Choosing Is Confusing: How to Make Good Choices, Not Bad Guesses

Discusses the different ways that people make decisions, with examples

Gr. 5-9. Although this book is loaded with fill-in-the-blank opportunities, librarians nonetheless may find it a great addition to the self-help shelf. Introducing a subject largely uncharted in books for teens, the authors carry on a kind of lively running dialogue, ostensibly with a group of kids, in which they pose and answer questions about choices--the different kinds, how people make them, the implications, and how to choose in a more mature way. Teens will be particularly drawn to the discussion of the ways temperament influences choice, despite the authors' admittedly simplistic division of personalities (people person, sane-and-sensible, considering-and-careful, and free-and-fearless). Whether readers will be as interested in "picturing possibilities"--actually writing down the pros and cons of important choices--as the authors suggest, is questionable. But thanks to some common sense, a nonstuffy style, and lots of relevant examples, readers will come away with a better understanding of "how to make good choices, not bad guesses," in emergencies and in everyday life. Stephanie Zvirin