My daughter came home with a book from the library yesterday. It was the biggest thickest book I've ever seen her bring home. The second I looked at the cover I knew I needed to investigate! I told her that I wanted her to stop reading it until I got some info on it. She was upset and was asking why I had a problem with it. I told her all I had to do was look at the cover and see the devilish looking little fairy on the front along with the snake wrapped around the title of the book. Her response to me, "You can't judge a book by it's cover mom!" I told her, "oh yes I can and I am." So after searching the net for awhile I finally found a website that was helpful that I will return to again for future book reviews. the site is www.commonsensemedia.org It reviews books, movies, etc. I quickly found out that the book was not appropriate. Lots of violence, swearing, subject manner touching on topics such as spousal abuse and an affair. Not to mention the fact that one of the main characters dies in the end. Not exactly 9 year old material. The site recommended that the reader be 11 or older for this book.
I found the site very helpful and wanted to pass it along to ya'll. I wish that it was as detailed at www.pluggedinonline.com is for movies and tv. Have you seen this site? It's fab and plugged in is also from a christian perspective so they cover moral and spiritual content as well. If anybody knows of a book review site that does that please let me know! On plugged in they don't just say "mild to moderate language with swearing" they actually tell you each word and how many times it is used. I want a book review site which is that detailed, but for now Common Sense was very helpful.
I'm sure someone is going to ask the question "what book was it?" so I will just tell you that it was Inkspell from the Inkheart trilogy. She never even read the first book..so I'm not sure why she wanted to read this one, but the bottom line is that she won't be reading it after all. I'm not trying to start a debate about the book. So let's stay away from that. I'm just sharing my experience about having to be aware and to get informed about what my kids are reading, and I'm thankful that I found a helpful and informative website to help!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
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Good for you!!
ReplyDeleteI love Common Sense Media and use it often.
Alot of the time I also pick up Ben's library books and read them. Most of the time I can get through them in a matter of hours and I have sent some books back to school to be returned without him reading them.
However, I have the extra blessing of knowing that the Librarian at his school is a christian and goes to Summit View! Mr Wagner knows that it is okay for him to lead Ben away from books with questionable material.
thanks for the tip. so far my husband and i take turns reading the books my daughter wants to read before we allow her to read them. i think we will still do that but it might be a good idea to start on that website so we can save ourselves a little time too.
ReplyDeleteOh how I love public schools! :)
ReplyDeleteShannon, that sounds like a good idea. I want you to read every book that Emily reads, before she reads it. Okay, wait, I'm dying here....I'm cracking up....I can't breathe....Okay, I'm back. I know what a reader you are not, and what a reader your daughter is. I just had to make a lil' joke! Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeletethis has nothing to do with public school..private school...home school. If I home schooled my daughter I would take her to the public library to get books to read and I would be faced with the very same issue of having to get info on the book and determine if I thought it was an ok book for her to be reading.
ReplyDeleteGOOD for you for taking an interest. Nice catch. I agree, I wouldn't have let my boys read it either. Odd that she chose that one... Keep up the fight! Blessings.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips! I don't have readers yet, but I may use that site for myself. I don't know how many times I have bought books for myself only to get two chapters in and find them litered with profanity. I can't read profanity. For some reason it bothers me way more than hearing it.
ReplyDeletethanks for the link.
ReplyDeletei have used pluggedin online for awhile and i think they have a book link as well. i recently just checked into some books there that my daughter was dying to read - all the other girls from church and dance were reading it, not the girls at school - we decided as a family that those books were not for us. i will have to check out the commonsense website.
ReplyDeleteglad you checked into this book for yourself.
You want to know something scary! The Today show had the first one "Inkhart" as thier book of the month and they had the author on today to talk about it. I'm sure many parents will see that and think that those books are great books for thier kids to read. Thanks for the link. I will be using it!
ReplyDelete