I’ve previously written about my struggle to help my oldest son find a book that he likes to read, because I couldn’t find any on his favorite activity: Minecraft. If you haven’t heard about Minecraft, then you must be wearing ear plugs, because it is a game that many kids are obsessed with playing.
I have spent time at conferences and reading professional books and learned that in order to teach our students to be writers, we need to be writers ourselves so I had the inspiration to try to write a book that my son would read. Thus, Adventures in Blockworld was created. As I wrote each chapter, I had to do some “research” by watching my son play Minecraft and ask questions about what he was doing in the game. I read each new chapter to both of my sons, which ended in begging for the next chapter; encouraging me to keep writing.
Then one day during a lunch table conversation about Minecraft with some fourth grade boys, I mentioned the book I was writing and they all wanted to read it. I printed a copy for each of them, which their teacher said they chose to read during Daily 5. I was inspired by the feedback these boys gave me at lunch, offering feedback for my revisions. After 6 months of dragging my heals on this, I’ve finally decided to publish it as an ebook on Kindle Amazon.
For those of you that may be interested, you can find the book HERE. Here is a description of the book that is geared towards 3-5th grade Minecraft fans:
Nathan is a 9 year-old boy that is obsessed with the computer game Blockworld…just like any other boy in his school. His adventures in this virtual game world turn into real-life when he discovers that his little brother, Alex, is somehow actually stuck inside the game and he magically enters Blockworld to bring his brother home.
Finding his brother was the easy part, but the adventures really started when Nathan and Alex had to embark on three dangerous treks throughout Blockworld to gather the materials needed to get them back home. Although Nathan has always been annoyed by his little brother and often goes to great lengths to do things without him, he develops a new appreciation for him as he has to protect him to get him home safely.
For those of you that love to play the game Minecraft, you will enjoy the Adventures in Blockworld!