{{Short description, Children's Gamebook Twistaplot is a series of

children's A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

gamebooks A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not ...

that were published by Scholastic from 1982 to 1985. Books #1, #4, #9, and #14 were written by

R.L. Stine Robert Lawrence Stine (; born October 8, 1943) is an American novelist. He is the writer of '' Goosebumps,'' a horror fiction novel series which has sold over 400 million copies globally in 35 languages, becoming the second- best-selling book ...

, who would go on to write the ''

Fear Street ''Fear Street'' is a teenage horror fiction series written by American author R. L. Stine, starting in 1989. In 1995, a series of books inspired by the ''Fear Street'' series, called '' Ghosts of Fear Street'', was created for younger readers, ...

'' series and the ''

Goosebumps ''Goosebumps'' is a series of children's horror novels written by American author R. L. Stine. The protagonists in these stories are teens or pre-teens who find themselves in frightening circumstances, often involving the supernatural, the p ...

'' series, which in turn spawned the gamebook spin-off series '' Give Yourself Goosebumps''. The remaining books were written by various authors including Louise Munro Foley. They were Scholastic's response to the ''

Choose Your Own Adventure ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' is a series of children's gamebooks where each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actio ...

'' series. After the success of the ''Goosebumps'' series, the Twistaplot titles that were written by R. L. Stine were reissued with new covers in 1994 and 1995.

Style and gameplay

Twistaplot covers a wide variety of genres, including

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

, and horror. Similar to the '' Give Yourself Goosebumps'' series, they are

novels A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of '' ...

with branching plots. The books are written from the second-person perspective, in present-tense form. The protagonist in each book is never referred to by name, and the protagonist's gender is usually ambiguous. Thus readers can easily imagine themselves as the protagonist of the story. Unlike the ''Give Yourself Goosebumps'' series, the books have interior illustrations.

Spin-offs

After the success of Twistaplot, the series spawned a series of computer games for Scholastic's electronic magazine, ''Microzine''. It also spawned another gamebook spin-off titled ''Pick-a-Path'', which was intended for a younger audience.

Books

Twistaplot

#''The Time Raider'' #''The Train of Terror'' #''The Formula for Trouble'' #''Golden Sword of Dragonwalk'' #''The Sinister Studios of KESP-TV'' #''Crash Landing!'' #''The Video Avenger'' #''Race into the Past'' #''Horrors of the Haunted Museum'' #''Mission of the Secret Spy Squad'' #''Camp-Out on Danger Mountain'' #''Journey to Vernico 5'' #''Midnight at Monster Mansion'' #''Instant Millionaire'' #''Spellcaster'' #''Secrets of the Lost Island'' #''Ghost Riders of Goldspur'' #''Calling Outer Space''

Pick-a-Path

#''The Dandee Diamond Mystery'' #''The Roller Coaster Ghost'' #''The Great Baseball Championship'' #''The Amazing Bubblegum Caper'' #''The Super Trail Bike Race'' #''Mystery at Mockingbird Manor'' #''The Fantastic Journey of the Space Shuttle Astra'' #''The Magic Top Mystery'' #''Jungle Adventure'' #''The Mystery of the Missing Mummy'' #''Dinosaur Adventure'' #''The Ballerina Mystery'' #''The Secret of 13'' #''RIM, The Rebel Robot'' #''The Hot Dog Gang Caper'' #''Adventure at Camp Schoonover'' #''Murf the Monster''

External links

Twistaplot at Gamebooks.org
Gamebooks Series of children's books Scholastic Corporation books