I think I can probably track my absolute love of time travel stories back to my first reading of The Cave of Time when I was a kid. Someone gave me the set of the first five Choose Your Own Adventure books, and I read them all. Frequently. But The Cave of Time was definitely my favorite.
I remember long tales of adventure, danger, confusion, tension, and excitement. I remember being excited to see which time I would end up in next. I also remember struggling to make different choices just to see what other endings were possible.
I am a creature of habit, and someone who streamlines my choices in life due to what I think is the best fit for me, really struggling to make any choices—even when reading a book—that are choices I wouldn’t actually make in real life. But re-walking the well-trodden paths through the books didn’t keep me from enjoying all of them, and especially this particular one, immensely.
I never did read any of the couple hundred other Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) books, because we didn’t have money to buy more, and I hadn’t quite mastered the concept of the library as a go-to place for things. I ended up eventually moving on to conventional, linear books, discovering more time travel through the science fiction genre going forward. But I always had a soft spot in my heart for all of the reads and re-reads I did of those first five CYOA books.
Fast forward to today, and the Choose Your Own Adventure folks have reissued The Cave of Time by Edward Packard! The first book in the Choose Your Own Adventure series from 1979, the book that solidified my love of time travel stories, is out again with (almost) the same content.
On my many re-reads of this re-released edition, most of the choices I made took me down the same familiar paths I remembered, but I made an effort to try out other paths as well. In those, there were some obvious notable changes and additions with updated details, including mentions of being from the 21st century and of using the internet. Since it’s important for modern-day kids to also relate to the book’s content, I think this was a good idea.
The book has 40 different possible endings and, despite my best efforts, I still haven’t discovered them all. Still, my experimentation has served me well, taking me to all kinds of endings I never saw or read before. It helps that these stories are quite short—despite my memory that the stories were fairly long—since you’re only reading a fraction of the book. You can try out several options in one quick sitting. I think it’d be awesome to have longer stories in this format, for adults. Maybe I should write my own.
While these CYOA books don’t hold up as compelling reading for an adult in quite the same way that they enthralled me as an elementary school kid, they remind me of how fun and interactive reading can be, and how important it is to find ways to engage young readers. They’ll always have a place on my bookshelf.
The Cave of Time continues to dazzle with lots of adventures from across time for young readers. For adults, it’s a fun trip back to childhood, and a reminder to put some play and experimentation in your day.
Stay tuned for my take on The Retro Box, coming out next month, which includes the reissued first several Choose Your Own Adventure books! I can’t wait to re-read the other early books, discovering any changes they might have made to those too.
Note: I received a copy for review purposes.
