Choose Your Own Adventure

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The Cave of Time, the first Choose Your Own Adventure book.

Choose Your Own Adventure is a series of children's books first published by Bantam Books from 1979 to 1998 and currently published by Chooseco. Each story is written from a second person point-of-view, with the reader assuming the role of the main character. The books have sold 250 million copies, making it one of the most successful book series of all time.

Contents

Format

After an introduction to the story, the reader was given choices of how the story should progress. For instance:

If you decide to start back home, turn to page 4.

If you decide to wait, turn to page 5.

Depending on the reader's choice, the plot will unfold in different ways and eventually lead to many different possible endings.

Often, a Choose Your Own Adventure book has multiple endings -- possibly 15 or more -- which include:

At least one -- but often a few -- endings depicting the most desired resolution (e.g., the villain's plans are foiled and he/she subsequently either arrested or killed) and the main character, friend, or other "good guy" character is rewarded handsomely.
Endings that result in death, either of the main character, one or more "friends," or both, because of an incorrect choice the reader made. Usually, this plot twist involves the villain learning of the good guys' investigation, subsequent confrontation and deadly resolution.
Other endings that may either be satisfactory (but not the most desired ending) or unsatisfactory (but not always totally bad).

History

Choose Your Own Adventure The Abominable Snowman DVD (July 25, 2006)

In 1969, in the course of making up bedtime stories for his children, Edward Packard wrote The Adventures of You on Sugarcane Island, the book that became the prototype for the classic Choose Your Own Adventure series.

In 1969, and 1970, the William Morris Agency, submitted the book on Packard's behalf to several major publishers, all of whom rejected it. In 1976 Packard was able to get the book published by Vermont Crossroads Press. In its review of the book, Publisher's Weekly called it "an original idea, well carried out."

In 1977 and 1978, Lippincott published Packard's next two books in the same format, Deadwood City and The Third Planet from Altair. Their covers alerted readers to their unusual nature with the rubrics "Choose Your Own Adventure in the Wild West" and "Choose Your Own Adventure in Outer Space."

In 1979 Bantam Books initiated the Choose Your Own Adventure series with Packard's fourth book, The Cave of Time, which was followed by 181 more books in the basic series and 52 books in a series for younger readers. Packard and R. A. Montgomery, who was a co-owner of Vermont Crossroads Press, each wrote over 60 books in the combined series.

The Choose Your Own Adventure series was not the first "interactive" book series, but it was the most successful, inspiring other children's books using the same format. One example of this inspiration was the Zork books series, published by Tor Books in 1983 and 1984. Bantam also published spin-off series, including a line of simpler stories for younger children, and a similar series, Time Machine, from 1984 to 1989.

A great number of the books were written by R. A. Montgomery and Edward Packard throughout the 19-year history of the series with Bantam Books.

In the 2000s, R. A. Montgomery, through his company [Chooseco], republished many of the Choose Your Own Adventure titles.

Chooseco is republishing many of the books in the series as well as adding new titles. [Sundance Publications] is releasing eighteen titles in 2005 and another eighteen titles in 2006 along with teacher guides and student workbooks.

The first Choose Your Own Adventure DVD, [The Abominable Snowman], with a July 25, 2006 launch, lets kids choose what happens in the story. It uses interactive technology not available when the books were originally published.