I'm not a video game girl; never have been, never will. But kids who are, especially those who are fans of Minecraft should love Scott Charles’ new series, Video Game Elementary.
In Trapped in Class, Book 1 of the Video Game Elementary series,. Connor is a fourth grader at Video Game Elementary, an online elementary school built inside a fully immersive virtual reality video game. It's kind of a mash-up between Hogwarts and Tron, where kids become avatars while their physical bodies stay elsewhere. I'm not clear on how that happens, but I bet every middle grade reader out there will grasp it better than I do.
On the day in which the story is set, Connor’s watching the clock, waiting for school to end so he can go to his first practice with the Swords Team. Suddenly there’s a strange hiss, bleep, crack, and the world fades into white. The next thing Connor knows, it’s morning again. Like some weird, middle school version of Groundhog’s Day, the day has restarted. Stuck in a time loop, Connor must fight Fanged Slime, Vampire Mold, and other monsters to keep the school’s power crystals from being destroyed. Luckily, he has a school custodian, a friend named Glitch, a girl who’s very good at hacking the system, and a cleaning ghost with an attitude to help him.
This book is easy to read and action packed. It should be a great hit with kids who’d rather hold a game controller than a book
In Trapped in Class, Book 1 of the Video Game Elementary series,. Connor is a fourth grader at Video Game Elementary, an online elementary school built inside a fully immersive virtual reality video game. It's kind of a mash-up between Hogwarts and Tron, where kids become avatars while their physical bodies stay elsewhere. I'm not clear on how that happens, but I bet every middle grade reader out there will grasp it better than I do.
On the day in which the story is set, Connor’s watching the clock, waiting for school to end so he can go to his first practice with the Swords Team. Suddenly there’s a strange hiss, bleep, crack, and the world fades into white. The next thing Connor knows, it’s morning again. Like some weird, middle school version of Groundhog’s Day, the day has restarted. Stuck in a time loop, Connor must fight Fanged Slime, Vampire Mold, and other monsters to keep the school’s power crystals from being destroyed. Luckily, he has a school custodian, a friend named Glitch, a girl who’s very good at hacking the system, and a cleaning ghost with an attitude to help him.
This book is easy to read and action packed. It should be a great hit with kids who’d rather hold a game controller than a book
In an endless loop of her own, Jennifer Bohnhoff taught regular, body-in-class middle school for years. She is now staying home and writing for middle grade and adult readers. Her next book, Where Duty Calls, is the first in a trilogy for middle grade readers about the Civil War in New Mexico, and will be published in June 2022.
