City of Robots, by George Ivanoff

[via]

Perfect for: 
Ages: 9-11
Occasion: Birthdays, encouraging reluctant readers
 
Over the Christmas break, I caught up with my nieces on all the latest news, favourite books, the Dr Who Christmas special and - very excitingly for me - shared their very first viewing of Star Wars: A New Hope (it still holds up). As I went to grab some popcorn from the kitchen, a familiar cover caught my eye.

Choose Your Own Adventures.

[who else had this on their shelves?]

Ahh. There were those stories from my childhood. The perfect anecdote to a boring afternoon.

Let's face it - these stories were hardly earth-shattering - I can barely remember the plot of any of them - but there was something so fun about taking a gamble on every page, never knowing if your fate would be to save the galaxy or to be squashed under the rancid toes of an over-zealous giant.

And, as a very sensible budgeting adult that definitely never blows half the grocery money on books (ha), there's a certain financial savvy to a book with multiple storylines, that you can read and enjoy more than once.

I was preparing myself to raid second hand bookstores and our old shelves in a sentimental frenzy but, as it turns out, Choose Your Own Adventure is Back! 

Hanging out in our favourite bookstore over the long weekend - I found City of Robots, by Melbourne writer George Ivanoff. This is the 12th in a series of "You Choose" books and the perfect find for my nine year old niece's upcoming birthday.

By the looks of things the formula hasn't changed much, apart from the introduction of slightly better illustrations and a cooler storyline (cyborgs for the win), but why fix what isn't broken?

This one would be great for kids between eight and eleven, including more reluctant readers that prefer a quick read (or reads!).

Happy adventuring!

Book and the Bea x