Tunnel of Terror

The plot of Tunnel of Terror begins with you being absorbed in your earbuds and not paying attention to the OBVIOUS yellow caution tape. You fall down an open utility hole into some weird tunnel far below. The only reason you don’t die is because you land on a corpse of some innocent city worker who met the same demise (without the cushioning corpse beneath him - R.I.P. city worker). The important details that follow are that you see that the worker has bite marks and scratches all over his face that he could not have done himself and that the ladder to the top has been violently ripped out. What are you going to do? There are many options and many different stories that you have to maneuver. You’ve got 12 ways to survive and oh-so-many ways to not. Good luck reader!!

To be clear, this reviewer is a sucker for choose your ending stories. When received in the mail, it automatically gets a four star and has to remarkably disappoint to get less. Now that the reviewer has clarified this, it is hoped you keep reading because this story was really fun to read to kids aloud, and I am sure it will entertain so many readers.

Jeff Szpirglas has provided many choose your own ending books, including Horror House. This review of Tunnel of Terror<.> provided the reviewer and the six classes that were given this as a read-aloud a lot of fun. Remember that the reviewer loves these books. The classes loved this book too! The reviewer kept the audience on guard by insisting that they be prepared to have their own choice if asked and only once would the class be asked to vote for the choice as a whole. It is important to note here that the reviewer did a second class reading of a choose your own ending by another author whose series rhymes with Loosebumps and there was no comparison! Jeff Szpirglas destroyed the competition. The material was relevant and connected more to the kids.

Specifically, the reviewer and the kids enjoyed the language used by the author. There were words used that challenged the intended audience. This is not a bad thing to do because it invites conversation and questions. When the words “sheer folly” come up in one scenario, it is a great time to investigate the context and definition of the words. The kids enjoyed guessing at the meaning of new words, and some already knew their meaning based on the context and their own experiences. The humour embedded in this book is excellent. Every ending has its own little pun which only adds to the dismay of defeat or the value of victory!

After all the glowing remarks this reviewer has made, it may be surprising that not one class survived their Szpirglas story experience. The reviewer particularly enjoyed this aspect of the story which some might find troubling. This reviewer used the experience as one that should build reading endurance to try again which is an excellent reason to share this type of story.