Edward Packard
| Edward Packard | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1931 (age 85–86) Huntington, New York, United States |
| Occupation | Author, writer, lawyer |
| Nationality | American |
| Genre | Adventure, children's literature, poetry, essays |
Edward Packard (born 1931) is an American author, in addition to his work as a lawyer, essayist, and poet. He was born in Huntington, New York. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Columbia Law School.
Packard came up with the original idea of writing second-person fiction, in which the reader makes choices that affects how the story unfolds, while thinking up bedtime stories for his children, who each clamored for a different ending to his stories. He published the first three books in this genre, originally called "The Adventures of You," after which Bantam Books offered him and his first publisher a contract for a series rebranded and made famous as the Choose Your Own Adventure series of children's books.
Packard wrote the first known book of this type, Sugarcane Island, in 1969, and arranged for it to be published in 1976 by Vermont Crossroads Press, owned by Constance Cappel and Raymond A. Montgomery, Jr. Packard explains in the foreword to the book that he developed what he originally called "the adventures of you" fiction format while trying to think up interesting bedtime stories for his three children (Andrea, Caroline and Wells). In Sugarcane Island, the shipwrecked reader travels around the titular island avoiding dangers at every turn. Many of the possible endings feature an unfortunate demise, although escape from the island is possible if the correct choices are made.
The Adventures of You on Sugarcane Island was the exact prototype for books in Bantam’s classic Choose Your Own Adventure series. In 1969, and 1970, the William Morris Agency submitted the book on Packard's behalf to several major publishers, all of whom rejected it. In 1976 Packard was able to get the book published by Vermont Crossroads Press. In its review of the book, Publishers Weekly called it "an original idea, well carried out."
In 1977-1978, Lippincott published Packard's next two books in the same format, Deadwood City and The Third Planet from Altair. Their covers alerted readers to their unusual nature with the rubrics "Choose Your Own Adventure in the Wild West" and "Choose Your Own Adventure in Outer Space."
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