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Item - Too Soon for Sex?

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Series: Sexuality Decision-Making Series for Teens — no. 1
Author: DeVault, Christine
Illustrator: Akin, Ian
Date: 1989
ISBN: 0941816761 / 9780941816762
Length: 119 pages
Number of Endings: 4
LC Cataloging in Publication Summary: The reader makes decisions for Serena and James as they struggle with the question of whether to have sex or to wait.
Demian's Thoughts:

Well, there certainly aren't that many gamebooks which begin with a notice stating that they "may be most appropriate for use in communities in which there are high rates of teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease or substance use," but here one is. In any case, it's actually not a bad book -- the writing is decent and the theme isn't presented in too terribly preachy a manner. The problem, though, is that I can't imagine this being very successful at its intended goal of encouraging sexual abstinence. The main characters are both responsible overachievers, and the book thus seems likely to appeal to the responsible overachiever market, which is not the place where this book is really needed. I can see why the book was written this way -- if the author made the characters less responsible and more troubled she might violate political correctness and be accused of stereotyping -- but that was probably a risk that should have been taken.

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