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story identification - Children’s books, one in space setting, the other in a jungle


When I was little I remember getting these two books from the library.



Both books were paperback and flimsy. The pages were wide. Each book had full page illustrations with puzzles and mazes in them, but it was like you were immersed in this setting completely. They were also like choose-your-own adventure books, but only in the way that you go through the book in a different order based on your results in the puzzles/games.


For example, there is a bridge to cross, or you can take this path. If you choose to cross the bridge you go to page x. On page x you have to pretend to cross the bridge but some planks are broken. You can't skip more than a certain number of planks, but you also cannot "step" on a broken plank.


One book was in a jungle setting with rope bridges, alligators, quick sand, etc.
The other was in space, with all kinds of aliens and weird stuff.


I have faint memories of these books but I REALLY want to track them down because I remember loving them.



Answer



The books I was looking for are The Jungle of Peril and The Planet of Terror.



The reader's quest in The Planet of Terror is to find a spaceship that had to be abandoned just before it crashed. Unfortunately, this planet is chock full of hideous Mutoids, matter-transporter beams, and low-gravity zones. How will the valiant space traveler ever get back to Earth? Every step is a choice; every choice has its risks and rewards. In each of Patrick Burston's Choose-Your-Challenge gamebooks, the reader is assigned a task, then put in control of the direction the story will take. Each page is a new opportunity to alter the course of destiny--at least for this adventure. Along the way, the brave pathfinder will encounter obstreperous obstacles, maddening mazes, mathematical enigmas, and puzzles to perplex even the most clever clue seekers. The way each problem is solved determines which page to turn to next. Often, the intrepid explorer will reach the brink of success, only to be banished to the beginning again, perhaps this time choosing more adroitly among the plethora of permutations for each story.




They are part of the "Choose-your-own-Challenge" series. They were written by Patrick Burston and Illustrated by Alastair Graham.


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