Meanwhile 

by Jason Shiga

Meanwhile is a reader interactive graphic novel/comic strip designed with mazes and color-coded tabs that have the reader decide the course the story will take. According to the book cover, “there are 3,856 story possibilities.” The first scene is of a boy named Jimmy at an ice cream shop and the first choice the reader must make for him is chocolate or vanilla ice cream. From there, he can go home and talk to his dad or find his way to Professor K’s lab and from there he can decide if he wants to play with a time machine or a machine called a Killitron or a squid and from there he can decide if he wants to go back in time or go forward and from there…you get the idea.

This book seems like it would be appealing to middle school kids who are interested in graphic novels and I can see them reading the book together to explore the different plot possibilities. It’s a pretty cool concept that took me a while to get used to because, at first, I found it a little confusing. I’m used to linear types of books, I guess.

Shiga, J. (2010). Meanwhile. New York, NY: Amulet Books.