Edward Packard’s The Cave of Time, which launched the Choose Your Own Adventure series in 1979, will return to print after 25 years on August 5, when Chooseco reissues the interactive novel. The new edition of this title, which has sold more than 17 million copies since its first appearance, will feature the original cover art and line illustrations by Paul Granger.
The Cave of Time is also featured in the Retro Box, due from the publisher on September 30, along with facsimile copies of three other classic CYOA installments: By Balloon to the Sahara by D. Terman, and Space and Beyond and Journey Under the Sea by R.A. Montgomery. Chooseco titles are distributed by Penguin Random House.
Packard and Montgomery both played fundamental roles in the creation of CYOA. The former based the idea of writing stories in which children select the direction the tales take on his bedtime storytelling routine with his two daughters, whom he asked what they would do when he ran out of ideas for things for his protagonist to do. Montgomery adapted this concept for an interactive book series, originally published as Adventures of You by Vermont Crossroads Press, which he had co-founded with Constance Cappel. In 1976, Packard’s Sugarcane Island became the series’ inaugural release.
Acquired by Bantam Books in 1979 and renamed Choose Your Own Adventure, the series (to which both Packard and Montgomery have contributed numerous titles over the years) was translated into 40 languages and became a perennial bestselling line in the 1980s and 1990s. Though Bantam discontinued the series in 1999, it was relaunched by Montgomery and Shannon Gilligan in 2006 after the husband-and-wife team formed Vermont-based Chooseco. Since then, the company has sold more than 16 million copies of the original series and new additions.
Five additional CYOA books from the Packard canon are also due to be reissued: The Mystery of Chimney Rock on November 4; Your Code Name Is Jonah and Who Killed Harlowe Thrombey? in spring 2026; and Inside UFO 54-40 and The Underground Kingdom in fall 2026.
Gilligan noted that several factors motivated the decision to reissue Packard’s oeuvre. “His books have been a Choose Your Own Adventure touchstone for the series’ original fans and have been long sought after for a reason,” she told PW. “They play with the interactive format in fun and groundbreaking ways. I’ve always wanted to publish The Cave of Time, not only because it’s the first book in the series, but because of its proven sales record. And we also knew we wanted to publish other early, iconic Packard titles because they’re fan favorites and, I admit, personal favorites. But the final selection was made by Edward himself.”
Retaining the look of the original editions of Packard’s books, Gilligan added, was a design decision that was fueled by readers’ input. “GenX fans are passionate about the books and show up at conferences, email us, and share their wishes via social media, begging us—and that’s not an overstatement—to reissue early books in the series,” she said. “The retro redesign is an homage to the beginnings of the program and a nostalgic nod to them and yet, you’ll notice that the more newly published Choose Your Own Adventure titles follow the look of the originals, so it’s not a major departure.”
Packard, now 94, noted that he welcomes Chooseco’s initiative to acquaint another wave of readers with some of his long unavailable works saying, “I’m delighted that a new generation of young readers will be enjoying some of my favorite Choose Your Own Adventure books.”
Choose Your Own Adventure: The Cave of Time by Edward Packard, illus. by Paul Granger. Chooseco, $8.99 paper Apr. 5 ISBN 978-1-933390-79-6
