Greenglass House – a cozy role-playing mystery

Most of us have gone through phases where we “try on” different aspects of our identity and personality. During our youth and young adulthood, we learn, through trial and error, who we are and how we express ourselves. Hindsight is often funny, when we think back on a particularly dramatic phase of selfexpression. As a parent of an 11-yearold, I observe her experimentation and exploration as well as the subtle or obvious influences from her family and peers. Growing up and growing into yourself is an experience as old as time, which feels evergreen in diverse media representation. “Coming of age” books are some of the most timelessly appreciated for children and youth. Most of us knuckle through the tricky moments when we aren’t sure who we are, but sometimes it can be helpful to have tools.

I have long been curious about the wonders of role-playing games. As a theatre kid and an improv fan, it would seem to be a natural jump into the fantasy worlds of dungeons and dragons. As with some other elusive parts of pop-culture, I find myself consistently D&d-adjacent, but not actually at the table, so to speak. My husband and many close friends have been playing for years. I know some of the lingo, understand references, but I have not yet played myself. Despite this, I will say with ever increasing confidence that D&D and other activities that allow young people to explore a character and imagine themselves in different scenarios can be hugely beneficial. D&D has been delighting players for 50 years, and remains today the best known and most-played table-top role-playing game of all time. Setting aside associations with devil worship and satanic panic of decades past, Dungeons and Dragons is increasingly being recognised by community organizations, libraries and schools for its many educational benefits.

I witnessed my eldest kid play D&D for the first time this past weekend, at her 11th birthday with a bunch of friends. The storyline was specially designed with accessibility in mind, and some of the rules were not as carefully followed but the group of 7 children and 1 Dadturned-dungeon-master managed to complete their quest together. I was hanging out nearby, and I overheard some wonderful things: collaboration, creativity, hilarious characters and silly voices. I listened as they navigated different opinions and strategies and still managed to stay friendly. I was delighted by the suspension of disbelief, and the willingness of these kids, aged 10-13 to stay in their characters and to immerse themselves in a make-believe world. In the awkward moments of tween kids, D&D offers an outlet for creative play with no age limit. In an incubator of guidelines and dice-roll probability, imaginations flourish.

Our latest family read-aloud book, Greenglass House by Kate Milford, features some delightful role-playing. Greenglass House, is a creaky old inn full of stained-glass windows, frequented by smugglers and other colourful characters with a long history in the river-side community of Nagspeake. The Inn, owned by the Pine family, is typically very quiet during the winter holidays, but as our protagonist, 12-year-old Milo, prepares for a relaxing break with his parents, they are surprised when several mysterious guests arrive during a snowstorm. Milford highlights from the get-go that Milo is an adoptee of Chinese heritage, with white parents. This family dynamic leads to many assumptions about his identity. The story unfolds as a complex and layered mystery as the various guests begin offering clues to their identities and reasons for being at the house. Milo teams up with young Meddy, the daughter of their cook, to figure out what is going on in the house. Meddy shares a game with Milo, called “Odd Trails” which like D&D is a character-building role-playing game. She helps him build a new alter-ego called “Negret” who, unlike Milo, is confident about his origins, and has many excellent sneaking and detective skills. This book has many delightful aspects, and a complex and twisty story to unravel, which I will not spoil! I’ll focus instead on the positive ways in which the role-playing game helps Milo/negret explore his own identity. Milo doesn’t know his biological family history. He was a foundling, and nothing is known about his birth parents. Milo feels guilt and confusion about his desire to know more about his history, in case this somehow hurts his parents. Milo is able to use his alter-ego of Negret to more safely explore some of the unanswerable questions he has about his past. The book also presents us with several folklore stories, which illustrate parts of the larger mystery and provide a setting for their version of the collaborative story-telling games like “Odd Trails” and Dungeons and Dragons.

I think I need to find more opportunities to dive into imaginary worlds, whether in a book or around a game board. It might seem counterintuitive, but we might have insights to gain about ourselves while pretending to be someone else. Lennoxville Library hosts a monthly introduction to the world of Dungeons & Dragons for kids ages 8-14. To find out more, visit their website, www. bibliolennoxvillelibrary.ca.