Minecraft Stonesword Saga 3 – New Pets on the Block!

Nick Eliopulos's New Pets on the Block is a Minecraft adventure for 7 year olds about a girl who loves animals so much she'll take on a witch for them.

What happens

It's book three of the Stonesword Saga. Jodi, her big brother Morgan and their friends have special goggles that let them step right inside Minecraft. They're trying to rescue a friend in the game, an AI called the Evoker King, and getting him back means tracking down some very strange new mobs.

Back at home, Jodi wants a pet more than anything. She even gives a slideshow to prove she's ready (puppies, kittens and a bit about eco-friendly poo bags). Her parents say "we'll see". Morgan knows what that usually means.

Inside the game, Jodi can't pass a cow without stroking it. So when the gang find animals trapped in a pit, and then a whole zoo of caged creatures behind a swamp hut, she starts flinging the gates open.

That's when the witch attacks. She's no ordinary witch. She's super fast, she cackles, and she talks in a very odd way. A few splash potions later the whole team is cursed and too weak to fight. The cure, she says, will cost them a very rare brown mooshroom.

Kids who play Minecraft will love all the details (suspicious stew, swamp huts, the one-in-1,024 chance of breeding a brown mooshroom). But you really don't need to know the game. Underneath, it's a story about a brother and sister who love each other and drive each other mad.

Their arguments feel very real. Morgan thinks Jodi's being irresponsible. Jodi thinks he cares more about the mission than about living things. Who's right? Probably both of them, a bit.

There's a lovely thread about kindness, too. Does it matter how you treat a creature if it's only a few lines of computer programming? The librarian thinks compassion is never a waste of time. That's a nice one to chew over with your reader afterwards.

What to read next

If they want to go back to where the trouble with the Evoker King began, try Crack in the Code, where new boy Theo joins the gang and starts tinkering with the game.