Heading into the assignment, I was nervous about what exactly lay in store for me. Mapping out an entire CYOA book seemed like a monumental task. As a child, I remember reading some of these and never reaching every single possible conclusion. Now I was supposed to figure out every single pathway?
I know I got lucky. My book, “Dinosaur Island”, had a measly 13 possible end scenarios. I saw other books with more than 30 and some with more than 40. That seems absurd. How do you even cram that many endings in to a 120 page book? Anyway, I know this assignment wasn’t hard for me because I got a beginner’s book, but I feel for those far less fortunate than me.
Writing the paper gave me a chance to look back and really think about all I learned while reading. What did “Dinosaur Island” teach me? Absolutely nothing. A few of the “altruistic” decisions led to my death while some of the selfish ones led to me not only surviving, but making a ton of money on top of it all. There was no discernible pattern in terms of what kinds of decisions led to positive or negative endings. In short, writing the paper really made me think that “Dinosaur Island” was one lousy CYOA book.