The Enduring Allure of Choose Your Own Adventure Books
Leslie Jamison describes her childhood obsession with the Choose Your Own Adventure book series; charts the history of what remains the fourth-best-selling children’s-book series of all time; talks with the writer, Edward Packard, who came up with the idea; and discusses the implications of open-ended narrative for a developing sense of self in young readers.
"If I'd been a better storyteller, we never would have gotten the form. . . . I'd get stumped, and ask the girls what should happen next" — Edward Packard, creator of Choose Your Own Adventure