Checkmate at Chess City - Hardcover

Harper, Piers

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 076362165X ISBN 13: 9780763621650

Publisher: Candlewick Press, 2004

Synopsis

"The mazes are satisfyingly tricky . . . and puzzle-minded kids who are beyond WHERE'S WALDO? should enjoy this for hours." — BOOKLIST

Chess City has been captured! The king and queen are missing, and it’s up to readers to rescue them. As children learn how each chess piece moves, their task is to strategically maneuver knights, pawns, bishops, and rooks through mazes filled with hungry wolves, dangerous swamp monsters, and poisonous spiders. Each step leads them closer to the captive king and queen, in a perfect introduction to the challenges and excitement of a real game of chess. Now, with a compact chess board at their fingertips, they’ll be eager to put their skills to the test!

About this title

About the Author:

Illustrator who won the Sheffield Children's Picture Book Award in 2003 for 'Snow Bear'. Illustrator who won the Sheffield Children's Picture Book Award in 2003 for 'Snow Bear'.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Harper (Snakes and Ladders, 1997) has produced an intense and eye-catching puzzle book intended to teach basic strategies of chess. Each full-color, double-page spread shows a chessboard courtyard in Chess City. The black king and queen have been “captured,” and the reader must move the different black pieces across each courtyard to the rescue. Each page is, actually, a maze; various pitfalls wait on squares, and readers have to figure out how to get each piece from the marked “start” to the “finish,” moving only as the piece allows. Except for the different patterns of movement then, each page employs the exact same strategy, making this more of a drill in piece movement than a book of actual chess strategies. Each chessboard courtyard is vastly larger than a real board’s 64 squares, and the perspective and busyness of the spreads may strain some eyes. The mazes are satisfyingly tricky, however, and puzzle-minded kids who are beyond Where’s Waldo should enjoy this for hours. A text box toward the end tells a little more about “The Game of Chess.” Although it doesn’t deliver all it promises in strategy and excitement, this is an enjoyable game book. (Nonfiction. 7-10) -- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Candlewick Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 076362165X
• ISBN 13: 9780763621650
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 28
• Illustrator: Harper Piers