tamarinne: (Default)
tamarinne ([personal profile] tamarinne) wrote2006-10-05 10:05 pm
Entry tags:

Looking for a book

Cross-posted to [profile] bookfind

I'm looking for a book for which I have the following description:

A "choose your own adventure" type children's storybook which would have been written and published sometime between 1900-1930.  It was hardback, set and very likely produced in England and was about a girl and a boy searching the local countryside for buried treasure, with "go to page such and such" story options at the end of each page.

If anyone even has a suggestion for places where I could try to track this down, it would be much appreciated!   (For that matter, if anyone knows of any "choose your own adventure" type books or plays that date back more than fifty years heck, earlier than the late 70's/early 80's, those would be helpful too.)

[identity profile] herooftheage.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
I didn't find what you asked for, but here's at least an interesting literary version: http://www.gamebooks.org/show_series.php?id=1045. One of the claims I read is that Robert Frost backed a lot of these sorts of books, but I couldn't find any proof of it.
ext_104661: (Default)

[identity profile] alexx-kay.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 03:05 pm (UTC)(link)
No pointers, I'm afraid. But if you *do* find something, please post about it! As far as I know, the form only dates to the 1970s, and if it existed earlier, I'd be fascinated to hear about it.

[identity profile] door-oakheart.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Unfortunately I don't have any suggestions for you but I wanted to comment on the cool new icon! Cool!

[identity profile] gyzki.livejournal.com 2006-10-11 02:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"choose your own adventure" type books or plays

Plays? I can imagine an improv troupe pausing at crucial junctures to poll the audience which way the story should go, but I have trouble imagining a scripted play that worked anything like this. For your main question, sorry, I can't think of any examples earlier than the 70s, which would make the book genre almost simultaneous with Adventure and its ilk.

And speaking of choose-your-own-adventure books, you know the story that Steve Jackson wrote one of these, becoming the first author to publish anonymously under his own name?