5-Minute Adventure Stories for Minecrafters: Extreme Stories From the Extreme Hills by Greyson Mann

My name is Sophia, and my adventures with Zack and Anthony have gotten exciting and dangerous. I
was lucky to have milk or Zack might have died from the bite of a cave spider. Anthony slipped and almost burned up in molten lava. Okay, we've found a huge diamond, some gold, and treasure chests, but we've also suffered from starvation, zombies, and more spiders! Every time we saw a spawn, something terrible popped out of it. Its been wonderful exploring with Zack and Anthony, but I hope we'll be able to survive the skeletons and Endermen and escape this world. And then start our next adventure!

I received an advance copy from the publisher, and its appropriate for readers younger than the target audience for my blog. As the title suggests, the book was made up of short stories that could be read very quickly. I've never played Minecraft, and I'm guessing it would have helped me understand some of the terms used. I didn't know what creepers, spawns, and mobs were, but I started to figure them out after awhile. The characters faced deadly spiders, zombies, lava, and bats, as they searched for treasures in the mountains and caves. The bats weren't that bad except to Zack, who was deathly afraid of them. The boys seemed to be more obsessed with treasure hunting, while Sophia was more concerned with keeping all of them alive. She seemed braver and more level-headed than the boys. Her remedies were healthy, as she helped her pals with milk and vegetables. While the plots were appropriate for younger readers, the battles with spiders and zombies offered a taste of more mature reading. There was nothing bad about the stories, but slaying zombies or spiders weren't the most innocent things characters could do. This book will be great for lovers of Minecraft and adventure stories for young readers. I'm thinking of using it with some primary students I'll be tutoring.