Game On! Critters

Game On! Critters by Emily Snape. EK Books 2024. MG Paperback RRP $16.99. ISBN 9781922539984.

Reviewed by Debra Williams

It’s a swelteringly hot summer in the school holidays. Max is feeding the neighbour’s cat while they are away, a task to be carried out every two hours. His mother has officially entered a new relationship with his history teacher, Larry, (ugh!) who has a bullying son, Josh. Max’s Mum wants him to go outside and meet with his friends, and play footie, but he has other ideas. He just wants to stay in his room, in his PJs, and play his latest video game obsession, “Mars Rover.” 

When his mother announces that she needs to go out, she tells Max to keep an eye on the oven where she is baking something. Max sets the timer for one hour, so he won’t forget to turn the oven off. However, his increasingly annoying younger brother Liam constantly torments him with a phone app game, which causes Max to lose all his game health points. The app is a “Would You Rather?” question-and-answer game, of which Max has had more than enough.

“Just let me play!” he yells at Liam. Max loses his temper and throws the phone against the wall.  And that’s when life changes dramatically!

The boys are thrust into a live app game, (run by the evil AI-generated Shrinkle’s cat), where choosing the incorrect true or false answer could have dire consequences. They progressively find themselves turned into fleas, mice, pigeons and cheetahs. With each change, they must answer a seemingly impossible true or false question about the creatures.

The two brothers need to work together to try and beat the app and the incredible questions the cat dishes up. They must decide which option to choose to help them survive the next round. Meanwhile, the alarm clock is ticking down until the hour when the oven needs to be switched off. The race is then on for the boys to be turned back into humans before the house burns down.

While this is a fun fictional story for readers aged 8-12 years, with themes of teamwork and persistence, it is peppered with animal facts, and teacher notes are available.