World of Adventure 12 – The Seventh Crystal

Gary Paulsen's The Seventh Crystal is a computer-game adventure for 10 year olds about a boy who ends up inside the game he can't stop playing.

What happens

Chris Masters is brilliant at games. Most of them are too easy for him. But this one came in the post with no return address and a strange note signed Darvina. Three days in, he still can't get past the River of Storms.

He has bigger problems at school. Two bullies wait for him at the gate every afternoon, so Chris makes sure he's the first one out of the building. Every single day.

Then an old woman in the park hands him a token. She looks exactly like the old woman in the game. The bullies chase Chris and his best friend Jimmy into a disused subway tunnel. There's a blinding white light. And they wake up in the game, with Shawn, the biggest bully, lying right beside them!

What makes it fun is that Chris knows how games work. Stay out of range of the flying fire-spitters. Find the magic compass. Step off the dock onto a bridge you can't see. It's like reading over the shoulder of someone playing (expect some shouted advice from the sofa).

Having Shawn along is the clever bit. He's rude and useless and completely sure he knows best. Chris would happily leave him in a swamp. It's Jimmy who keeps saying they should stick together. Can three boys who can't stand each other get to the end of the game?

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Worth knowing, the fighting in the game world is quite graphic for this shelf. A giant black knight cuts off an old fruit seller's head, and the book describes the blood and the head being kicked down the street. Later a knight loses his hand and Chris stabs a dragon over and over.

A child who's upset by blood on the page might find those scenes too much. But if you've got a reader who's used to fantasy battles and loves games, the gory moments are brief and the story moves fast.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Time Benders is another Gary Paulsen adventure, about two boys who couldn't be more different and who both win a trip to Washington to meet top scientists.