Checkmate at Chess City [Hardcover]

Piers Harper (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 2004 | Age Level: 6 and up | Grade Level: 1 and up

"The mazes are satisfyingly tricky . . . and puzzle-minded kids who are beyond WHERE'S WALDO? should enjoy this for hours." — BOOKLIST

Chess City has been captured! The king and queen are missing, and it’s up to readers to rescue them. As children learn how each chess piece moves, their task is to strategically maneuver knights, pawns, bishops, and rooks through mazes filled with hungry wolves, dangerous swamp monsters, and poisonous spiders. Each step leads them closer to the captive king and queen, in a perfect introduction to the challenges and excitement of a real game of chess. Now, with a compact chess board at their fingertips, they’ll be eager to put their skills to the test!

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Harper (Snakes and Ladders, 1997) has produced an intense and eye-catching puzzle book intended to teach basic strategies of chess. Each full-color, double-page spread shows a chessboard courtyard in Chess City. The black king and queen have been “captured,” and the reader must move the different black pieces across each courtyard to the rescue. Each page is, actually, a maze; various pitfalls wait on squares, and readers have to figure out how to get each piece from the marked “start” to the “finish,” moving only as the piece allows. Except for the different patterns of movement then, each page employs the exact same strategy, making this more of a drill in piece movement than a book of actual chess strategies. Each chessboard courtyard is vastly larger than a real board’s 64 squares, and the perspective and busyness of the spreads may strain some eyes. The mazes are satisfyingly tricky, however, and puzzle-minded kids who are beyond Where’s Waldo should enjoy this for hours. A text box toward the end tells a little more about “The Game of Chess.” Although it doesn’t deliver all it promises in strategy and excitement, this is an enjoyable game book. (Nonfiction. 7-10) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 6 and up
  
• Hardcover: 28 pages
• Publisher: Candlewick Press; 1st edition (April 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076362165X
• ISBN-13: 978-0763621650
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 10.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #806,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent primer for kids, March 27, 2002

By 

Richard Dawson (Orem, UT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Checkmate at Chess City (Hardcover)

I teach chess at a local library and I've found this book to be an excellent resource. The library where I teach currently has four copies and these books are always checked out. I've found chess puzzles to be a good way to convey chess concepts to young players and this book uses chess puzzles in a creative way to teach young players how to move pawns and pieces correctly. The format reminds me of a Richard Scarry or a Where's Waldo book. Children have a lot of fun looking at little details on every page, just like looking for "Gold Bug" or Waldo. This book engages childrens' attention while introducing the basics of pawn and piece movement. It's a fun book for children and it accomplishes its purpose wonderfully.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid and Wonderful (Especially for K-3rd grade), October 19, 2001

By 

"jimhaughey" (Tampa, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Checkmate at Chess City (Hardcover)

I cannot say enough about how wonder this book is for the K-3rd grade kids in my Chess Club! They are learning the moves of all pieces.
The book may not be thick, but it is LONG in the hours of FASCINATION that it generates in kids. It is like a story book about a Chess King and Queen that need to be rescued from captivity out of the dungeon of a Castle surrounded by deserts, swamps, and other challenging areas through which the kids must navigate the other chess pieces. The kids do not even realize that they are learning how to move real chess pieces! I am asking all parents of my Chess Club members to get this book for their child. I love to read it myself!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great puzzler book!, May 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Checkmate at Chess City (Hardcover)

Despite the fact that our 6-year-old already knows how to play chess, he loved this book! Every page is filled with detailed pictures and game boards -- it is entertaining just to look at everything that's "going on"! The theme of the book is actually a puzzle or a maze based on the movements the chess board pieces are permitted to make in the real game. The book helps children understand the game, or, if they already know how to play, helps them practice on their own. Not all of the puzzles are easy, either!