A new kids book out this week tackles big, serious themes about war, liberty, security — even the purpose of a nation. It's called Minecraft: The Village.
It's author says Minecraft — yes, the video game — is a great vehicle for teaching life lessons.
Who is he? Author Max Brooks is best known for his meticulously researched guides on the zombie apocalypse and Bigfoot.
- His work has led to a position at the Modern War Institute at West Point, where he speaks to the military about preparedness.
What's the big deal? In Minecraft: The Village, the third book in his trilogy, Brooks tackles some serious issues.
- The series is based on the inescapably popular world-building video game, and follows two heroes, Guy and Summer, who are transported from our world to the world of Minecraft.
- After settling in a little town, the heroes are forced to confront an entirely new set of challenges, when a war becomes an imminent presence in their lives.
- In Minecraft, you can run into anything from bad guys to extreme climates and unknown terrains. Players have to deal with danger, manage resources and plan ahead. For Brooks, that openness makes Minecraft the perfect vehicle to teach kids about adapting as they enter a world where things are always changing.
What's he saying? Brooks spoke with NPR reporter Andrew Limbong about introducing heavier topics to children to help them understand their world.
On his motivation for including themes of war:
Ukraine was a big [inspiration.] When I first started writing the book, I honestly thought that maybe I was going a little bit too intense because, in the book, the village has to go to war. They don't want it. They didn't ask for it, but it comes to them. And I know that that's an important lesson to impart because that's the story of human history. But I thought, am I going to get a lot of pushback for going there? And then the Ukraine war happened, and then it became a necessity.
Want more on books? Listen to Consider This on the financial and emotional toll book bans are taking on librarians across the U.S.
On using the structure of technology to teach life lessons:
When I was coming up, big revolutionary changes in technology or in economics or politics — that happened maybe once in a generation. As a Gen X-er, the movie [for our generation] was Reality Bites. And in it, Ethan Hawke goes off on this rant about, like, "What am I supposed to do? Get a job at a factory like my dad for 20 years?" And now we think, like, no, dude, you'd be lucky to get that job.
So change is going to be the constant. So literally, nowadays, life is a video game that's constantly updating, and you're going to have to update with it.
How'd he arrive here?
- Growing up, Brooks struggled in school with dyslexia. And his mother, the famous actor Anne Bancroft, quit acting to help him get through school. She taught him that problems are a lot less scary if you are prepared — true both in our world and in Minecraft.
- Minecraft: The Village is out now.
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