There are a number of celebrities, words, movies, and pass-times that are turning 40 this year. But none greater than our very own Choose Your Own Adventure JOURNEY UNDER THE SEA by R. A. Montgomery.
Starting Wednesday, August 9th, we are rolling back the clocks to Journey's original sale price of $1.25!!!
To continue the celebrations, we've compiled a list of our favorite 1977 gems...
1. WEDGIE
First making waves in the mid-70s, "wedgie" was formally inducted into the Oxford English Dictionary in 1977. Although we have a feeling that the practice was in place before the OED caught wind of it, the super uncomfortable bully tactic didn't make the big time until YOU were leafing through a Choose Your Own Adventure gamebook.
2. THE CHIA PET
If you didn't know that you wanted (needed) an orange, head-shaped clay pot of some sort that grew real-life greenery over time to ultimately look like hair... you were about to be awoken. Happy b-day ch-ch-ch-chia.
3. DOT GREENE
Chooseco’s longtime friend and designer pushed many pixels for us over the years. Her beautiful work includes a series redesign in 2011 and the striking covers of WEREGIRL and its soon-to-be-released sequel CHIMERA.
4. NANOCOMPUTER
Because micro-computer just wasn't small enough for 1977.
5. JOURNEY UNDER THE SEA
You remember that one, right?
YOU are a deep-sea diver on a solo mission, searching for the lost city of Atlantis. In one story line, you confront hungry sharks, the bends in another, and you might end up in an Atlantean zoo... for life.
Montgomery originally published Journey Under the Sea via independent publishing house, Vermont Crossroads Press, in 1977. He wrote under the pen name Robert Mountain, and imagined it as the first in a series of gamebooks that drew on Montgomery’s experiences with role-playing simulations and working with reluctant readers at a summer camp. The original title of the series was “The Adventures of You.” It later became “Choose Your Own Adventure” after Montgomery brought the project to Bantam Books and became the first title on their new children’s list. The series went on to sell over 270 million books in the following forty years, making it the 4th-bestselling children’s series of all time.
Read more about the 40th Anniversary, shop the sale, and more...
Comments
I am the librarian here at Riverdale Elementary. I watched the Reluctant Readers webinar recently. I was very interested in the the Choose Your Own Adventure segment. Could you tell me, are the old title just being re-done or are new titles also being added?
The students love these books.