March 22

I agree with several of the points Semuel’s makes in their article on choose your own adventure games because I definitely think these novels can create anxiety in the reader. I especially think it’s interesting that the tone of the narrator in these books is completely guilt tripping the reader about their own decisions in a way. While the choices are the reader’s responsibility, I can’t necessarily predict what good or bad decisions I need to make in order to end up safe. A lot of the endings are questionable, too, because they literally end in ominous peril or literal death. I definitely felt like I was being manipulated in a passive aggressive way by the narrator because they encourage you to make certain decisions based on rhetorical devices, but I think the experience is entertaining overall. Two of the points Semuel brings up is that there are only good or bad endings, and there’s no way to know exactly which choices you need to make. If you’re a generally anxious child, I can see how making the “bad” choices would make you feel like you brought upon your own demise but that’s exactly how the narrator makes it feel! I think the series is fun and definitely fun for kids, but I can see how overthinking the choices would cloud your judgement of the purpose of the books.