Danica Davidson, Author of Attack on the Overworld, on Minecraft, Cyberbullying, and Girl Power

All of this is set up in the first book, Escape from the Overworld, which is aimed for ages 7 through 12. In it, 11-year-old Stevie is an insecure boy living in the Minecraft world who then finds a portal to our world. There he befriends 11-year-old Maison, a smart and strong-willed girl who’s bullied at school for being different. Unfortunately, the open portal allows Minecraft monsters to enter our world and they attack the middle school, but Stevie and Maison are able to save the school with their wits and teamwork.
With the recently released sequel, Attack on the Overworld, I up the ante on the bullying angle and turn my attention to cyberbullying. I wanted to do this because it’s such a big issue and it’s hard to find anyone with an online presence who hasn’t experienced at least some form of it. In the book, cyberbullies discover the portal to Stevie’s world and turn Minecraft into eternal darkness, unleashing zombies and creating a zombie army. I strive to end nearly all my chapters with cliffhangers, because I want these adventures to be heart-pounding and consuming for young readers.

But I also hope it leaves an opportunity for kids, their parents and teachers to talk about cyberbullying. It’s a creative way to open up the dialogue on cyberbullying, which I think can sometimes reach readers more easily than a cut-and-dried news article on cyberbullying. A lot of kids already want to read about Minecraft, anyway.
There was something else that was important for me in writing this: I wanted to get some girl power into Minecraft books! When I was first working on the series, it seemed all the Minecraft books were really boy-oriented and I thought that would have girls feeling left out. I have the books written from Stevie’s point-of-view because he’s based off the Minecraft character Steve, but his friend Maison is on equal footing with him in the series. Maison wants to be an architect like her mom, she’s great at building and creating, and she’s excellent at sports.

Parents, dads especially in my personal experience, tell me how much they like to see their daughters reading about strong-willed girls who are also human enough to deal with real life issues…and overcome them on their own. The Girl Power angle has led to my books being included in the curriculum of Saving Our Cinderellas, an anti-bullying and girl empowerment program that’s being honored this year by Glamour Magazine and Investigation Discovery’s Inspire a Difference.
I continue Maison and Stevie’s adventures (and the messages of self-empowering) in the soon-to-be-released third book, The Rise of Herobrine. The Minecraft game can be a great way to build, explore, learn…so why can’t it be a great way to create books meant to be both fun and empowering?
Attack on the Overworld is in stores now.