29.8.12

Notable Novelists ~ a game

     "Notable Novelists is a card game($10.95) that increases awareness of and knowledge about 18 different 20th century authors." The game is played similar to Old Maid with a few twists. Each author has three cards. Players ask specific opponents if they have specific cards (an author card, bio card, or library card) for a specific author, so there is also a memory component to the game. After playing several times, the authors names became more familiar to us, so we were able to more quickly make sets. We only had two questions arise that were not covered clearly on the instruction card and we made our own rule for those. This game can be adapted by making changes to the rules.

     The author card has a cartoon character sketch of the author as well as their birthplace. The library cards each list three of the author's famous novels. The Bio cards share a brief biography of each author.

     My children and I all enjoyed this new game and played again repeatedly. I like that it is easily contained in one small box which was ideal for our camping trip. My 8 year old son observed during our first round that we weren't really learning anything when we just laid down the cards without studying them. My older daughter shared that she found it more challenging than go-fish. If you choose to study the cards in your hands while holding them, you learn about the authors and learn the names which helps later in the game when you ask for cards that are not in your hand. My younger daughter decided it is a fun way to learn about authors. She likes the author information shared as well as the picture cards.


     Challenging enough for my 14 year old yet easy enough for my 8 year old to play- this is a game for the whole family. Heather suggested that she would like to also have additional sets of cards for other time periods. 

     Find Notable Novelists on Facebook and learn even more about each of the authors through multiple links shared. 

From their website:

All of the authors in the deck have made valuable contributions to literature, helped define the modern novel and influenced generations of writers. Many of their novels, essays and short story collections appear on "top 100 books of the 20th century" lists. Many are Pulitzer, Nobel and National Book Critics Circle Award Winners.
To give the game a timelessness, we only chose authors who are deceased and wrote the game in such a way as to include as many authors as we could.

  We received a game as shared about above at no cost to me for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own. See what other crew members shared in their reviews here
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Jennifer

4 comments:

  1. I like that you pointed out it works for multiple ages - you're right. The teens can be learning the authors while the younger kids are just having fun with the game.

    April

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  2. Ooh! that looks so fun! adding it to my (ever growing) list!

    hope you all are doing okay in the hurricane... thinking of y'all today.

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  3. We liked this one, too! Heather's right -- more literary sets will make for twice the fun. We all need to play together the next time we are able to visit.

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  4. I love this one too!! You keep making my homeschool wish list longer. LOL
    Tiffany
    http://thecraftyhome.net

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