Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

To summarize up front, this book is basically cover-to-cover concerning content from a Christian perspective. But probably the worst thing comes on the back cover. We are told this series is one to “explore unearthly real-life stories”. This implies to young readers that the content we will chronicle below falls into real events like normal historical fiction. There is almost a feel of this book being “educational” with the way it is delivered. For example, we read things like, “Several famous hauntings revolve around young girls who were accused of seeking attention… paranormal researchers gave the girls the benefit of the doubt...”. We agree it is “teaching”, but not anything we should want children to “learn”. And speaking of young readers, please keep in mind when you read below that this is a graphic novel aimed at children. This will be on the shelves next to other colorful comic-style books. As the story unfolds, a young pale looking boy appears out of nowhere in an otherwise seemingly deserted town. The author uses him to introduce these “unearthly real-world stories” and there is an implication at times that he himself is some type of paranormal being. What is for sure, is that he is intended to be super creepy, and he is. Again, he seems to enjoy telling about this darkness. He tells these young kids, “Some houses have… character. Have history. Dark stories”. He then launches into a creepy ghost story about a family that leads to multiple instances of seances to contact their daughter who died, illustrated for the young reader. Mediums and “spiritualists” are also mentioned as if they are totally normal. And it gets worse. We are told the strange events are due to a "poltergeist". There are also: scary noises in the house, a frightening-shaped stain on the wall, implying it is there from a paranormal source, an illustration of a dark and creepy skeleton. To really put a bow on this story, we start to read “historical” facts like, “some historians believe May might have died trying to get rid of her (unwed) pregnancy”. So, yeah… a kids book. The characters are not great from a morality standpoint. In true modern style, the young daughter seems to enjoy and revel in darkness. She refers to creepy things as “creepy cool”. She refers to scary movies as if she is well versed in them. When exploring the new house she comments that “anyone could be hiding in there”, seemingly happy about that possibility. The young man comments, “Duh mom. Of course I wouldn’t”. He refers to his sister’s “stupid princess bed” when arguing with her right in front of his parents and receives no correction. When a blatant lie comes up and it is called ‘terrible’, the disturbing narrator character replies, “Maybe. Maybe not. If it was a lie, perhaps it brought a grieving mother some comfort. Does that make it ok?” We decided to stop reading after the first of two stories included in this volume, so there is actually a lot more than even what we have listed, but on flipping through the pages for the rest, we see a story revolving around a home where blood is randomly gushing out all around a home. The graphical format of this book makes this very disturbing. This is made worse by an illustration of a vampire looking character with blood flowing down his chin. So there’s that…