Q & A with Author R.A. Montgomery

Q) What is new and updated in the editions that you are re-launching in 2006 to make the books more appealing for today’s readers?

We inserted technological advances such as laptops, GPS systems, deep space probes, cell phones, etc.. Anthropologists have made new discoveries which necessitated changes to my story MYSTERY OF THE MAYA. Political realities in LOST JEWELS OF NABOOTI caused us to change the setting from Ivory Coast to Senegal. New undersea robotic explorations gave us more information for TERROR ON THE TITANIC. We also cut out a lot of adverbs and adjectives!

Q) These books became very popular among teachers and educators. Was this a surprise to you or one of your original goals?

No it was not a surprise. We tested the books in schools. From a mimeograph, if you know what that was. The books weren’t even in print yet. The response was overwhelming. From the outset these interactive CHOOSE books were and are a stealth reading development program. And that made it even better as far as I was concerned.

Q) What made you decide to start writing books for young readers?

When I started to write in the 1970’s, I had two young sons, I wanted to provide a wider choice of books for them to read, and stories that would help them develop a love of reading.

Q) Why do you think this reading series has been one of the most popular children’s series of all time?

Everyone likes to imagine themselves as a hero, solving problems, saving the world or people, taking chances. CHOOSE books make the reader---the YOU---the hero. Making choices that lead to different endings is exciting. The books are not linear. They are game-like.

Q) Where did the idea for interactive fiction like “Choose Your Own Adventure” come from?

Game theory and behavioral simulation design are the basic root models for interactive literature. Although it’s been around a while. The French writer Raymond Queneau wrote a book in the early sixties translated roughly as “Story As You Like It”. It retold a story 99 ways, essentially allowing a reader to choose . Subsequently, Julio Cortazar , the Argentinean novelist, published a book called Hopscotch that let a reader jump around in the story and essentially decide the ending. So the roots of interactive storytelling were there. I became interested through work designing simulation games for schools, and the Peace Corps. CHOOSE is based on those paradigms. The interactive model has been around for many years in many forms: moot court, economic modeling, military games, business school case study etc. I guess it reached critical mass with CHOOSE. Interaction is a powerful tool for learning. CHOOSE books empower kids.

Q) Why did you decide to re-launch the series now?

The books went out of print just as the generation that grew up reading them started to have children of their own. It’s a natural. In these trying times, teaching children how to read and how to make choices and decisions is important. Kids are the future of the world.