Choose Your Path Books Pave The Way For Real-Life lessons
Choose Your Path books pave the way for real-life lessons By Deb Mercier
Sometimes life seems out of our control. No checkout people at the till? Your next hour will be spent shuffle-walking through the mile-long line. Need to get out the door early? Too bad. Both dogs threw up and stomped through it, leaving a Family Circus-style vomit trail through the house.
I mean, you could dump all your items in the aisle and leave the store empty-handed. You could ignore the vomit-trail and come home to festering, crusted paw prints on the couch (gross). Those are choices. Not great choices, but choices nonetheless.
If you’re a kid tagging along in these situations, you literally have no choice. If your dad chooses to shuffle-walk that line, you’re stuck there for the agonizing duration. If you’re unlucky enough to be home for the vomit trail, you will have a mop and bucket in your hand before you can say, “that’s nasty.”
We’ll come back to that.
First, I should tell you a little bit about Ryan Jacobson.
I met Ryan at a young author’s conference hosted by the Northwest Service Cooperative at the Northland Community and Technical College in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. We were both in the lineup of presenters and may have even sat next to each other at the autograph table. This was eons ago (or at least it feels like it) so the exact details are murky. Somehow, I ended up working on a book Ryan had started and wanted help finishing due to looming deadlines and a wealth of other projects going on. It was titled Wrestling with a Werewolf. Knowing nothing about wrestling or werewolves, I was, of course, the perfect choice for the project.
We got it done, and I learned a lot about co-writing, and a good bit about wrestling and werewolves to boot. Thank goodness for Google and my local library. I also learned that Ryan is invariably, annoyingly right about grammar.
After Wrestling with a Werewolf, we teamed up for more projects, including several Choose Your Path books. Two of them we co-wrote: Storm at the Summit of Mount Everest and Can You Survive? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. One of them I took on myself: Can You Survive? Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. These were titles published through Ryan’s company, Lake 7 Creative.
In addition to Ryan’s uncanny ability to ferret out grammar of dubious merit, I learned that he is insanely hard-working, eats boring food (if he’s not able to order a hamburger, we’re not having a business lunch), and has a vision for Lake 7’s future as a premier publisher of Choose Your Path series.
Working with Ryan reintroduced me to the Choose Your Own Adventure series I had loved as a kid. I’d never really thought about why I loved them, I just knew it was exhilarating being in the book and steering through the storyline myself. Looking back, I think it comes down to having a sense of control. (See how we circled back here? I wouldn’t leave you hanging.)
And if you think about it, the control factor when you’re a kid is pretty low: “Can I stay up late?”
“No.”
“Can I go to Carrie’s house and sleep over?”
“Not today.”
“Do I have to eat the slimy asparagus?”
“Yes.”
“Can I put Cocoa Puffs on my sandwich?”
“No.”
Then there’s school time, bath time, bed time, piano practice, little league and pottery camp.
There are no choices in those scenarios.
As a kid, when you start on a Choose Your Path book and get to that first page that asks you what you want to do, it’s liberating – like someone just opened a window to let the breeze into a room you didn’t even realize was stuffy. (Not that other books are stuffy. I am a big fan of children’s lit in all its forms.) But there’s something special about being in charge of your destiny, really living the story as that main character and deciding the flow of your story.
Of course, not all decisions are created equal. I gave my daughter a copy of Storm at the Summit and I remember her accusing voice echoing down the hallway from her room, “Mom! I died AGAIN!” I think in that case, she had chosen not to pack a rope, or maybe the extra oxygen. Either way, she wasn’t getting off that mountain.
The point is, the decisions you make in a Choose Your Path book can sometimes lead you to an unfortunate end, like falling in a frozen crevasse, or crashing your parents’ golf cart, or being buried in a tunnel beneath a haunted school. And I have to admit, those are (morbidly) some of my favorite scenes to write. Like life, not every decision is a safe one. Unlike life, you can instantly go back and make a different choice.
For me, writing the Choose Your Path format can actually be more difficult than writing a linear book. There are prickly logic puzzles to navigate and the outline (for me) is next to impossible. Add in the next layer of making the story a mystery to solve, complete with suspects, clues, helpful objects which you may or may not have chosen to bring along on your investigation, and you’re in for a doozy of a writing session.
But I love it. All of it. Even the prickly logic puzzles. Especially the prickly logic puzzles. (Okay, not so much the outlines, to which Ryan can attest.)
What I love the most is that Choose Your Path books sneak in valuable lessons without even trying to sneak them in, if that makes sense. They teach you to evaluate the available information before making a decision. Use deductive reasoning. Go with your instincts on occasion. And above all, know that whatever happens, it was your choice.
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Deb Mercier lives in greater Minnesota with her husband, dogs and outdoor critter friends. She is an award-winning journalist, author of 11 books for young readers, a former newspaper editor and a technical writer.
When Deb’s not dreaming up new stories, you can find her wandering the trails on bike and on foot, saving turtles from roadways and playing flute in the Central Lakes Symphony Orchestra.
Find out more about the choose your own path mysteries here
The Empty Cabin
Become a kid detective. Identify suspects, gather clues, navigate puzzles, and solve the mystery in this interactive Choose Your Path adventure.
The secluded cabin resort your parents own won’t make any “best destination” lists, but it’s the perfect place to spend a summer. There’s swimming, fishing, birdwatching—and a steady stream of visitors who, from week to week, pass in and out of your life. Except for Loretta. A regular guest of Cabin 4, Loretta is an avid hiker and a stand-in grandmother to you. So when you find her cabin empty one morning, you know that something’s wrong—even if no one else believes you.
You’re the detective in this puzzling mystery. As you work your way through the story, it’s up to you to identify suspects and gather clues. Make choices that affect what happens next. Navigate challenging puzzles—from riddles to secret codes—to build your case. Use deductive reasoning to determine what the crime was, how it happened, and whodunit. But be careful; one wrong choice could lead to your doom!
Interactive books for kids are more popular than ever. Create your own adventure with the Detective: You book series for boys and girls. You’re the main character. You make the choices. Will you solve the case?
BUY HERE
The Ghost of Old Central School
Become a kid detective. Identify suspects, gather clues, navigate puzzles, and solve the mystery in this interactive Choose Your Path adventure.
Old Central School is closing for good. Why? Because it’s reportedly haunted! Creepy noises, flickering lights, objects moving without explanation, Old Central has it all. The incidents have gotten so spooky that parents refuse to send their kids to school. Yet Irene Gould, a student there, doesn’t believe it’s true—and she’s hiring you to prove it. Choose your supplies, and let the investigation begin.
You’re the detective in this puzzling mystery. As you work your way through the story, it’s up to you to identify suspects and gather clues. Make choices that affect what happens next. Navigate challenging puzzles—from mazes to secret codes—to build your case. Use deductive reasoning to determine what the crime was, how it happened, and whodunit. But be careful; one wrong choice could lead to your doom!
Interactive books for kids are more popular than ever. Create your own adventure with the Detective: You book series for boys and girls. You’re the main character. You make the choices. Will you solve the case?
BUY HERE
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