When Packard wrote this book he must've been obsessed with mice. The book is full of 'em and sometimes you're one of them. During the course of this book you find yourself in an old haunted house that's inhabited by a witch. More of a "escape the curse" type of book, there are no ghosts in the story. The only evil is the witch and her cat. It's a good book if you like to read about sneaking around a house where there's a good chance that you'll either be dead or marked for life. But if it's mystery you want, look somewhere else.

On your vacation in CT you notice a huge, empty stone house at the top of the hill. Some of the windows are boarded up. Some are covered with vines. The old house, known at "Chimney Rock," is so dark and gloomy that most people won't go near it.

But you are the curious type. Should you see for yourself what's inside? Your cousin urges you to go ahead.

What will you do....you choose.

Fans of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" series will want to pick this one up if they ever see it in libraries or used bookstores. This is the series in its early prime, with originator Edward Packard at the helm. He creates a plausible haunted house with a somewhat original cat-and-mouse theme, some genuine terror for kids, and a fine atmosphere.

As a sixth grade teacher, I rarely see my students as fired up to read a novel as they are about the Choose Your Own Adventure series, especially The Mystery of Chimney Rock. They beg me to read to them and often fight over what few copies I have. Kids love to feel like they are in charge of something important and exciting, especially at the middle school age. The Mystery of Chimney Rock is consistent and doesn't contradict itself no matter how your story comes out. The circumstances the reader chooses dictate the action, not the author's manipulating the characters to influence the story. Suspenseful and nailbiting! Students feel genuinely involved and downright nervous as to whether they will live or die in the book.

This isn't the best Choose Your Own Adventure book, but one of the best. It follows a good plot, and it has a mild amount of action. The best part of the book is probably the Tour of America race. That part is well written and follows a good sequence of events.

So overall, this is a pretty good book, but, as I said earlier, not the best. Still, give it a try. You may like it.

I would love to fly in the air and be the best biker with the best bike and do amazing things. Although I do have a pretty good bike.

Return to the cave of time is fun because I like how I get to choose whatever I would do in real life instead of going along with the character in the book. I also like how the author writes with excitement and scariness at the same time. I would recommend it for starting readers.

Another great sequel to that mysterious cave of time. This is a great book. Any "choose your own adventure" lover should read it (if its available) It shouldn't be out of print!

This one is better than the original "Cave of Time," which kicked off this fascinating series. Packard is the best of the series authors, and by this time he has it down to a science.

I was really excited about this book. Peas, peas and yet more peas -- it sounds like a great way to visually present the idea of exponential growth in mathematics. The execution of this idea, however, is only moderately successful.

This is only my opinion and may not be true for all readers, but I found the presentation inhibited rather than clarified the concept. Sometimes two pictures were on the same page and the graphics were very busy -- many characters, inserts and dialogue balloons detracted from the impact of seeing a growing pile of peas. Perhaps you remember the film "Powers of Ten" that showed a couple picnicking and then distanced the camera from them exponentially; that film was elegant and evocative. This was pretty messy. As I said, though, this is my opinion and kids may love it.

We are in the process of buying our second copy of this book for another grandchild, because we are impressed with the fun but intelligent way it presents for children the concepts associated with big numbers. It is a pleasure to see a book for children that presents fundamental scientific principles with fun and wonder. It's a winner.

Learning that "you" are a nerdy-looking kid with glasses isn't exactly an auspicious way to begin a story. For some of us, that's quite enough of a nightmare. But in BITING FOR BLOOD, that's just the beginning. As the protagonist of several possible adventures, you may encounter blood-drinking neighbors, drugged cookies, a vanishing journalist ... you might even wake up in a coffin! And then again, you might not. It all depends on your own choices in this book that starts with a strange-looking new neighbor, missing persons, and a deer found drained of blood.

BITING FOR BLOOD is nicely, if not too generously, illustrated with bats, pointy-toothed vampires, and, yes, "you": You at the soda shop with friends; you fleeing an attacking bat; you asleep in bed with a vampire whetting her fangs over you. The possible endings range from chilling to silly, with most falling somewhere between. Before you arrive at one, you may be chased by a real vampire, cornered by a growling dog, or scared silly by ... something ... pounding at the window. Quick, get the garlic!

Most of the endings have an inconclusive flavor, maybe to encourage readers to see if another set of choices will yield something more satisfying. The stories themselves are too short to build a very high level of suspense, but for the book's intended audience -- younger readers -- there's enough action and mystery to keep the pages turning until all possibilities have been explored.

An amazing book, the sort that attracts your eye in a libary or bookstore. And its as good on the inside as it is on the outside! Whether your a vampire fan, choose-your-own-adveture-stlye-book fan, or even just looking for something to read, read this and you will be mesmerised! I was! the night I read this I was clutching a cross I made from sticks (I'm allergic to garlic!).

This book was excellent, it was extremely enjoyable and I highly recommend it.

I recently purchased several "choose your own adventure" books for my 6 year old son, and this was the worst of the bunch. In our first read through he only got to make one choice and the adventure ended! Yes, we flipped a lot of pages, but there were no choices to be made. However, in looking through the book, most of the other choices seemed to result in a painful (and arbitrary) death. While it makes sense for some choices to be bad ones, this seemed a bit discouraging.

The choose your own adventure books are a great idea and we have enjoyed many of them - just not this one.

Dinosaur Island is a great book! I recomend you read it. In Dinosaur Island you choose your own adventure. Depending on your choice of actions you go to a diffrent page of the book. It all depends on YOU! That's why this book is so great. There are thirteen diffrendt endings and in each adventure there are a lot of choices. The ending can be good or bad depending on you. So read this book! You won't regret it!

This book was overall both a learning book and a fun kids book for all ages. It showed you pictures and names of dinosaurs, and was really entertaining of escaping, dinosaur encounters, and the volcano. I would not want to be killed by the dinosaur or the volcano. I'm also glad this isn't real. But it's exciting, no matter what.

I don't feel these books let you got the feel of a book. I read 3 of these books each one I feel is a flop. The books are confusing you have to go flipping through the pages to get to where you need to read. If you mess up and end up wanting to go back to read what would of happened if you did the other choice you have to flip the pages to find where you were. I have read a lot of books these I do not consider these books good books. I am very displeased. If you want to buy these books I suggest that you first read one to see if you like the setup and if you like the story. I also feel the writers don't go into enough detail in the storys. You don't get any feedback. No emotinal feedback at all. It is all so fast because they have to have 15 different endings instead of 1 ending where you get into more detail. I would not recommend buying any of these books until you get on from the library, and see if you like the way the books are setup. And if you like the storys.

I read this book, back in the early 80's, as a young grade school student. I still remember this book in particular today. Considering I don't remember much from that long ago, it is saying something. There is constant suspense, the choices make you feel like you are leading the action. I think that the cyoa series, is a wonderful tool to motivate young children.

This book is about a private detective who decides to be a ghost hunter. You go to the gray mansion with Jenny. When you get there, Jenny climps up on the roof while you go upstairs to the attic. There you find Louis, a teenager who ran away from home. I like this book because it is a Choose Your Own Adventure book. Choose Your Own Adventure books are fun to read.

This may in fact be the best of the entire "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, which is saying something, since this was always an interesting series, especially in its early days. Packard is the master of the genre, and the tangled web herein is suspenseful and atmospheric. Lots of fun for kids.

For me, this was the book that got me addicted at the age of 9! Edward Packard is a genius and one of my American heroes for inventing such an amazing literary genre! Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey? is a great mystery, full of suspense and interesting character development. It also stands out from the early CYOA books because it only contains 14 endings, thus making for a longer story.

This book was also one of the few selected to be published as a Grey Castle Press hardcover!

Choose Your Own Adventure books, I mean the Bantam Books ones, are the best! I want them all! It's amazing - the earlier ones are from around 1980 or even before, and can still be enjoyed thoroughly, as if they were written yesterday!