Canadian Sabotage

Canadian Sabotage’s first adventure begins with:

You are hit on the head and come to bobbing in the cold Atlantic waters, and you are all alone. Your parents are missing. You remember your mother tucking the treasure map safely inside your shirt, and it’s still there. You can see a lighthouse on the shore and know you can reach it by swimming. You also hear a speedboat heading toward you…what should you do?!

Now, you, the reader, must choose what you are going to do to continue the story. There are 11 different plots and endings to Canadian Sabotage, ranging from finding the treasure to getting eaten by a giant octopus, to being dragged underwater by a skeletal hand. Some endings are simple and plausible, such as finding the treasure and/or finding your parents. Other endings are fantastical, such as encountering a glowing rock deep in the ocean, a rock which mesmerizes you and holds you captive. The plot is action-driven and exciting. Readers will be sure to turn the pages to see what’s coming next. Best of all, readers may choose to go back and select the other options to see what else could happen in the story.

Canadian Sabotage is another book in the Scholastic’s “Countdown to Danger” series which invites readers to “Choose Your Own Ending!”. The story’s being told from the second person point of view helps readers feel as if they are actually in the middle of the action. Readers feel as if they are the protagonist, weighing the options and choosing their own fate. Luckily, there are many choices, and readers are encouraged to try again should they meet their demise during the adventure. The stories are plot-driven, with many action-oriented scenes to keep young readers’ interest. The vocabulary is also accessible for all readers, with Szpirglas crafting the story using short sentences and simple language.

This series of books puts me in mind of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series that was popular in the 1980s and 1990s when my children were growing up. Then an elementary school teacher-librarian, I saw how in demand this series was. The “Choose Your Own Adventure” books were well-read then, and I know Scholastic’s “Countdown to Danger” series is popular now. Books of this type are a great way to help kids feel part of the story and to get them reading!