This book review is of a slightly different kind of book that what I typically review. The “Can You Survive” or the “Choose Tour Own Path” books are a series of books based on classical novels that are appropriate for young readers. I am not a fan of abridged classics, but this is more like the “Choose Your Adventure “ books from my childhood. In some ways, it’s like playing the video game based on your favorite movie.
Previously on my blog I have reviewed “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” which is a fantastic book for young readers of novels, such as late elementary school children, and up through adults. This “Choose Your Path” book is a good complement to the original novel. You can read this without ever reading the original, but its maximum benefit is as a supplement.
If you are not familiar with this type of book, a “Choose Your Own Adventure” or “Choose Your Own Path” books has you read from the beginning a few pages before you pick a path for your main character. In this book, an example would be to choose if you will wear the ruby slippers or not. Based on your choice, the book instructs you to flip ahead or back to certain page numbers to continue the story based on your choice. Because this book allows for so many various choices and paths, the original novel is very abbreviated. I actually have no problem with that in this format.
As a homeschool mom of special needs children and as someone with a Master’s in Special Education, I see this book as a get tool in both a school and homeschool setting. If you follow my blog much, you may have gathered that I strongly believe in teaching classic literature to students of all reading levels and all abilities. When teaching literature, it is important to teach close reading skills, reading comprehension, cause and effect, inffence, and other analytical skills. A teacher cannot assume that even very articulate students are using these tools. I really like fun and creative ways to have students reveal what they understand from a novel. This is traditionally done with classroom discussions and essays, but art, projects, re-enactments, and games can also be useful.
With “Can you Survive The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” a student must recall the main events of the novel to “survive.” I intentionally pricked wrong options in reviewing this book and found that I ended my adventure in Oz with a variety of unfortunate endings. It was both fun and a great way to analyze why the main character, Dorthy in this case, need to make certain decisions.
I looked on Amazon and was pleased to see that Mr Jacobson has more books in this series for novels such as “Call of the Wild” and “White Fang,” as well as other classics. I also noticed that he does speak at schools. This book or a visit by the author could be a fun conclusion to a literary unit for a class or school.
I highly recommend this book to homeschool families as well. I have been a fan of various literature based English curriculum. This by an be an enjoyable way for a child to review the essential elements of the original novel for the purpose of reading comprehension and recall. The book can be just handed to a child to work through on their own or it could be used in a group. The parent/teacher could also read this out loud and then have the student/s choose a path or even discuss options that are not given.
So, in conclusion, I recommend this book for the ages listed on its Amazon page, grades 3rd through 8th. It is good for anyone who is a general fan of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and also a good tool for educators. This book is not a replacement for the original novel and I do not recommend it as an abridged version. Still, it was a fun supplement, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Check out my young adult fantasy fiction novels HERE for something optimistic and fun.
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What do you think?