: 0-590-32927-8
Length: 58 pages
Number of Endings: 12
Plot Summary: If you can win Horace B. Hokum's bike race, you'll get
a shopping spree and your town will get a recreation center!
My Thoughts: This is quite different from the author's previous entry
in this series. The plot is much tighter, the choices are more meaningful
and interesting, and it's an all-around better book. Interestingly enough,
the book has much lengthier sections of text between choices than most other
entries in the series, yet it still manages to have a high number of endings.
6. Mystery at Mockingbird Manor
Authors: Laurie Pascal and Jamie Pascal
Illustrator: David Prebenna
First Published: 1983
ISBN: 0-590-32812-3
Length: 57 pages
Number of Endings: 8
Plot Summary: You've been given the opportunity to work at your
grandfather's hotel in the Rocky Mountains, an exciting place visited by the
rich and famous.
Translation: Spanish
My Thoughts: Although many of the threads through this book contain
some more potentially exciting subject matter than some other books in the
series, I found it rather unthrilling. The plot doesn't make a whole lot of
sense, being both inconsistent and often hastily resolved, and the choices
have little bearing on what happens much of the time. There's a slightly
interesting maze included, but this adds little excitement. Also a bit odd
is the fact that the reader's character keeps swooning over a handsome prince
at every possible opportunity. This seems kind of out of keeping with the
target age group of the book and certainly must have annoyed the legions of
unsuspecting seven-year-old boys who ended up playing this adventure.
7. The Fantastic Journey of the Space Shuttle Astra
Author: Barbara B. Hiller (credited as B. B. Hiller)
Illustrator: Jerry Zimmerman
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-590-32972-3
Length: 56 pages
Number of Endings: 10
Plot Summary: The year is 2020, and you are on the Space Shuttle
Astra, on your way to rescue your mother from the incessant babbling of her
dull sister.
Translation: Spanish
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this one; it has a quirky sense of
humor, a lot of choices, and plenty of mazes and word games and other
puzzles. This is certainly not the greatest gamebook ever created, but it is
one of the more entertaining younger-reader-oriented adventures I've come
across and certainly a highlight for this series.
8. The Magic Top Mystery
Authors: Jane O'Connor and Jim O'Connor
Illustrator: Kevin Callahan
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-590-33142-6
Length: 60 pages
Number of Endings: 9
Plot Summary: Someone is stealing all of the lawn flamingos in
Flamingoville. With the help of a magic top, you set out to find the
culprit.
My Thoughts: Like the last adventure, this book has a good sense of
humor and a variety of puzzles to solve. What sets it apart from the rest of
the series, though, is its use of randomization. The magic top that figures
into the plot is actually included as a piece of the back cover to be cut
out (see scan at right). Spinning this at various points in the book
determines what happens to you. While it's completely random, I found it to
be a fun gimmick here, making this an enjoyable read.
9. Jungle Adventure
Author: Nora Logan
Illustrator: David Gothard
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-590-33050-0
Length: 56 pages
Number of Endings: 11
Plot Summary: While visiting your uncle's wilderness park, you get an
unexpected ride on a runaway elephant!
My Thoughts: This is a distinctly generic book. Although everything
about it is perfectly competent, it lacks flavor. The text is readable but
unexceptional, and the choices are reasonable but not especially interesting.
Just about the only notable thing about the book is that it includes an ending
involving quicksand that is more unambiguously fatal than usual for the
series (though at a different point it resorts to the old "it was only
a dream" cop-out instead of killing the reader's character). Death and
destruction aside, you can safely skip this one without missing anything.
10. The Mystery of the Missing Mummy
Author: Kate McMullan
Illustrator: David Prebenna
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-590-33143-4
Length: 58 pages
Number of Endings: 13
Plot Summary: You're on a field trip to the museum, and you can't
wait to see the mummy!
My Thoughts: If I had a dollar for every gamebook involving mummies
and museums, I'd have enough money to buy some more gamebooks involving
mummies and museums. This is a very familiar theme, and it's not treated
very well here. There are some awful puns, some even worse jokes and very
little else. This is at best average for the series, and probably a bit
worse than that. At least it's short!
11. Dinosaur Adventure
Author: Nora Logan
Illustrator: Bert Dodson
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-590-33049-7
Length: 58 pages
Number of Endings: 11
Plot Summary: Your uncle has devised a time travel mechanism, and its
first test leads to predictable results.
My Thoughts: Like the last book, this is nothing new. Every event
and theme in it has been done elsewhere, probably several times over. In
many ways, it also resembles the author's previous story, Jungle
Adventure. The writing and choices are decent but unexceptional, and
there's both a fatal ending and an "it was only a dream" ending.
At least a few of the prehistoric creatures encountered during the course of
the story are a bit more exotic than the most familiar ones. I wasn't too
impressed, but it could have been worse, and I enjoyed the subject matter
despite having seen it many times before.
12. The Ballerina Mystery
Authors: Jamie Pascal and Laurie Pascal
Illustrator: Jean Jenkins
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-590-33048-9
Length: 58 pages
Number of Endings: 11
Plot Summary: You are a ballerina competing against both your best
friend and your worst enemy for the role of Fairy Princess in a National
Ballet Company production.
My Thoughts: Well, after a lot of ultra-familiar stories, this is
something a little bit different (though not too different, because much of
the story revolves around dealing with obnoxious siblings and other rivals,
a familiar gamebook theme). Although I didn't find the story tremendously
interesting, there are quite a lot of different things that can happen in
the book, and while I felt a little suspicious of the book's "just for
girls" orientation, I don't think it wasn't nearly as condescending or
offensive as it might have been. Not being a member of the target audience,
though, it's hard for me to judge such things objectively. At least there's
not nearly so much swooning as in the authors' previous effort!
13. The Secret of 13
Author: Barbara B. Hiller (credited as B. B. Hiller)
Illustrator: Bert Dodson
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-590-33294-5
Length: 57 pages (numbered 1 through 58 without a page 13)
Number of Endings: 12
Plot Summary: Your elevator stops at the 13th floor of a building,
and things just kind of get weirder from there.
My Thoughts: This isn't normally the sort of book I like very much;
it has no real plot, just random events, and there's absolutely no attempt at
continuity whatsoever. For some reason, though, I really liked it. The
writing is above average, the randomness is entertaining, the whole play on
the fact that this is the thirteenth book in the series is kind of clever,
and there's just an overall feeling that this is something a little bit
unique. This is certainly the only gamebook I can think of that includes a
list of ingredients, and when you choose to try the recipe yourself, it
actually gives you the necessary instructions to cook the meal! The missing
page 13 is also a nice touch. Good stuff! This series has made me a bit of
a B. B. Hiller fan.
14. RIM, The Rebel Robot
Author: Nora Logan
Illustrator: John O'Brien
First Published: 1984
ISBN: 0-590-33289-9
Length: 57 pages
Number of Endings: 11
Plot Summary: You've won a robot thanks to your great performance at
the science fair, and you just couldn't resist the urge to give it some
custom programming....
My Thoughts: We've gone from the original back to the familiar here.
This book is based on essentially the same concept as the fourth Skylark Choose Your Own Adventure and doesn't really
handle the plot any more interestingly. It's certainly a passable read, but
it's nothing special. The most notable thing is that it's the first book in
the series to display any sort of inter-book continuity -- it features the
same Uncle Max character as the author's previous tale, Dinosaur
Adventure.
15. The Hot Dog Gang Caper
Authors: Barbara B. Hiller (credited as B. B. Hiller) and Neil W. Hiller
Illustrator: A. Delaney
First Published: 1985
ISBN: 0-590-33419-0
Length: 58 pages
Number of Endings: 11
Plot Summary: You've got a ransom note in your hand, a sack of money
on your kitchen table, and a lot of decisions to make....
My Thoughts: This is another interesting book from B. B. Hiller (this
time with a bit of help from a coauthor). The most unusual thing about the
story is that it starts in media res, with the events that occurred before
the introductory section being explained as you go along. This is the only
interactive book I can think of at the moment where your choices affect not
only what happens next but also what happened before. Also unusual (though
not unprecedented) is the fact that many choices deal not with what you will
do but with what you think will happen. Normally I find this sort of thing
annoying, but it works here, especially since the writing is of good quality
and some of the options are delightfully odd. This is definitely one of the
most interesting younger reader-oriented gamebooks.
16. Adventure at Camp Schoonover
Author: Richard Wenk
Illustrator: Dyanne DiSalvo
First Published: 1985
ISBN: 0-590-33137-X
Length: 60 pages
Number of Endings: 11
Plot Summary: It's your first summer at sleepaway camp and there are
all kinds of fun things to do!
My Thoughts: I found this book decidedly less than thrilling. It
doesn't do anything that other camp-themed gamebooks haven't done better, and
it has far too many cringe-inducing moments and factual errors (don't let a
Native American see this book!). I'll give it credit for one thing: Ms.
Starchmaster is a great name for a disciplinarian. Other than that, there's
little merit here.
17. Murf the Monster
Author: Nora Logan
Illustrator: Mort Gerberg
First Published: 1985
ISBN: 0-590-33290-2
Length: 58 pages
Number of Endings: 10
Plot Summary: Alien pods are causing weird mutations in a local
creek....
My Thoughts: This is a typical Nora Logan book: some death, an
appearance by Uncle Max, and an acceptable but unexceptional treatment of a
familiar storyline. This isn't a bad book, but it's a rather undistinguished
end to a series that was sometimes rather more interesting than I expected it
to be.
