Review: A fun introduction to interactive fiction for youngsters
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 7, 2014
"Joe, Sam, & Fred Help Save Christmas" is an easy to read introduction to interactive fiction for youngsters. The story is about three friends - Joe the elephant, Sam the dog, and Fred the mouse - who are decorating their house for Christmas. When Santa doesn't show up, they're worried enough to find out what the problem is. At that point, the story offers the reader two choices of action to take. The story continues, with several more branching points with decisions to be made by the reader. The outcome of the story depends on the choices made, but this is a children's book, so all outcomes are happy ones.The colorful cartoon-like graphics are nicely done, and the story has enough action to keep a youngster's attention for the time required to complete the story. The real fun comes from rereading the story to see what alternate outcomes result from making different choices.I've read several complex text-only interactive fiction novels, and I enjoyed them very much with their numerous possible outcomes, but younger kids wouldn't enjoy these, and some of them have adult themes anyway. "Joe, Sam, & Fred Help Save Christmas," however, is clearly aimed at kids, and it's ideal for introducing them in a fun way to graphical interactive stories.A review copy of the book was provided by the author.