Creepers on the Crosswalk: a Minecraft Earth novel

Book Synopsis: Owen has been counting down the days until Minecraft Earth, the game of his dreams, is released. Now, it's here and it's better than he could ever have imagined. A mysterious figure, going by the name marchHARE, has hacked the game so that the whole city is one massive adventure. Everywhere you turn, the world of Minecraft is there. There are zombies in Owen's bedroom, Endermen at the end of the street, and happy Mooblooms chewing grass in the bathroom. To get to school, Owen has to trek through a shadowy jungle and when he gets there, kids are setting traps in the corridors and leaving notes for each other with signs that the teachers can't see. Owen and his best friend, tech-genius Aya, love living in a parallel universe that belongs just to them and the other kids. It's a place they can decide on their own rules, be who they want and literally build the world of their dreams. They couldn't be happier, but a storm is coming. No one knows who this marchHARE is or what they want. When the Minecraft world turns dark with hordes of zombies wandering the streets and kids getting hurt for real, Owen and Aya start to worry that it's nothing good…

Creepers on the Crosswalk is a thrilling adventure-comedy for kids eight to thirteen who love the game Minecraft Earth. It is filled with white-knuckle moments, elaborate mysteries to solve, real relationships and laugh-out-loud lines. It's Alice in Wonderland meets Artemis Fowl meets Diary of a Wimpy Kid set in the exciting world of Minecraft Earth. Readers' imaginations will be set on fire as they learn about the technology that makes their favourite game possible and consider when games might actually hurt us.

“We found diamonds! Yes!” Logan shouted. “Haha, you noobs,” he said, pointing at the other kids playing nearby on the playground. “We’ve got diamonds and you dooooon’t!”

“Oh boy,” Aya said. “Yeah…” Owen agreed. He watched as Henry and Logan stood together talking about the diamond pickaxes they were planning to make. “Hey,” Aya snapped her fingers twice next to Owen’s ear. “Wiring?”

“Oh.” Owen examined the right side of the doorframe, where Redstone wiring ran to a dispenser on top of the wall. Aya was better at this stuff than Owen. She was probably only asking to be nice. “Looks good,” he said and then pointed her phone up at the dispenser. “But what is that—”

“Great!” Aya grabbed back her phone as Owen watched it go. “Hey Logan!”

The boy turned, looking confused. “What?”

“That’s not a lot of diamonds. That’s nothing. I’ve been collecting a ton of diamonds,” she said. “Here.” Aya tapped on her phone to invite Logan and Henry to the buildplate for the fort. “I put them all in this chest,” she said. “Take a look.”

Logan raised an eyebrow at Henry and then walked toward Aya. Henry trailed behind, looking sideways at Owen. “You don’t have diamonds,” Logan said to Aya. “You have to do lots of adventures, and you don’t really—”

Logan came marching toward the double-doors and the wooden box past them. He stepped onto the block right in front of the doors which compressed slightly as he did. “That’s a pressure plate—” Owen started to say.

And then the dispenser overhead spat out a stream of lava right over Logan’s head. It flowed over him and pooled on the ground at his feet. Aya cackled. “Hey!” Logan said. His character had ‘died'. He’d been kicked off of the buildplate and could no longer see the fort. “Hey! You—” Aya couldn’t stop laughing. Even Owen sniggered. “Whatever…” Logan said, trying not to look annoyed. “I knew you didn’t have diamonds anyway!”

Aya was too busy laughing to bother with a comeback. The boys stomped away as Aya slowly came back to her senses. “Oh, man!” she said finally. “I love this game.”

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