Fiction on gaming

A couple of new YA fiction books about gaming have recently been published and are must reads for teacher librarians, library staff, teachers, parents and of course young adults themselves.

I recently read and reviewed For the win by Cory Doctorow. Covering a global approach to gaming, much of this book is actually based in fact. It’s quite scary to think that economies are influenced by the invisible and virtual gaming economy and that young adults can earn more money from gaming than their currently parents earn. For the win is available in paperback or ebook format and the ebook download is free. My review is here, thanks to CMIS.

Helen Boelens alerted me to another new book, this one by Salman Rushdie.  Helen explains that “Luka and the Fire of Life makes references to Super Mario and there is a strong connection between the story and the video game.” Information about this book from The Huffington Post is available here and a review by The Guardian is available here.

It seems (and it is) a long time ago that Space Demons was published. However I think that these books are an excellent way of discussion and coming to terms with gaming and how it affects our young adults. We can build on this information. Remember that the 2010 K12 Horizon Report assessed gaming as becoming mainstream in education in 2-3 years. One of those years has almost passed.

8 thoughts on “Fiction on gaming

  1. Brain Jack by Brian Falkner just arrived in my library from Junior Library Guild and has a gaming theme. Planning book talks on gaming books for National Gaming Day@ your library in November. thanks for these suggestions. Would love to hear more. I know of Heir Apparent by Vande Velde as well.

  2. Gamer’s Quest by George Ivanoff was published earlier this year by Ford Street Publishing, and it’s definitely one for the gamers, particularly accessible to middle readers. 🙂

  3. I haven’t read the two more recent novels you mentioned, but studied Space Demons when I was in year 8 (1996). As a gamer I found the novel incredibly patronising and out of touch/date. I sure hope more recent novels that try to focus on gaming actually pull it off. I truly believe that gaming has amazing potential in education, but it’s really hard to convince older colleagues of this when their only connection through it is from stories (novels, movies, and tv shows) that just do it justice.

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