Some days it feels like you’re just going through the motions and everything is running on autopilot. Other days, every decision you make feels like it will not only make or break your day but your entire life.
We tend to think that this only applies to adults. But in reality, even the most typical day for a kid requires dozens of choices. It’s always so hard to tell what choices were right and which were wrong as even choices made with good intentions can have the opposite effect.
Author Rob Clare has developed an interactive “choose your own adventure-style” story with his children’s book, Mima’s Choices. Below is my review of Mima’s Choices followed by an interview with Clare.
Mima’s Choices plot summary
The story begins with a little girl named Mima waking up for school. As her day progresses, she’s faced with several decisions which make her day better or worse. The reader decides what will happen next by making one of the two or three choices presented at the bottom of nearly every page and flipping to the corresponding page to read on.
Naturally, I had to read this story multiple times in order to read the different outcomes of each choice. First, I began by making all of the “wrong” choices, starting with letting Mima hit the snooze button on her alarm and taking it from there. My goal wasn’t to torture Mima but to see what the worst case scenario outcome could be and how she would improve.
On my next read through, I had Mima make as many “right” decisions as possible. Unsurprisingly, her day went a lot smoother. Conflicts still sprung up, but she came out unscathed. In both instances, the choices led to the same last page in which Mima reflects back on her day and questions the decisions she made. I thought this was clever as even on good days, we can question if we could have made better choices.
I also did mixed bag readings in which I’d start out making good choices and then change to poor ones and vice versa. In both cases, it made me realize that a person’s decision-making skills can change at any time, and it takes just one choice to cause your day to fly off the rails or get back on track.
The story
The choices Mima makes are not cut and dried. This isn’t a story about always doing the right thing. It’s about owning up to your decisions. Some results are in your control and others make you a pawn in someone else’s choices, whether that be an authority figure, peer, or just plain fate.
The choices also aren’t just about doing right by others but also doing right by Mima herself. This includes taking care of her and making sure she’s safe.
Some choices aren’t even necessarily wrong, like deciding to reach for $5 floating in water or choosing not to do anything when two boys start fighting in art class. However, deciding not to do something can still have significant results, both good and bad, and I found that to be a pleasant surprise in a genre of writing that typically tries to talk down to its readers and oversimplify complex ideas.
The characters
Mima is a very likable little girl. She’s as human as any fictional character and has her moments of laziness, cowardice, and vengefulness. She also has a biting wit against bullies and respect for adults.
Every choice feels like a new experience for Mima. I like how the adults are well-rounded too. They don’t always listen to or understand Mima’s full perspective because of their own preoccupations and decision-making responsibilities. So, some of Mima’s outcomes are the result of others’ choices in deciding how to deal with hers.
There are a few supporting characters, some of who only appear if a particular choice is made. These interactions set off a whole new chain of events and a whole new set of choices for Mima to make.
The illustrations
There is no illustrator listed for this book, and the illustrations have an AI quality to them which I’m very on the fence about. I love the expressions that are captured on the characters’ faces, but there’s also a sort of blankness in their eyes that is a bit off-putting.
On the plus side, there’s a lot of detail and interesting props and backgrounds to explore. The pictures also have a colorful look to them. They fill the entire left side of each spread, allowing Clare to number only the pages with text so that it’s easier to flip around from page to page.
My recommendation
I recommend Mima’s Choices to any elementary school aged reader who can read independently and follow the interactive instructions in the book. It’s a great book to encourage discussions about the complicated nature of decision making. It’s also fun to try to read as many different versions as you can to get a slightly different story each time.
My rating
An interview with Rob Clare
How did the idea for Mima’s Choices come about? How long did it take you to plot out the book and its many iterations?
I had pondered creating a “pick-a-path” style picture book for years but kept getting stuck on how it could work for a young audience. Once I cracked the format, it took a few months to map out the storyline—using a very chaotic mind map that seemed to change daily!
How many storylines are there total? What’s your advice for working your way through each one?
This one’s a bit tricky, because the book is organised in a tangled web-like structure, and it’s designed so that you could read it ten times and have a different journey each time. While some pages will be revisited, the path through the story changes with every read.
To keep it from becoming more than 100 pages long, I structured it so that the story loops back to five key “reset” pages along the way, before branching off into new choices. The goal is to read through the book with children, encouraging them to predict the consequences of each choice—and then reflect on those outcomes.
The book is dedicated to your “indecisive daughter.” Were any of the moments in the book inspired by her or your real life?
My daughter Jemima struggles to decide on basic things—what to have for dinner, which movie to watch, or what clothes to buy—but those choices don’t usually come with meaningful consequences. The story is about making good or bad decisions that do have an impact. So, while Jemima was the inspiration, none of the choices in the book are directly based on her. (Well—except maybe the one about trying to get out of bed in the morning!).
Do you have a favorite page or choice that readers need to make to continue further into the book?
The most important choices in the book, for me, are the ones that affect those around her—like betraying her friend Penny, choosing to stop a fight, or how she speaks to her little brother. My favourite moment, though, is probably the choice she makes about how to respond to being bullied in the playground.
Did you do any research or use any sources to come up with the story?
I have 20 years of experience teaching in a primary school—and three children of my own—so there’s already plenty of experience swirling around in my head!
What do you want readers to take away from the story?
I believe it’s important for the books we read with our children to have purpose—alongside those we simply enjoy for the love of reading. Stories can offer teachable moments and spark meaningful discussion. These don’t always have to be educational or focused on morals or social-emotional lessons—sometimes it’s just about nurturing a child’s natural curiosity. I hope this book does exactly that.
What advice do you have for young readers who have trouble making decisions, particularly the right decisions?
When making a decision, think about how it will affect others—those are the choices that really matter. I always come back to this simple idea: treat others as you would like to be treated. Reflecting on past decisions and their consequences can help guide you and predict the outcomes of the choices you make.
What’s next for you?
I already have two other books out: Don’t Shake This Book and Everything in the Universe is Either a Potato or Not a Potato—both aimed at a slightly younger audience and more humorous in nature.
My next book, Morgan’s Organs, teaches the functions of our internal organs through a story-poem about lost organs on a journey to find a pile of skin and put Morgan back together.
After that—believe it or not—I have over 70 different kids’ book ideas jotted down, at least two of which will be Choices books.
The ideas, the inspiration, and the writing come easily to me… it’s the marketing and getting them noticed that I struggle with!
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I love this idea! I played with the idea as well (being an author) of a choose your own adventure type of book. Having a young girl’ds day as the basis of the plot is so perfect! I would love this for my own daughter