POWER OF FLIGHT

This multistranded adventure provides many possible endings to the story.

Readers are put in the role of the protagonist, addressed directly by the omniscient narrator as “you”: At summer camp, you take a trip to the Center for Avian Science, where you are scratched by a large, fierce bird, events depicted in dynamic black-and-white comic panels. Afterward, you discover you can fly, and you are presented with your first choice: Do you tell the camp nurse about your new abilities, or do you mislead her? From there, it’s a mad dash through various scenarios. Many of them involve scenes with the nefarious Dr. Zeus. Will your encounters with him tempt you to behave badly or inspire you to do good? Some choices lead to death, including by goop. Others lead to a mediocre existence after losing your superpower. And then there’s Hector, the big bird who scratched you: Do you free him? Only one path leads to greatness, while another leads to villainy. The number of options is rather dizzying, and readers will spend hours exploring the possibilities, most of which present moral dilemmas. There’s lots of excitement for readers as they race to find the correct page to finish the version they’ve started, wherever that may lead. Black-and-white illustrations depict characters who appear White; names signal some ethnic diversity in the cast.

Plenty to entertain in each storyline; will keep readers absorbed.