To Keep or Not To Keep (Yeah, I know it is a pretty cliché title)

           I had mixed feelings about the children's book The House of Danger. I guess because I didn't have a perfect childhood, my parents never gave me books like this one, where the reader gets to choose the ending, and this made me enjoy the novelty of this book even more. At the same time, my fascination with it ended fairly soon and I couldn't understand why I was supposed to read it.  To make this simpler for everyone, here are my feelings in a nutshell (I figured since I already had one cliché quote, I might as well stick with the theme):

            The book brought up interesting issues. I liked flipping around the pages sporadically but when I finished one story, I was the one who had to choose if I wanted to continue reading. This made me realize the amount of comfort I felt when I knew exactly what I was assigned to do. Normally, when we need to read a book, we are given the page numbers we need to go up to or we just need to finish it- there is a definitive end. Yet, here I was with a children's book, feeling uncomfortable because I didn't know how much reading was enough. Do I go to the end? Do I only read a few stories? I was finally given free choice and I did not like it.  

            One the other hand, the book was a children's book, so sorry for judging a book by its cover (that's three clichés), but I did wonder what the point was to it. Since it was a required reading, I figured that Janelle had a pretty good reason for why it was there. In class though, I did not feel entirely satisfied with our explanations of "reading this as adults while understanding that it was meant for children" or how it was the most blatant "free-choice" there was.

            So what is my final decision? Well, seeing the discussion this book ignited in class, which didn't have to do with The House of Danger but spoke about manipulation and free will in the real world, I think we should keep this book.