Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

The biggest concerning item to know about in this book is the relationship between the brother and sister at the center of the story. They are pretty unkind to each other throughout. While this is unfortunate, the impact is lessened by the fact that these kids don’t have any parental support pointing them to the way they should treat each other. For a good portion of this book, we hear this family justifying themselves for their family's con-man behavior. This is primarily around only taking advantage of people who are so rich they can afford it. This is brought to a ‘good’ conclusion late in the book though. Along the way we are presented with a couple of dilemmas like whether or not it is ok to sacrifice one life to save five (we are posed with the question of whether this is ‘murder’), which may be a bit heavy for some younger/less-mature readers. The main character’s lack of ethical compass leads to a few unfortunate choices. He and his roommates sneak into the kitchen pantry and steal a bunch of food at a boarding school. A few other items to be aware of: There is a passing mention of a haunted house. The terms ‘jerk’ and ‘stupid’ appear. We hear ‘cursing’ mentioned, but no words printed. One character says, “grow seaweed out of my butt”. Someone mentions expecting boys to have a poster of a favorite rock band or rapper. There are a few flippant comments like, “pure Heaven in a glass” and “unholy glee”. We hear a character reference ‘the truth about Santa Claus’ and ‘the Easter Bunny’. One mom is said to have written a series of romance novels.