Beyond the Labyrinth

Named 1989 Book of the Year for Older Children by the Australian Children's Book Council. The author writes an adventurous, fast moving tale of a young man, Brenton Trethewan, who's favorite past time is reading "Choose Your Own Adventure" books --a toss of the dice decides the ending. Brenton tosses the dice to determine all of life's choices. In this story "Fourteen-year-old Brenton learns to question the choices in his life when an alien anthropologist arrives to study an ancient aboriginal tribe that once lived in the area around his home." Toss the dice yourself to discover the ending to this story.

"Beyond the Labyrinth" is a refreshingly intelligent book for teenagers, offering much to both strong and reluctant readers alike. Dealing with "the big issues" of environmental disaster, family disharmony, third world poverty, death and sexuality, Rubinstein offers a heady mix of realism and science fiction. When her teenage protagonists meet an androgynous alien named Cal, they are offered a new, apparently objective view of human life. This encourages the reader to question notions of gender identity as well as bringing racial prejudices and family dynamics to the fore. "Beyond the Labryinth" allows for an unusual level of reader interaction with the text. In "Choose Your Own Adventure" style, the reader is asked to throw the dice in order to choose one of two seperate endings. This is an engaging tactic which helps to draw the teenage reader in, at the same time allowing for a greater complexity of meaning. "Beyond the Labyrinth" is a rewarding read from one of Australia's finest writers for young people. It raises interesting questions for teenage readers and their parents alike.