Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 246

Kids Sunday, September 21, 1986 The Arizona Republic OA'S BOOK 'Br? Readers' decisions plot adventure books' course By SANDI SCAFFETTI in Miami, and teaches at I Ir 4 i If 1 pi ife ipN i I I They include fantasy, science fiction, sports and romance. Librarians note a Choose Your Own Adventure trend. "They're superpopular," said Linda Kragh, children's librarian at the Kendall Public Library in Miami, Fla. "They're fun for kids to read. I don't think anything kids read will be bad for them." Not everyone shares this positive opinion.

Although Choose Your Own Adventure books are written for pre-teens, in as many as half, the reader the "star" of the story dies. Avalanches, explosions, shipwrecks, tarantula attacks and firing squads are among the more exotic causes. Getting speared in the back, buried alive or sacrificed by pagan priests are other possibilities. In one ending of The Case of the Silk King by Shannon Gilligan, your dead body arrives in boxes at the Gulf of Thailand. There, a couple of henchmen "feed you, piece by piece, to sharks." The scene is illustrated on the facing page.

Some psychologists express concern at such gruesome finales. "I'm appalled," said Dr. Colleen Ryan, who has a private practice has added three other series with the same format. Now even preschoolers can make their own page-turning choices. Officially dubbed "interactive fiction," the books were the brainchild of 55-year-old Edward Pack: ard.

He was a Manhattan lawyer who gave up his law practice for full-time writing. Packard got the idea for his first book while telling bedtime stories to his children. Stumped for an ending to one of his tales, he asked 9-year-old Caroline and 5-year-old Andrea what they would do. Each came up with a different outcome. (Andrea later wrote her own Choose Your Own Adventure book.) "If I'd been a better storyteller, I'd never have thought this up," Packard said.

The result was The Adventures of You on Sugar Cane Island, a book rejected by eight or nine New York publishers. He finally found a publisher and since has written 25 more Choose Your Own Adventure books. The idea has proved popular. Nancy Pines, Bantam's publicity manager for youth books, said at least 19 other series are being marketed by rival publishers. Florida International University.

"There's a lot of violence (in real life). Children don't need it personalized. What possible purpose could this kind of material serve to get us ready for death?" Packard maintains, however, that there is nothing repulsive or violent in the books. "There's often a quasi-comic sense in the disaster," he said. "It's exaggerated and melodramatic, and that keeps it from seeming harsh or-nasty.

There's also an underlying code in all the books. You as reader never hurt anyone." Packard and Pines both note that children are fascinated with disaster. "Kids love getting blown up," Pines said. "They think it's a gas." You can earn a Kids sticker by sharing your opinion of the Choose Your Own Adventure books. Give your reasons for liking or disliking the books, and state whether you think they are too violent.

Send your comments to Kids, The Arizona Republic, P.O. Box 50, Phoenix, Ariz. 85001. Include your name, age, grade, school, home address, ZIP code and phone number. Knight-Rldder "You're the star of the story!" For kids who look to Gremlins, E.T.

and Indiana Jones for vicarious thrills, the invitation on the book cover is irresistible. Why sit and munch on popcorn while someone else has all the fun? For $2.25, you can Choose Your Own Adventure. The cover price less than the cost of a PG-13 movie ticket also entitles you to be rich, famous and successful. That is, if you're lucky. You can also get killed.

You determine your fate by your choices at various points in the story. Prudent decisions don't always lead to happiness, and some of the more grisly outcomes have alarmed child psychologists. Once a choice is made, you are directed to the page in the book where your story continues. In some books, more than three dozen endings are possible. The decision to publish the first Choose Your Own Adventure in 1979 was the beginning of a success for Bantam Books.

The publisher now has 30 million in print. This spring Bantam released No. 55 of the original series, designed for ages 10 and up. In the past few years, Bantam trr bite I II: i-i FiA 1 7 7 In Choose Your Own Adventure books like Shannon Gilligan's Haunted Harbor, the reader is the star of the story. In some of these books more than three dozen endings are possible.

'V A' I First lines in books will reel in readers hook, line, sinker ii LOSS; I Ml i 1 Si" The first sentence of a book can hook you for the rest of the day or make you put the book away unread. Local kids share some of the first sentences that hooked them on books. "The tabby kitten hooked his white paws over the edge of the box marked Kittens, or Best Offer." from Socks by Beverly Geary (submitted by Diana Novak and Anitra McKnight) "I am on my mountain in a tree home that people have passed without ever knowing that I am here." from My Side of the Mountain by Jean George (submitted by Todd Ashline) "The mystery of the missing twins could never have been solved by an ordinary detective." from Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus (submitted by Jason Pena) "On the second Monday of September in 1897, 1 was sitting on top of the world." from Me and My Little Brain by John D. Fitzgerald (submitted by Jason Albrand and Josh Becker) "Mitchell Huffs day began like any other summer day with a squabble with his twin sister, Amy." from Mitch and Amy by Beverly Geary (submitted by Cassie Plumlee) "Danny, Joe and Irene gazed out the window of the deep diving ship at a monstrous blue-green shape." from Danny Dunn and the Ocean Floor by Jay Williams (submitted by Shad Schoenemann) "One morning during last May, everything happened to me." from Number One Son by Margaret and George Ogan (submitted by Leann Lay) "My name is Rosy Cole and I'm in a lot of trouble." from Give Us a Big Smile, Rosy Cole by Sheila Greenwald (submitted by Trisha Leclair) a 'l, "Most of the time John Midas was a very nice boy." from 77ie Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling (submitted by Ann Mcintosh and Angela Coulombe) "A cryptic message from their famous detective father and a note secreted in a ventriloquist's dummy led Frank and Joe Hardy on a dangerous search to the tropical islands in the Caribbean." from The Hardy Boys: Ghost at Skeleton Rock by Franklin W. Dixon (submitted by Joseph Brum-ley) "Holly Hunter knew it was going to be a bad day from the minute she got out of bed." from The Pony That Nobody Wanted by Lurlene McDaniel (submitted by Jerry Quintana) "Miss Hickory heard heavy footsteps clump, clumping along the stones of the pasture, then approaching her lilac bush." from Miss Hickory by Ruth Gannett (submitted by Veronica Alcantar) everybody's Just announced as he joined his three younger brothers at the kitchen table." from When the Boys Ran the House by Joan Carris (submitted by Vanessa Mickelson) am not a Ramona Quimby told her big sister, Beezus." from Ramona the Pest by Beverly Geary (submitted by Monica Johnson) Here's how you can contribute to Kids and receive a Kids sticker-Send in your favorite first sentence, the name of the book it came from and the name of the author.

Mail the information to Kids, 77ie Arizona Republic, P.O. Box 50, Phoenix, Ariz. 85001. Include your name, age, grade, school, home address, ZIP code and phone number. JUNIOR GOLF TOURNAMENT The Phoenix Fiesta of Sports will host a tournament Saturday at Encanto Park Golf Course, 2705 N.

15th Ave. Call 262-4440 for details. Information about events for kids must be received at least five weeks before the desired date of publication. Lack of space may prevent listing all events. Mail information to Kids, The Arizona Republic, P.O.

Box 50, Phoenix, Ariz. 85001. rt 0 0 0 ft 'A Tim RogersRepublic SYs and pieces Some everyday objects suddenly become unfamiliar when seen up close or from different angles. Can you figure out what these are? See the upside down answers below. Things to do 1.1 SCIENCE CLASSES A chemistry class will be offered from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Saturday, and "critter camouflage" from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. and from 11 a.m. to noon Oct. 4 at the Arizona Museum of Science and Technology, 80 N. Second St.

Phone 256-9388 to register. sipusd 'apeiq mbs 'aoaidmnotu auoud 'joieinsut auoqdaia) 'auja6uej 'jaddep pue aq 'aBuods 'Aa) 6upuM-)3op 'hojbm 'snpeo 'gsruqooi I.