Crossroads England

On the east coast of England there's a stretch of mud where, in 1216, a king lost everything: wagons, horses, and, they say, the crown jewels. The tide took it in one afternoon. It's still there. Nobody knows where.

Your mom's airline sent her to Norfolk. In Grandpa's box, the paper says: The Wash. Ask for the samphire woman. The tide doesn't argue. You told your mom you were at Ben's. You weren't. Lucky is looking at the water. You decide.

A gamebook for readers 9 to 12 where every choice has real consequences. Teo is twelve. His mom fixes airplanes, and when an airline somewhere in the world has a plane it can't fix, they send her - for months. So he knows what it's like to land where he doesn't know anyone. This time he's landed in a flat, wet country where the sea comes in faster than you can run, and he's the kid who says "I didn't" and "I was at Ben's" to get out of small trouble. It works, until it doesn't. The book gives him a tide table, an old woman who reads the mud, a dog who knows when he's fibbing, and it remembers every small lie.

• 12 endings - three good, one secret, two that hurt. No wrong answers. Consequences.
• A real legend - King John's baggage train, swallowed by the Wash in October 1216, in the words of the monk who wrote it down, documented at the back of the book.
• 2 secret phrases - one in medieval Latin, one in old Norfolk dialect. Understand both and you'll know which ending was waiting at the bend.
• Fully illustrated, 6×9, about 100 pages. Two afternoons for a fast reader; a week for one who likes to try every path.

For parents: there is no lecture in these pages. Nobody in this book calls Teo a liar. Every small lie closes a door he'll need later, and the best ending isn't about never lying: it goes to the kid who tells the truth one minute before the water. A short note at the end tells you what to ask when they finish.

CROSSROADS is a collection of stand-alone adventures: same kid, same dog, same coin, a different country and a different challenge every time. Read them in any order. Start with any one.