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Edward Packard

Edward Packard is an American author best known for writing the Choose Your Own Adventure novel series. A pioneering interactive fiction author, he has been an acclaimed figure in the children's book industry since the first Choose Your Own Adventure book was published in 1979. Packard himself has written over a dozen books under the Choose Your Own Adventure series since then, which ultimately spawned an entire genre of children's literature.

Packard was born on February 17, 1931 in Bronxville, New York. He attended Middlebury College, where he graduated with a B.A. in English. After college, he became a copywriter for several advertising firms, and also wrote plays. His first literary success was the novel Wanted: A Friend, published in 1968.

It wasn't until 1975, when Packard was working as a freelance writer, that he began working on the Choose Your Own Adventure concept. The goal was to create a novel that gave children the chance to control the story's outcome by allowing them to make different choices as they read. Packard created 76 endings for his first book, Sugarcane Island, but when he shopped it to publishers, most weren't sure what to make of it.

Finally, in 1979, Bantam Books agreed to publish Choose Your Own Adventure novels. Packard wrote Sugarcane Island and Journey Under the Sea and was credited as the first and only author of the series. He then produced other titles, like Race Forever and Escape, to critical acclaim. Packard's Choose Your Own Adventure trilogy cemented the series as a stalwart in children's literature.

By 1997, over 175 Choose Your Own Adventure titles had been published. Packard had written twelve of them but was no longer actively involved with the series. Later that year, Chooseco, LLC was formed to exclusively manage the Choose Your Own Adventure umbrella of intellectual properties, and the company has since re-released some of Packard's original titles. It has also allowed video games, television shows, and other mediums to include elements from Packard's series.

Packard has since retired from full-time writing and lives in Vermont. He was interviewed by The New Yorker in 2014 where he recounted his experiences as an author. He expressed his belief that Choose Your Own Adventure books set children up to "make decisions, own their decisions, and live with their consequences"�valuable life lessons, in his opinion.

Edward Packard is credited as the forefather of the interactive fiction genre of books. His contributions to children's literature shaped a new way for readers to explore story lines and be part of the story. His titles have been reprinted and remastered for modern readers, and the Choose Your Own Adventure series remains one of the best-selling children's series of all times.

Bibliography

• The Adventures of You: Antarctic Adventures (1985)
• The Adventures of You: Caribbean Treasure Hunt (1986)
• The Adventures of You: Cowboy and WES Western (1981)
• The Adventures of You: Escape from the Maharaja's Castle (1981)
• The Adventures of You: Haunted Cave of the Zombie Witches (1996)
• The Adventures of You: Wheel of Fortune(1982)
• The Cay(1980)
• The Forgotten Island(1984)
• The Mystery of Chimney Rock (1985)
• The My-Tee Puppy (1984)
• The Secret Labyrinth (1985)
• Underrated: Or, How My Brother Got Into Harvard (1990)
• Up We Grow: A Year in the Life of a Small, Livable Community (1995)
• Woodsong(1984)