World War II: An Interactive History Adventure

by Elizabeth Raum

"Describes the events of World War II and explains the significance of the war today. The reader's choices reveal the historical details from the perspective of a member of the Dutch resistance, a Canadian soldier, and an American soldier"--Provided by publisher.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Choose Your Own Adventure, World War II, War, Childrens, Historical, Young Adult

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

As a child, I loved writing reports. For me, doing research has always been a kind of treasure hunt. My treasures are the facts that create pictures of past worlds and faraway places. I've put those facts into nearly 100 biographies, histories, and science books for young readers. I've also written two picture books and several interactive adventures that place you, the reader, inside the story. I hope that all my books lead you to imagine yourself in some intriguing place among fascinating people. Every book should take readers on new adventures in this big, beautiful world of ours.

Happy travels!

Author website: www.elizabethraumbooks.com

Reviews

[Autumn Kearney · Rating 5 out of 5]

World War II: An Interactive History Adventure was so much fun to read. I was a pharmacist’s mate in the U.S.Navy, which means that I performed first aid and nursing duties. I survived the war!

[Reed S · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently reading World War 2 by: Elizabeth Raum. I really like this book because its in history that is important to the whole world. Another thing I like about this book is that it has every detail of important facts about the War. I do not like that this book had a lot of fighting and dying. I think that this World War is something good to look back at and not make the mistake to having a World War 3. To me one of the most important people in this book is a Medic/Doctor because if a soldier has gotten injured then the Medic can help them by giving them medicine or bandages. Since this book is not fiction, I can't say who my favorite character is. Overall I would give this book four out of five stars.

[Sarah Monzon · Rating 5 out of 5]

My son really likes these...unless he dies 😂

[Tajwar Rahman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is in a second person point of view. You are taken to three main adventures: joining the forces fighting the Germans in Netherlands, signing up for the Canadian military, and serving for the American armed forces. Each adventures has sub-adventures, which are basically minor decisions. For example, if you choose to join the Canadian military, you have to choose whether to join the army division or the Canadian Air Force. If you keep following the directions, there will be two endings written in different ways but have the same concept: you either die because of the Germans or the Allies have saved your life. At the end of the book there is a summary of the main battle and the overall outcome. There is also a timeline to show what happened at each date
I would recommend this book to those who like adventure. They would like this book even more because it has three adventures in one. Therefore it is three times the adventure. The only problem with this book is that you have to flip to a multitude of pages and you have to keep every change page marked. Meaning the page that tells you to decide between two things, has to be marked so after you finish that specific story, you go back and change one detail, which is to chooses the other decision. Overall, this is a detailed book.

[Shannon Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the way this book was interactive and you could choose your own adventure, but it was also confusing because of that. There are 57 choices! 57! Yes, I finally read all of them and enjoyed the book!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, my child enjoyed reading time with me, while learning important parts of history. We always read this series of choose your own adventures together and we like to read through all of the choices. The good writing and interesting facts and scenarios help make this is a fun experience.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the concept of this book, but it was too complicated. There were too many options. I wanted to follow all of them, but I kept getting lost. It would have been very helpful to have a map at the end (or even the beginning) of the book for those like me who wanted to read all of them. The information was excellent, and it was fun to see the personalized examples. I would have really loved the names that each of these stories were based off of listed in an appendix at the end.

[Sam R · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars!

[Bethany Stiles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love these books
Choose your own fate.

[Hillary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and fun concept -- the actual story writing was a little lack-luster and very repetitive .... "you did this, you did that, etc ...."

[Jake]

this book was ok I love this series because you can read it more than once and be interactive in the story

[Jackson]

dhq

[sleeps9hours · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great, fun way to begin introducing kids to WWII. My kids are ages 6-10, and they were all rapt with attention as I read to them (there of course is death and cruelty but I think Star Wars, The Clone Wars cartoons have already inured them). They took turns choosing and we went back and made all the choices to see all the endings.

It is very brief introduction so don't expect to come away with a sense of the whole scope of the war or the politics. There are three main story lines: the Canadian Air Force and Army, US Navy and Army, and a girl in The Netherlands who does or does not join the resistance. The stories give a personal touch to a subject that is often presented with copious facts and dates, and a dizzying array of details that can lose children.

Now that they have something to hook their information to, I'm going to try some of the DK Eyewitness books on WWII, but I'm still looking for more kid-friendly overviews of this war and other major historical events. If anyone knows of a kids' overview of world history in general, please comment and let me know. Thank you!!

[Dana Berglund · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so excited to have come across this series. It's a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure type series about historical time periods or events. I teach high school history, but many of my students have quite low reading levels. I feel like this is a fun alternative/addition to strict textbook reading. In this book ,we can start at the beginning, choose to follow the American soldiers, and suddenly we're on a ship at Iwo Jima. Like in the fiction series (and in real life), one wrong choice can lead to instant or painful death. There are photos from the events and places, and plenty of background knowledge to beef up their understanding. And it's a book we can read again and again, choosing new paths each time. I'll update this after I actually use this with students, to see if it will work as well as I hope.

Update: While my students weren't exactly as tickled as I was with the book, they did participate and want to play the game. I will definitely use this again, and hope I can squeak out some money to buy some of the books in the series.

[Emily B · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book when you read a page it on the bottom it will tell you if you want to go or not to go. So the first time I read I got shot in the leg but I survived. You can also get a job like to be in the Nazi Party or the Navy or you can choose that or be a doctor to help wounded soldiers. I think this book is really good and everyone should read it. If you like picking what you want to be I would read this book!

[Jeri · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are loving this series. Whomever came up with choose your own adventure history was a genius. It makes history come alive for my kiddos (besides teaching perspective, decision making, and that there are consequences to each action/decision). I want to read WW II On the Home Front and Japanese American Internment next with them to make a WW II history unit.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 9 year old son really likes this historical choose-your-own adventure. It was a great way to introduce him to the larger concepts of the war. Not a lot of details, but it's hard to cram such a huge war into one small book for kids. He enjoyed it though and it made it easy to talk to him about the different war theaters.

[journeyintobooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it! There were so many different chooses and outcomes. In the first chapter I chose each choose at least once, and then I let my dad choose. All I can say is, I just burned 300 calories from laughing so hard at mine and my dad's outcomes. It was so fun, and I got to learn some history while I was reading it. So to me this book was really fun, funny, and educational

[Justin D · Rating 2 out of 5]

i liked it but it didnt have that much adventure

[The Lonely Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

lovely

[Moe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really neat because you got to choose which side you where on based on real life events. Although, there where to many happy endings.

[2Caitlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is about how we had our rights and how it all began

[Reading Rediscovered · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great way to tell about World War 2.

[Jaguar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool. It's like a choose your own adventure book. Recommended.

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the way you felt like you were there.Overall it was a great book. Thanks Jaguar!

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but it didn't hold too much of my interest. I did apperciate how you could chose any path, and your journey could be over. Just like war, any decision can lead to death.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun interactive choose your own path as different people during WWII.

[David Haddon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book. Great for any kid 10-15 that likes history.

Choose your path format is fun.