Attack! Boss! Cheat Code!: A Gamer’s Alphabet

Illustrated by Joey Spiotto

Bone up on your gaming knowledge with this gently ironic yet thoroughly informative guide to video game terminology, presented as a picture book for all ages. Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! A Gamer’s Alphabet is an indispensable guide, a lively look at the language of video games that might actually bridge the gap between game-obsessed kids and their often-perplexed parents.

32 pages
Ages 8-12
2014
POW!/powerHouse Books
ISBN: 9781576877012

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Praise for Attack! Boss! Cheat Code!

Video game players have their own jargon and much of it is foreign to non-gamers. My 11-year-old daughter … was familiar with more of the words in Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! than I was, but we both appreciated Joey Spiotto’s cute and colorful illustrations that accompanied the terms.

MARK FRAUENFELDER, BOING BOING

My son … could not stop reading this Gamer’s Alphabet! I sent him off to bed at letter “O” and he carefully marked the page and returned to it the next day. This is an alphabet book that gamers of all ages [will] love!

MIA WENJEN, PRAGMATIC MOM

It’s informative, it’s a little bit silly, and it works really, really well. For the gamer, or the game-interested kid, Attack! Boss! Cheat Code! is one to pick up.

MATTHEW WINNER, LET’S GET BUSY PODCAST

With vivid illustrations and tongue-in-cheek descriptions, this alphabet book brings children and their technology-illiterate parents into the world of gaming.

TEXAS EXES, ALCALDE

[G]uides your game-obsessed 8- to 12-year-old to the engrossing world of books. … It might even help adults understand what their kids mean when they talk about “griefers” and “sandboxes.”

JAMES RENOVITCH, AUSTIN CHRONICLE

[A] guide every gamer will enjoy. It’s a starting point to promote understanding of the basics. … [S]ure to pique interest, provide for discussion and get readers excited to begin or continue their gaming.

MARGIE MYERS-CULVER, LIBRARIAN’S QUEST

It is a fantastic thing to read to kids. … A great chance to just think about games and game terms and talk through it.

EDUARDO BARAF, EDO’S GAME REVIEWS

[G]orgeously illustrated … takes a lighthearted look at the lexicon of game culture.

COLIN CAMPBELL, POLYGON

Chris Barton’s new cross-generational picture-book dive into gaming argot [is] as equally appropriate for parents as it is for the children for whom it will (theoretically) be purchased

SHARYN VANE, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN

I really wish that we’d have had a book like this when our kiddo was younger as he was just starting out with the vocabulary. The vibrant illustrations reflect a few decades of games so there are visuals evoking everything from Mario Brothers to Minecraft — making it a charming gift for game fans of all ages.

PAMELA PRICE, RED, WHITE & GREW

Attack! Boss! Cheat Code!

A Gamer's Alphabet

Illustrated by Joey Spiotto

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Praise for Attack! Boss! Cheat Code!

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