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Story Time with Sara: Diary of a Minecraft Zombie by Herobrine Books
Diary of a Minecraft Zombie Book #1: A Scare of a Dare (Volume 1)
written by Herobrine Books
published by Herobrine Publishing, Inc., 2015
find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Book Depository, Goodreads
Did I enjoy this book: This book was mildly entertaining. I have to say that my 3.5-year-old enjoyed it MUCH more than I did. It’s a very neat idea and I enjoyed the concept and the novelty of it, but it fell pretty flat for me personally. The plot line was very loosely tied together throughout the book. In fact, it took half the book before the “journal entries” started showing any sort of story arc.
The style of the writing was very much like you would expect a 12-year-old to write in a personal journal . . . which I guess is what they were going for. However, that means that there were no paragraphs, no character development, no educational value, limited vocabulary, and simple sentence structure. In other words, there was nothing to challenge or stretch the mind. All of these characteristics are things that I look for in the chapter books I read to my kids because I don’t just want to entertain them;I also want to expose them to new language and concepts.
Now, that being said, my 3-year-old really doesn’t care about those particular things a darn bit. He thought it was a funny story about characters from, “Mind-craft, that game I play with Daddy.” That is why this book got 3 stars instead of 2.
Would I recommend it: OK, so I’ve been fairly critical however, there is definitely and place for this book. This could be a great gateway book for older, independent, Minecraft-obsessed readers (8-12) who aren’t already interested in the wonderful world of books. It takes familiar concepts, characters, and settings and delivers a story written in their language that they can relate to. Even, better yet, this is just the first book in the series so there are more books to keep your kids reading.
While Diary of a Minecraft Zombie isn’t the best fit for us, it might be just what you and your family need to inspire a lifelong love of reading and get that middle-schooler away from the computer screen for a few hours. I discovered that the whole series is available on AmazonUnlimited for free, so we might check them out on my iPad, but I don’t think we will be purchasing any more in the series. So I guess my recommendation depends on what you are looking for in an early reader chapter book.
Chrissy here . . . to follow up on Sara’s review, I have to say that my 7-year-old LOVES this series, which is a play off of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I agree that these books would be great gateway books for reluctant readers, but my son was already a reader when he first read Diary of a Minecraft Zombie and he added the entire series (and other spin-offs) to his TBR pile, which is quite long. My son wants to read the books. He has asked for more in the series. He reads them without being asked to pick up a book and read. He also reads them to his younger brother, and they laugh a lot. So, I have to say THANK YOU to Melissa for introducing my son to this series.
About the book – from Goodreads: Diary of a Minecraft Zombie Has a Fresh New Look!
Ever wonder what it would be like to be a Minecraft Zombie?
In the first book of this hilarious Minecraft adventure series, we get to read the diary of an actual 12 year old, Minecraft Zombie. Take a peek at what is really going on between the hollow eyes, and dead expression that we normally see when we face the dreaded Zombies of Minecraft.
Are Zombies really different from us? You’ll be surprised at what you discover. So, jump into this Minecraft adventure and find out!.
Diary of a Zombie is a must-read for any kid who loves Minecraft. Kids ages 7+ can’t wait to jump into to these Minecraft adventures!
