R.A. Montgomery, 1936-2014
You receive the news that the author of one of your childhood favourite series has passed away earlier this month. If you wish to read his obituary in the New York Times, visit this website. If you are saddened and filled with sudden nostalgia, pick up a Choose Your Own Adventure book (CYOA) to reread and reminisce.
Writer and publisher R.A. Montgomery leaves a legacy of interactive children's books that kept reluctant readers turning the pages. The second person point of view allowed you to be the protagonist of every story, an innovative format originally declined by other publishing companies. Montgomery recognized the fun of being able to choose the course of the plot by flipping to different pages. Each book had dozens of different endings, and you must choose wisely, else the outcome is often deadly… but the magic of the books was that you could always flip back and choose again. You can stop reading when you find the best possible ending, or you can read every single ending. It's up to you!
Choose Your Own Adventure books have sold more than 260 million copies around the world since 1977. You can find out more about the series on the CYOA website. Here are five early titles written by Montgomery himself:
    
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You find the lost city of Atlantis.
You are an intergalactic traveler exploring the final frontier. TARDIS sold separately.
Someone has made off with the (possibly cursed) treasure and it's up to you to track it down.
You dabble in archaeology and encounter aliens. (A film adaptation is apparen'tly on its way, but wasn't this already an Indiana Jones movie?)
You and your best friend hunt a yeti atop the icy peaks of Nepal.
One thought on “R.A. Montgomery, 1936-2014”
I was a huge fan of his books growing up, but I had no idea that the library had copies of some of them. Very cool.