Escape from a Video Game: Mystery on the Starship Crusader (Volume 2)

My son does not love to read. He struggles to remember what he has read and just doesn't enjoy it as much as other things. Of course, being a core skill, we still encourage it. These books have been a wonderful help. The fact that every couple pages the child has to make a decision about what happens next in the book really keeps them engaged!

My son loves this book. It's a nice blend of his interests. I loved watching him pour over the pages to find the clues and piece it all together. I'm all for anything that gives those critical thinking skills a workout.

My oldest has loved these books thru the years.

Grand Sandy tested reading this series turn that all around he red one after another had to actually take them away before bed

Keeps kids interested.

Some stories have characters you love to read about. Some stories have characters you love to hate. A good example, in this book, is "Ice Maverick."In the game world of Starship Crusader, he is a "tactical expert" with armor and lots of weapons. In the real world the players are from, he is a professional gamer who knows how to shoot things to get the high score. Gamers may want to BE him, if only because when an "NPC" tries to give a boring info dump he shoots them.An "info dump" is a long and sometimes boring speech that tells the player things they need to know in order to understand the game. The more a player needs to know, about something like an alien planet, the longer it takes. Gamers aren't known for their patience, but Ice Maverick does this early in the book, when the reader is still trying to understand things. Ice is apparently used to single player games, and "Maverick" thinks he can win the game all by himself. Because the reader is trying to win a game with multiple players who have to cooperate in order to win, "gamers" see this behavior from the outside.I won't promise it will change their behavior, but it is a clear example of how stuff like this is not always good.Another point that may be easier to miss is what happens when Ice Maverick has to steer a ship that is in danger of crashing into an alien planet. Because the programmers of the game went to the time and effort of creating a whole planet and filling it with aliens to interact with, it is considered a "scripted event." Ice Maverick assumes that the flying "mini-game" was just to determine how much damage the ship took. The crash was "part of the game," and not his fault even though he was at the controls.You have to tell kids that they are smart, because it is easy for them to give up if they assume they are just born dumb. Video games can be good for this, if you can solve a puzzle in the game then you do possess some intelligence. This boost of confidence can help with other activities, outside of video games, but parents should be aware of "scripted events." Some fantasy games are based on fantasy novels, which follow "the heroes journey" through "the darkest hour." We like reading about heroes who rise from the ashes to overcome impossible odds, though it can be harder to set up in a video game. Players can "keep on trying" by hitting the reset button and trying to fly the ship in such a way that Ice Maverick never crashes into the alien planet. However, the programmers of the game worked hard on the planet and the aliens, and they want "keep on trying" to mean "fix the crashed spaceship."This is the kind of thing parents need to talk about with their children, but is also something that parents can only talk about if they play the game themselves and watch their children play. This book makes the process easier, though you still need to read it a few times to learn about all the choices available. Fortunately it is a good book that can be fun for both adults and children.

This book fired up his imagination. He loved the problem solving involved and the options. So entertaining for us both

Good set of books, this kept our 3rd grader entertained while reading.