Dungeons and Drama by Kristy Boyce
Sticking to the D&D theme!
Riley “borrowed” her mother’s car to drive a few hours away to see a musical with her friend. Now, she is being punished by having to work at her dad’s game store for two months.
On her first day at her dad’s store, she meets one of her new coworkers, Nathan. Nathan and Riley know each other from school, but they do not belong in the same crowd. Nathan loves games, and Riley loves the theatre.
Let the drama begin! Riley’s ex-boyfriend, Paul, broke up with her when he got the lead in the summer musical. Then he started dating his co-star after telling her he would be “too busy” with rehearsal to date. Anyway, he shows up at the game store with his new girlfriend. Rude. He also always brings up the breakup, like “how are you holding up?”, “Are you okay seeing me with someone else?”. It’s annoying, and I feel he is doing it to rub it in that he has someone new and she doesn’t. It doesn’t feel like he is being genuine. It’s the perfect amount of drama to pull you into the story!
Riley can’t stand this, so when Paul says something like, “You’ll find someone eventually,” she shouts out that she is already dating someone, and the only name she can think of is “Nathan.” Now, Riley fake-dates Nathan so that Paul won’t think she is a loser, and Nathan goes along with this because he is trying to make a girl named Sophia jealous. What could possibly go wrong?!?!
I don’t understand how to play D&D, but I like how the book points out how playing this game can help out in real life. It’s a role-playing game, so you need to be good at speaking with others, improvisation, and performing (presenting). I think these skills help you as you work with other people because you learn to think on your feet and gain confidence when speaking in a group. I might have to start having D&D in the library again!
Four out of Five Magical Coffee Cups
Literary Coffee 