JUNGLE ADVENTURE
From the Let's Tell a Story series
by Lily Murray ; illustrated by Essi Kimpimäki
A storyteller’s toolkit, stocked with choose-your-own characters, gear, locales, hazards, and plotlines.
Following a page of instructions, readers will find labeled arrays of playfully imaginative options. First readers are invited to pick an identity from 16 choices—ranging from a “nature expert” with olive skin and dark hair to a light-skinned “jungle baby” in a leopard skin, a befuddled tourist, a writer using a wheelchair, or a monkey. From there it’s on to choose clothing; a mission (“To find gems and jewels,” or maybe a “Jungle Prince”?); equipment; companions; an itinerary; a “greedy developer,” “evil penguin,” or other foe; the enemy’s dastardly scheme; and more on the way to a pile of money, a pedicure, or some other well-earned reward. Unlike the general run of “choose your own adventure” titles, this one prompts readers to fill in the action themselves (“Describe your daring escape”), and none of the options have fatal consequences—explicitly, at least. Also notable is the racial diversity among human(ish) figures, including hovering groups of fairies and pixies. Like its series mates, this rainforest romp outdoes even the likes of Laurel Snyder’s Endlessly Ever After (2022) in getting fledgling yarn spinners up to speed. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Why settle for one rousing adventure when you can have millions?
(Picture book. 6-10)