I've always kind of admired the fact thhat in the early 80s, while 60 minutes were doing sensationalistic stories about how Dungeons and Dragons players were suicidal satan worshipers, the AD&D line went balls on with marketing to children.

I was never a fan of the D&D cartoon, although I watched it. I wanted adult protagonists.

Anyway, DnD had Marvel produce two storybooks for young readers at that time. I've only read them online in my adulthood, but I think they are impressive anyway. The books combine lush artwork with a simple story, hitting a sweet spot of balance between text and artwork.

The first is Treasure of Time. It features some of the characters from the toyline and some from the colouring books.

The main heroes are Strongheart the paladin, Charemay the wizardess and Elkhorn the dwarf. The bad guy is the sorcerer Kelek, assisted by the half-orc Zarak.

The story is simple. Kelek charms Charmay into revealing the location of the treasure of time, a sort of fountain of youth. The heroes try to stop the villains. The text is simple and fresh while the action is mild, for example Strongheart uses the flat of his sword to subdue Kelek. It would be a nice little story for young kids with swordplay and magic.

The real draw is the lush, painted artwork by Marie Severin. I love Strongheart's knightly bowl haircut.

If you wanna read the treasure of time, heres a link: https://2warpstoneptune.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/ad_d_storybook_the_treasure_of_time.pdf