Deadwood City

I think Deadwood City was great, because you can choose your own way to go. I got a job in the ghost town. I left beforeI got killed. I also got stopped by Indians on the way, I snuck away, stopped at a water hole to drink and fill my canteen. Only a few more more miles and I was in Silver Springs. I got a job from an old friend and that was the end of my story. There are plenty of more mays to go. Another thing is they are fun because you don't know what is going to happen next.

The cowboy genre seemed a natural one for the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series to venture to, and luckily it did so in the early days, when ideas were fresh and master Edward Packer was in top form. Accordingly, we get the whole western panorama here, from gambling saloons to small town newspapers to desperadoes, gold prospecting, ranching, etc. Parts of this one do seem to bog down here and there, as you keep endlessly saddling up to go to Silver Springs, and not really getting anywhere. But overall it's good fun.

This was the no holds barred, thrill-ride of the '84 summer. This book encapsulated an era of youthful exuberance, at the end of the Cold War. Before these present-day spoiled kids came along, kids used to pick up a book and read. Not play computer games endlessly or surf the internet. We played outside and read. And "Deadwood City" is one pretty darned good example of what the literature was back in the good ol' days of the 80's.