I loved the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, so when when I had to figure out what science fiction book I was going to have my class read, it was a no brainer.
I suppose I should back up a bit.
I loved the book Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, so when when I had to figure out what science fiction book I was going to have my class read, it was a no brainer.
I suppose I should back up a bit. Right now I’m teaching a Readers’ Advisory Services course to library science graduate students at the College of St. Catherine. Yes, that means I have three jobs. No wonder I haven’t had a chance to take a course at The Loft and do some of my own writing.
But don’t get me wrong, I love teaching this course.
Readers’ Advisory is a librarian term meaning how we help library patrons find books they may like to read. The course is designed to give students a background in many genres, to give them tools to help people find books, and to emphasize the importance of highlighting books and reading by creating book-related events.
To get my students thinking about book-related events, I’m doing a bunch of different events in my classroom. I had an author speaker come in, we had a murder mystery party, and recently we played Ready Player One Jeopardy.
To give a short background of Ready Player One, you should know that it takes plays in 2044, where much of the world lives in the virtual world The Oasis. The Oasis was built by a Steve Jobs-like man who became a billionaire. When he died he had no heirs, so before he passed he designed a game inside The Oasis where people had to find clues and keys to become the winner and take over The Oasis and his billions. The whole world becomes obsessed in finding the keys, and in turn they become obsessed with the 1980s. The clues for all the keys are based on 1980s pop culture because this man was obsessed with the 1980s, the decade in which he was a teenager. So in 2044, everyone loves 1980s music, movies, television, and fashion.
To show the students that you can do things besides having book clubs and bringing in author speakers, we had a Ready Player One/80s party where we danced to 80s music, students came dressed in costume, and we played Ready Player One/80s Jeopardy.
Have you read the book? Here’s the Jeopardy board. Try playing it.
How’d you do?