[Ad- gifted product] Minecraft has been a favorite game in our home for quite some time. At one point, the eldest had a Minecraft themed room, complete with a DIY Minecraft Dresser, and had a Minecraft themed party as well. When it comes to official Minecraft Books, Kai has a grand collection. He has a book of Minecraft Maps, all of the encyclopaedias, many survival guides, and a few unofficial stories that he enjoys dipping into. Minecraft: The Haven Trials is a new, official Minecraft Adventure Story, that takes you into the world of Minecraft, following Cece, who is dealing with a lot of the same stuff Kai is dealing with at his game.
Cece is a young tween-aged girl, going into secondary school. Sadly, her best friend has moved away, across the country, and now she is facing secondary school without her very best friend. Trying to connect through Minecraft, her only hope at staying friends with her best friend, has ended up being harder than she thought it would be, as the owner of the server, a person called Ocury, has created a bunch of trials that need to be done, in order to hang out with her friend. It’s a really hard challenge, that requires playing with new friends and old friends, to actually make it through.
Kai has just gone into secondary school, and in the UK, not all of your friends actually end up going to the same secondary, and instead apply all around. Kai ended up going into school with his very best friend, but some of his other friends ended up in other schools around the town. He has been taking to a variety of online games to stay in touch, and using chat servers like Discord, in order to keep connected – so he really understood the story around trying to stay friends with someone who you are no longer seeing anymore, but that you did see daily.
Minecraft: The Haven Trials is written in a way that is very relatable to children. Things like a child moving away or a Minecraft world being deleted isn’t the biggest thing in life, but to tweens, it sure feels like it. Cece faces these challenges, and has relatable adults who seem to not understand why it is a big deal. If she dies a set number of times in the trials, she actually gets banned from the server, and has no real way to contact her friend anymore – which feels like a massive pressure. Add that with a new school, not being with your friend, bullies, and a server full of griefers, and there is a lot of intense moments full of tense situations. Minecraft: The Haven Trials is clearly a book written by someone who has played a lot of Minecraft and enjoys the worlds within it.
As Kai has been reading Minecraft: The Haven Trials, he has been telling us all about it, chapter by chapter, as he got more absorbed into the world. He seemed to enjoy and get more out of the chapters that took place in the Minecraft world, quickly reading through (and not relaying much) the chapters that were in real life, as the tense moments and impossible tasks of the Minecraft World were his major draw. Minecraft: The Haven Trials is a well-written, Minecraft Adventure chapter book, that clearly knows it’s target audience and hits their age group well.
He sounds like he’s really enjoyed this book. It’s a great way to get reluctant readers picking up a book too if it’s about their favourite game
It is such a good way to get them into reading!
My nephew is a huge Minecraft fan. Based on this review, I think he would love this book. It certainly sounds relatable to kids. I have added to my notes to purchase for him! Thanks!
It is such a good book!
My ten-year-old is an avid Minecraft Fan. I’ll surprise him with this book.
Amazing, I hope he enjoys it as much as Kai has!
I love books like this – that speak to what kids are actually interested in. We have 2 minecraft fans here.
Minecraft fans seem to be everywhere! 🙂
It’s cool that there are book versions of things like minecraft as it’s a great way of getting kids who love the game interested in reading. Sounds like a good story x
And often, you need all the help you can get to get kids reading!
Oh, I love when children enjoy a good read! I will save this book for the future, my little one is learning the alphabet, but I can not wait for her to start properly getting into books!
It is great that she is learning the alphabet!
I have a nephew that would absolutely love this. I may have to buy this soon.
It is a great book!
Ok this is good to see that Minecraft is still popular. Wow these kids love Minecraft
It doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon!
Lessie is saving her pocket money for this , she isn’t far off now 🙂
Ohh I hope she enjoys it!