Spring has sprung and if your YA reading list needs some mystery and suspense then you have come to the right place! Our second Weekend Picks for the month of April is brought to us by Professor Ashlynn Wittchow from Louisiana State University who has a great YA pick for your weekend.
 Ashlynn Wittchow | Dr. Ashlynn Wittchow is an assistant professor of English education at Louisiana State University, where she teaches pre-service teachers enrolled in the Geaux Teach program. Prior to moving into higher education, she worked with middle and high students across South Carolina, New Jersey, and New York. Her writing has appeared in Changing English, English Journal, English Education, and other NCTE publications. Much like the characters in her weekend pick, she enjoys playing escape games in her spare time and has successfully escaped almost fifty rooms to date. She can be reached at [email protected]. |
The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss
| The Escape Game, by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss, follows an ensemble cast of puzzle-solving teenagers who have been thrown into a murder investigation during an escape-room themed reality television competition. The previous season ended in tragedy when its star contestant, Alicia Angelos, was discovered murdered on set. The world suspects her goth-glam sister, Sierra Angelos, who was spotted arguing with her sister on the night of the murder. However, the police are unable to make an arrest without evidence. When the new season starts filming, Sierra returns to the competition, determined to clear her name. She begins investigating alongside her teammates—Carter, Beck, and Adi—only to discover strange clues within each escape room that seem to point to the real killer. I have often found that the most compelling murder mysteries invite the reader to solve the crime. The Escape Game is no exception. Starting in the opening pages, the authors leave clues scattered throughout fast-paced chapters that almost resemble reality television confessionals. |  |
Through these alternating perspectives, it becomes clear that characters are keeping secrets, leaving readers to puzzle over cryptic messages and complex character motivations alike.
 Marissa Meyer | In particular, puzzle solvers will enjoy the multigenre elements interspersed throughout the novel, which include detailed escape room maps, newspaper clippings, and online forums. I found these elements particularly immersive, and it is worthwhile to pause to search them for clues. The escape room design was clever as well. The narration takes care to give the readers the information needed to solve puzzles alongside the characters. As an escape room enthusiast, I was impressed with the game mechanics, which included pigpen ciphers, scytale ciphers, and key word ciphers. It is clear that the authors have done their research! |
| In short, The Escape Game is the perfect puzzle box for readers on the lookout for a whodunnit that works on multiple levels. In the classroom, the escape room premise would make it a natural fit to introduce students to locked-room mysteries, a popular subgenre in mystery fiction that feature an “impossible” crime. Teachers can invite students to recognize how modern locked-room mysteries build on earlier works in the genre, including Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” which is usually considered the first locked-room mystery. The Escape Game could be incorporated into thematic literature circles alongside other young adult murder mysteries as well. Similar texts include One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga, and Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson. |  Tamara Moss |
Taught in a classroom setting, The Escape Game practically begs teachers to consider how to incorporate educational escape games into the classroom. Though escape games can be time-consuming to create, there are numerous free templates and resources on the internet, which can help streamline planning for teachers who might be otherwise unfamiliar with cryptograms. In a unit on mystery fiction, teachers might consider creating educational escape games designed to review vocabulary specific to mystery fiction, including red herrings, alibis, and modus operandi. In my own classroom, I have found the prep work to be worth it. There is nothing more thrilling than watching students work together to beat the buzzer, totally unaware how much they are learning in the process!
Don’t miss out on this thrilling new release! The Escape Game can be purchased here.
Don’t miss out on this thrilling new release! The Escape Game can be purchased here.
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