Young Adult Worth Reading

YA Worth Reading: Scenarios Interactive Fiction for Girls

Since I’ve been doing the YA Worth Reading reviews for a couple of months, our delightful and talented hosts asked me to share my books with you.  I write the Scenarios Interactive Fiction Series for girls ages 10- 15, Barbour Publishing. Pretty long title and what on earth does that mean, right?

Well, let me give you a bit of background first. I believe it’s vital to talk to our tweens and teens about the issues they’re going to face well before they actually do. I started doing that with my own kids—I have six of them—by playing a game I called Scenarios. I’d give them a fictional situation and several choices. They’d select the option they thought they might actually choose in real life, and then we’d talk through the consequences and possibilities. It helped make things more real to them and prepared them with insight into the long-term effects and damage poor decisions could actually cause. Then, when they face(d) those things in real life, they were prepared with their choices rather than being forced to make a decision in the heat of peer pressure.

Those experiences led me to write this book series. In each Scenarios book, when the main character arrives at a difficult moral dilemma, the reader actually gets to make the decision for her (thus the interactive). There are alternate endings based on the reader’s choice.  I believe this gives the reader the chance to try out the consequences of poor decisions as well as to see the ripple effects that can continue for a long time. It forces her to take ownership for her choice and face whatever happens next. At the end of each book, there’s a contract and a prayer designed to guide her to a commitment regarding her future choices pertaining to the issue covered in that story. Some of the issues include: drugs, alcohol, purity, modesty, lying, cheating, stealing…etc.

Lindsay Martin is faced with a tough choice: Does she give in to peer pressure and make her friends happy or does she do what she knows is right—even if it means losing her friends forever? This dilemma feels very real to Lindsey and to the reader who learns that making the right choice in the end doesn’t always erase the effects of the poor decisions made up to that point.

Drew Daniels finally has what she thought she wanted—popularity and a cute boyfriend—even if it forces her to pull away from her identical twin sister, Dani. But now Drew’s faced with choosing between pleasing her boyfriend and lying to her parents, or doing what’s right.

Molly Jacobs isn’t sure what she should do: Should she follow through with stealing some clothes for her friends from Magna the trendy girls clothing store where she works? Or should she do what she knows is right, even if it means losing her new found popularity? She must face the fact that choices she made along the way will have lasting consequences and that doing the right thing is seldom the easiest thing.

Kate Walker joins the swim team and becomes obsessed with practice and making it through the championships with flying colors. What will Kate do when she s faced with pressure from her teammates to take an illegal substance that will help her swim multiple events in their championship meet? “MAKING WAVES is a solid story with interesting teens that shows the consequences of choices—good or bad. This book is not only a good read for teens, but would also make a foundation for a discussion in a Sunday School Class, Youth Group or between parents and teens. Faith element: medium. Recommended.” (Carolyn R. Scheidies Author’s Choice Reviews )

Two more Scenarios stories release in April, 2011 when the entire series will be repackaged as 2-in-1s. Those new titles will include High Stakes which deals with cheating and confession, as well as Essence of Lilly which covers purity and pre-marital sex.

I can’t very well give a review of my own books because, well, that would be weird. But I can tell you what some other fine authors have had to say:

“Scenarios for Girls is a fast-paced series that allows you, the reader, to step into the shoes of a girl on the verge of making a tough choice. Like a Choose Your Own Adventure, except here you’re making important life decisions that affect every teen. You’ll be holding your breath as you live out the challenges on the pages to see where they take you.” Jenny B. Jones, award-winning author of So Not Happening and the Katie Parker Production series

“It’s evident that Nicole is a rare author. She has a tender heart for teenage girls and has poured that care into her stories. May her tribe increase! And may her books lead many readers to make wise choices.” …Robin Jones Gunn, best-selling author of the Christy Miller Series and the Katie Weldon Series

Here’s the book trailer:

I also want to mention that I host Teen Talk Radio on Thursday nights at 10pm EST. I welcome guests each week and we cover a wide range of topics from teens recognizing God’s call (this week with Cara Putman), teens with eating disorders (last week with Carrie Hill), sex trafficking and cyber safety (three weeks ago with Tom Davis), etc. You can catch all of the episodes on podcast at www.choicesradio.com or subscribe via iTunes for free.

Now for some free stuff!

I’ve been running an iTouch giveaway all month and all comments to this posts will serve as entries to the giveaway. You can also learn about other ways to enter HERE. Also, I’ll be selecting a winner to receive a set of all four Scenarios for Girls books from the comments. Make sure you leave your email address in your comment.

Blessings,

Nicole O’Dell
www.nicoleodell.com

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