The Search for Snake River

The Search for Snake River by Jesse Wiley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw this book at the library and knew I had to read it. I know this is the third book, and I would have probably known more about what was going on if I had read the first two, but this combined two of my favorite things, so I couldn’t wait. I love Choose Your Own Adventure books, have since I was a kid, and as a kid, I played Oregon Trail a lot. In fact, I have the new version of Oregon Trail that I play even as an adult because of my love for it. This book is almost like the literary version of the Oregon Trail game. Truth be told, I still had trouble staying alive.

I really like that this wasn’t a one off, where it was just another Choose Your Own Adventure whose story does not have anything to do with the others. There is a whole collection for the Oregon Trail, which makes it unique for this style of book. I also liked that as you read, hints are given out to try and help you make it across the trail safely. I found myself going back to read sections over again before I made a decision. I wasn’t jumping to the next part to see which decision would keep me alive, but going back to what I had already read to see if there was something I could use to help me make the safe decision. Even with all of that, I still ended up dying the first time I tried, and had to go back and figure out where my choices went off kilter.

This whole series seems like a 90s kid’s dream come true. The game and book genre (I don’t know what else to call it) that were popular coming together to form something wonderful. Basically, if you were a kid who loved when your teacher let you play Oregon Trail, this is one I would recommend. Let’s face it, everyone loves playing Oregon Trail.

Author: Jesse Wiley
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 4th 2018

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