Customer Reviews

Journey to Gameland: How to Make a Board Game from Your Favorite Children's Book

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Written by a kid (with adult help) and illustrated by the kid's brother, JTG is a remarkable way to encourage creativity and get kids to do something besides watch TV or play on the computer.
This isn't an adult book, so some of the advice (how to make money, pawns, etc) might make grown-ups cringe and cry out that it is too crude or unfinished. So what? We're talking make-believe.
Buchanan goes step by step, offering advice and warning where difficulties might come in. His technique is simple and obvious, and any child can modify his advice to suit (soccer, favorite movie, family things). He even includes a super book list!
I bought this book at a local bookstore and even though I have no kids and have nobody to play board games with I think this is easily a five-star book. You can even use it as a birthday party event (directions included).
This is a marvelous edition to a family, school or church library. You won't be sorry.

This book teaches your child how to make a board game based on their favorite book, and it's interactive, like a workbook.

The premise of the book is fun. Instead of being a standard workbook, it's written in a style that mimics an actual journey, with "Postcards" that your child will fill in and "Guideposts", which are for the parent or teacher to read.

While a child reading and discovering this book will probably be gently tricked into thinking that they're doing nothing but having fun, as a parent or teacher, you'll realize how much they're getting out of the activity! They're thinking critically about their chosen book, finding ways to adapt it into a game using math and logic, and being artistic! What more can you ask?

This book is a great resource for kids who can't get enough of their favorite book, for parents who are trying to teach their child how to think critically about literature, and for teachers to help provide inspiration.

This book is fabulous! I am a homeschooling parent and I am planning on teaching a homeschool class on board game design at our co-op. I was looking for a resource book to help me help the kids. This book is perfect. It not only helped me get a clearly defined plan for guiding them through the process, it encouraged me to have them use their favorite book as an inspiration. This book was the perfect jumping off point for our class. I also bought My Year with Harry Potter and can't wait to read that one. We are huge Harry fans in our house. Ben Buchanan, thumbs up!! My Ben loves this idea. We are making our own game as soon as possible. Thank you for the inspiration!

I gave this to my 9-year-old, who loves making up games. He's been reading it and getting lots of ideas for making games based on his favorite books, as well as TV shows. It's simply written and was a good purchase.