Choose Your Own Adventure

Once again, I recently had the opportunity to speak to the students at Casady during a chapel talk.  Below is the summary of my message:

When I was in middle school I read a lot. I played basketball and spent plenty of time hanging out with friends but one of my passions was reading. I read every Judy Bloom book. Some of my favorites; Freckle Juice, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Superfudge, Are You There God? It's Me Margaret and Tiger Eyes. I also read the entire Hardy Boys series.

But perhaps my favorite series of books that I dove into were the Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) books!

The titles of these books were fascinating when I was 12 and 14 and admittedly may be a little hokey now: Monsters of the Deep, Your Grandparents are Zombies, Secret of the Ninja, and Return to the Haunted House.

Each CYOA story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine the main character's actions in response to the plot and its outcome. The books often contained nearly forty possible endings, while some contained as few as eight. It’s almost like being a puppeteer and controlling the characters. Or….more relevant for you - it was like playing a video game like Grand Theft Auto or Halo where each move you make will determine the next sequence of things to happen. During the 1980’s and 1990’s over 250 million copies of CYOA books were sold and translated into at least 38 languages. There is now an iPhone App, an interactive Wiki and several bizarre attempts to recreate the fantasy of CYOA books on YouTube.

After an introduction to the story, the reader is asked to determine the character’s next course of action. For instance, the first decision offered in Return to the Haunted House is:

        If you decide to explore the large room beyond the wooden door, turn to page 11.

        If you decide to walk up the spiral staircase, turn to page 7.

After the reader makes a choice, the plot branches out and unfolds, leading to more decisions and eventually multiple possible endings. At the end of the books readers find various types of conclusions – but there were always conclusions. This is good news for people like my wife who can’t stand it when a book or a movie ends in a cliff hanger. She needs closure….and these books provided it.

I have a confession to make. Mr. Pena spoke about cheating during his chapel talk last week. Well….I cheated while reading the CYOA books. I rarely cheated until I completed at least the first conclusion. But I did go back and re-read the book, making different choices along the way, until I came to the conclusion that suited me best. I did not want to get eaten by the giant sasquatch but I did want to rescue the pretty girl from the dungeon in the basement of the haunted house.

So why would I bother standing up here and telling you about one of my favorite childhood memories of reading these books? Our theme in chapel this year is STORY - so this topic qualifies on two fronts:

        1. These are great stories themselves that were are talking about

        2. And these books represent part of my story. I spent a great deal of time in my childhood immersed in a make believe world where I was in control of outcomes and every time I turned a page there would be a new adventure

I believe that having devoured every CYOA book known to man between 1985 and 1990 has helped shape the way I look at life in general. I don’t want to overstate the importance of the books and I think I can separate reality from fiction but nonetheless; I look at life as an adventure. The paths we take, the decisions we make and the consequences of those decisions are our own. You get to decide if you’re going to go see Mr. Calderon for extra help before the Algebra II test or if it more important that you spend a few extra minutes in the student center. You get to decide if getting into the car with someone who you know has been drinking is a good decision or if it’s worth calling your parents to come and get you from the party that you were forbidden from attending. These are tough decisions and each has consequences. You have plenty of people around you who will help define a good decision but ultimately, at your age, it’s up to you to do what is right for you.

One of the reasons the teachers and administrators that you are surrounded by do what they do for a living is to have the opportunity to help you with your adventures. If you need advice, seek it. If you want a different perspective on something that appears difficult or even scary, come see us and ask for some help.

Each of you has plenty of adventure in your lives. Choose wisely as you have a great deal to say about what awaits you around every corner.