The Boy with Big Decisions
For ages 9+
YOU get to help 11 year old Fred choose his path — in a powerful, original ‘choose your own adventure’ story about moving up to secondary school.
It’s that time of year again — when new books arrive about starting secondary school and all the chaos, anxiety, and excitement that comes with it. Helen Rutter is back with ‘The Boy with Big Decisions’ (Scholastic), her seventh middle grade novel (yes, seventh!) — and once again, she writes straight from the heart, telling stories of kids navigating raw, real-life challenges with tenderness and hope.
And this year, something extraordinary happened: every Year 6 child in Hull received a copy of ‘The Boy with Big Decisions’ thanks to a new Hull libraries project. Can you imagine the empathy boost happening there right now? One of the best bookish stories of the year.
Shall I get on and tell you my thoughts on why this book is so important?
Fred isn’t allowed to call Madeline and John "Mum and Dad." He’s not allowed to make any decisions about his own life. So when it’s time to choose a secondary school, the choice is made for him. John — a sports-obsessed, controlling presence — picks Gains. No discussion. No options.
At home, Fred feels trapped. His every move is watched, criticised, stifled. He can’t express himself, speak freely, or explore his talents. But he has a secret…
How does he escape? Through his ART, but no-one knows. He hides his pictures (hundreds of them) under his bed, fixed to the back of pictures on the bland coloured walls of his bedroom. John is firmly against Fred’s DOODLING.
This is a story that highlights the effects of over-controlling parenting of an only child with a stifled sense of individuality… who has a mother so powerless and blinded by her narcissistic husband.
This is also a gripping, thrilling story about an 11 year old boy who is transitioning from Primary to Secondary School and needs desperately to find his own voice, to feel empowered to shape his own destiny.
READERS!! Don’t despair!! You actually get to HELP FRED yourselves!! This is a ‘choose your own adventure’ format novel where at key points in the narrative you, like Fred, are faced with two choices that then take you down a new path depending on what fate you have decided. Readers are less onlookers than usual for a middle grade - they have the power to either help or hinder Fred’s journey (perhaps often experiencing guilt when unwittingly making the wrong choice) to a tween-age utopia of happiness and acceptance.
As I mentioned, there are two Secondary School options initially on the cards. Browtree is the school with the brilliant Art facilities, friendly and nurturing staff who even on the initial visit pick up on some of John and Madeline’s unkind behaviour towards their son. Gains is John’s choice and it’s where Fred’s place is accepted… the cold, confusing, care-less school with a more unapproachable hands-off teaching style… kids seen, not heard, learn like robots, confirm… you get the drift.
It’s the first day of the Autumn term at Gains, Day 1, and Fred stands at the bus stop. He spies a discarded Browtree sweatshirt in the bushes… both school buses turn up for Gains and Browtree… what should he do? Go to Gains or sneak into Browtree? What do you want Fred to do? You decide his next move!!
There are eight possible endings to the story and I re-read it over and over as desperately wanted to find out how BAD things get for Fred as he tries to break out of his cage. As you can imagine he faces many choices that he alone now has to take control of - something he (at first especially) finds incredibly debilitating, so leans on new ‘friends’ for support. Depending on which page the reader decides to choose, Fred makes friends with either kids who are either a good or a bad influence on his behaviour. Due to his upbringing Fred just isn’t emotionally equipped to make sensible or responsible, or even, the right choices in the heat of the moment.
Fred needs your help, readers. He needs help to break through, to stand up for his love of art, for he is truly gifted at it, and to somehow achieve a safer relationship with his parents.
‘The Boy With Big Decisions’ is an original and emotionally powerful middle grade novel about transitioning to secondary school. It invites empathy, courage, and conversation — and puts real decision-making power in the hands of its young readers. It’s a must-read for Year 6s, teachers, and families navigating this big milestone together. The author has included a journey diagram at the back of the book, but try not to peek at it until you’ve had a jolly good go at alternative endings.
Please note this book includes age-appropriate themes of poverty, domestic abuse, narcissism, bullying, asthma attacks, fire in a classroom setting that you should be aware of in case they may be triggers for a young person reading ‘The Boy with Big Decisions’.
For fans of middle-grades about starting in Year 7 including: ‘The First Year’ by Matt Goodfellow (Otter-Barry Books), ‘A History of My Weird’ by Chloe Heuch (Firefly Press), ‘Stitched Up’ by Joanne O’Connell (Macmillan).
