Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

The top concerning item is one we are starting to see more and more of. The main characters are a brother and sister who are really just not very ‘good’ or moral. We meet Dan who describes his sister as the most annoying big sister on the planet, mentioning that she must be an alien imposter and that she looks like a vampire bride. He makes comments, such as hoping her new clothes are uncomfortable and that her current face is ‘uglier than normal’. That sister Amy in turn calls him the most annoying little brother on the plane, calling him a little demon and saying he has a face like a baboon-butt. Both are sneaky (e.g., reading when they are told not to), dishonest and bicker throughout. They do things like cross their fingers behind their back when lying and say things are “not technically a lie”. Dan mentions always having wanted to break into someone’s house and play burglar and collects autographs of famous outlaws. The bad guys are plenty bad, but it is this polluting of the ‘good’ characters that is the real tragedy in books. We should mention all of this starts out heavy and decreases as the book goes along. — Another common item, there is a bit of muddled secular religious comments. One lady has a ‘good luck talisman’ that she believes has seen her through many close calls with death. A young adult guardian mentions a story of a saint being beheaded on a historical hill they are approaching. The response from the children is that this didn’t seem like a ‘good omen’. Then Dan wonders if the head is still kept in the church and whether it is true that the heads of saint’s really have halos. — Here is a list of a few other items to be aware of: There are a lot of instances of words like jerks, dummy, dweeb, stupid, idiot, weirdo, losers, annoying, losers, duh, shut-up (unfortunately a ton of this is between the siblings). There are a few other unfortunate mentions of things like she-devil, fat guy, luck, Kanye West, bony butt, ‘dollhouse of dead people’, cigar, witch, ‘kick him in a soft spot’, etc. A historical essay on ‘farts’ is mentioned a couple times. — Finally, you should be aware that new copies of the book will include a set of cards that invite kids to go online and play a game related to the series.