5 books for children who love video games
Christopher Edge is the author of Escape Room, a thrilling, fantastical children's adventure. If you're looking for books that will engage young video game players (whether to introduce them to even more adventures or to inspire reluctant readers), Christopher has recommended his top books for children to choose with their National Book Tokens.
"Nowadays books are in competition with so many different forms of entertainment, from video games to virtual reality headsets. But great fiction can be as immersive as any RPG, so for those gamers who might think they'd prefer to plonk on their headset and fire up the Xbox rather than escaping into a good book, I've picked out a fistful of five page-turning stories that will deliver the same twists, turns and thrills, puzzles and challenges, unforgettable worldbuilding and even interactivity that you'd expect to find in a hall-of-fame video game." Christopher Edge
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone
Is it a game? Is it a book? No, it's a Fighting Fantasy gamebook! Kicking off with an all-time classic, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain introduced generations of readers to a world of page-turning adventure. Armed with only a pencil and a pair of dice, readers were transformed into brave adventurers in this treasure-hunting quest through the dungeons of Firetop Mountain. Battling monsters, avoiding traps and never forgetting to leave a bookmark in place in case you made a mistake, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain provides any reader who successfully reaches the end of the story with a real sense of accomplishment.
Wonderscape by Jennifer Bell
What could be more exciting than a virtual reality game? How about a future-set 'in-reality' adventure game called 'Wonderscape'? In this time-hopping tale, Arthur, Ren and Cecily find themselves trapped inside this titular game and have to solve its puzzles and challenges to find the time key that will take them home. Wonderscape brilliantly mimics the structure of a video game, immersing the reader in a fast-paced adventure which is more of a 'racethrough' than a walkthrough as the characters explore different realms, desperately seeking to solve their quest as time ticks down before the game resets…
SkyWake Invasion by Jamie Russell
Losing yourself in a video game is the ultimate escapist thrill, but what if it's not really a game? When teenage gamer Casey Henderson competes at a tournament to become champion of the smash-hit SkyWake game, she discovers it's actually a training tool created by a race of evil extra-terrestrials and finds herself abducted to fight in a distant alien war. With action that harks back to classic eighties movies like The Last Starfighter, SkyWake Invasion is the first in a thrilling trilogy that will appeal to fans of first-person shooters and galaxy-spanning games like No Man's Sky.
Peanut Jones and the Illustrated City by Rob Biddulph
From Mario's many adventures to the mind-bending majesty of Katamari Damacy, some of the most memorable video games provide the player with unique ways to interact with their environment, creating unforgettable gameplay. And in the wildly-imaginative Peanut Jones and the Illustrated City, Rob Biddulph does the same; Peanut Jones discovers a unique pencil which brings anything she draws into life and leads her on an adventure into the excitement-filled Illustrated City. A paean to the power of creativity, this first instalment in the must-read Peanut Jones series is a match for any video game.
Solve Your Own Mystery: The Monster Maker written by Gareth P. Jones and illustrated by Louise Forshaw
But can a book ever be as interactive as a video game? Well, in the innovative Solve Your Own Mystery series, writer Gareth P. Jones and illustrator Louise Forshaw prove the answer is a glorious YES! Set in the supernaturally infested town of Haventry, this fabulous mystery makes the reader the detective, choosing which clues to follow as they pick different possible pathways through the story. With several unique endings, this Solve Your Own Mystery story bears repeated rereading and will enthral any budding young detectives who want to prove their puzzle-solving skills.
About Escape Room by Christopher Edge
When twelve-year-old Ami arrives at The Escape, she thinks it's just a game - the ultimate escape room with puzzles and challenges to beat before time runs out. Meeting her teammates, Adjoa, Ibrahim, Oscar and Min, Ami learns from the Host that they have been chosen to save the world and they must work together to find the Answer. But as he locks them inside the first room, they quickly realise this is no ordinary game.
From a cavernous library of dust to an ancient Mayan tomb, a deserted shopping mall stalked by extinct animals to the command module of a spaceship heading to Mars, the perils of The Escape seem endless. Can Ami and her friends find the Answer before it's too late? With cover illustration by David Dean.
