Smoke Jumper

Choose Your Own Adventure #111

by R.A. Montgomery, Leslie H. Morrill (Illustrator)

The reader becomes a student enrolled in a summer training program as a smoke jumper in the Pacific Northwest, an area hit hard by a number of small, suspicious forest fires.

Genres: Choose Your Own Adventure, Gamebooks, Fiction, Adventure, Juvenile, Childrens

112 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1991

About the author

Raymond A. Montgomery (born 1936 in Connecticut) was an author and progenitor of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure interactive children's book series, which ran from 1979 to 2003. Montgomery graduated from Williams College and went to graduate school at Yale University and New York University (NYU). He devoted his life to teaching and education.

In 2004, he co-founded the Chooseco publishing company alongside his wife, fellow author/publisher Shannon Gilligan, with the goal of reviving the CYOA series with new novels and reissued editions of the classics.

He continued to write and publish until his death in 2014.

Reviews

[Josiah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Given this book's premise—your profession is fighting wildfires in the Pacific northwest—you might assume Smoke Jumper would be one of R.A. Montgomery's less weird offerings. However, it turns out to be, in its own way, one of the stranger Choose Your Own Adventures. You and your friend Bill are new recruits to fight the biggest forest fires in America. While training with others in the summer program, Henry Brouillard, the man in charge, offers two recruits immediate experience on a nearby fire. Should you grab the opportunity, or remain in jump school for now?

"Don't be afraid, and don't do things just because you think that's what other people want. Do what you think is right."

—Smoke Jumper, P. 38

Volunteering for Brouillard's job hands you a quick chance to prove your firefighting mettle. If you choose to patrol the perimeter of the burn zone for campers stranded by the flames, you run into a fellow named Milt Lombard from Los Angeles. He gives you creepy vibes, but claims his friend, Tim Martinez, is injured near the fires. Refusing to help Milt will put you in mortal jeopardy if he loses his temper, but agreeing to search for Tim might be just as dangerous. Milt isn't a guy you want to hang around long if you value your life and new career. Instead of riding the perimeter, you could go with Bill and a ranger named Haven toward the heart of the fire. If you spot a man on a faraway ledge signaling for help, be cautious about engaging. He may not be the victim he appears.

Who could blame you for staying with your jump class and forgoing a real fire right away? Finishing certification will expedite your process of becoming a full-fledged smoke jumper. The first night out in a tent with members of your class, Bill spies a pair of shadowy figures by the airplane you'll be jumping from in the morning. You're dealing with intruders who won't go easy because you're young; confronting them immediately has negative consequences, but even if you first notify Porky, your jump school leader, the problem is worse than you thought. Porky has already been assaulted, and you'll have to scramble to survive the terror these invaders plan on inflicting. Maybe you can prevent them from killing you or starting a conflagration in the woods, but you never expected this sort of problem when you dreamed as a kid of fighting fires.

There are a few reasons to compliment Smoke Jumper. Unlike most Choose Your Own Adventures, it has a backstory: your father loved the wilderness but died a while back, and you became a smoke jumper partly in his honor. You occasionally recall his wise observations as the story progresses. There's also genuine interplay between you and Bill, who sometimes resents you for making all the decisions. Your preeminence as choice-maker in the Choose Your Own Adventure series generally goes unchallenged, so it's intriguing to see Bill take umbrage. This book's problems, however, drag it down. No story path really takes you into a fire fight; instead, you end up combating either a solo eco terrorist or a group of them. It's as though R.A. Montgomery grew bored with the concept after thinking up the title, then elected to write a spy drama instead without bothering to change what it was called. Kevin Johnson's original cover art is pretty, though. It's possible I'd rate Smoke Jumper one and a half stars for its mild inventiveness, but this is one of the least enjoyable Choose Your Own Adventures.

[Lea · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a former wildland firefighter and a wife of a hotshot, I thought this would be a fun read. I use to read CYOA books when I was younger and always enjoyed them, they're like several books in one.
This one was very abrupt, the stories ended quickly, in a paragraph and didn't give you much of a conclusion on what happened. On a few of the adventures, I'm still not sure exactly what happened.
Some of the wildland fire information was more accurate than many books dealing with the subject in a fictional setting. Although the training and gear they had (or lack of) isn't realistic. I was disappointed so few of the adventures actually dealt with fighting fire.
Others, without knowledge of the occupation may enjoy the book more.

[Nick Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did you know that all non-white people are maaaaaagical? RA Montgomery thought so, and he had to shoehorn that notion into every goddamn book he ever wrote, including Smoke Jumpers. This entry by Choose Your Own Adventure's most prolific and worst author has indigenous Americans display the innate ability to communicate with animals, understand how to repel fire with mystical powers, craft substances that grant people the ability to understand all languages, and alter the very fabric of reality itself.

IN A BOOK OSTENSIBLY ABOUT BEING A SMOKE JUMPER.

[Kathie Yang · Rating 1 out of 5]

not what i hoped for really! not a ton of paths. thought i’d get to fight fires but many of the endings were hostage situations or weird “indian” mysticism things? and i really think it’s too dark for a kids book to have your entire team get kidnapped and die… 1.5 stars rounded down

[Patrick Book · Rating 2 out of 5]

Half of this was good! Half of it was goofy and potentially offensive.

[Elle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Survived but bored - wish my adventure had taken me after the person who set the fire intentionally rather than have them dancing in the background of the ending.

[Sterling Wesson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than a good chunk of over CYOA books. It’s pretty engaging and has quite a few interesting pathways in terms of where you can go.

[5ngela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice but not satisfying enough