Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

It is really important for you to make sure that your child is mature enough for the content in this book (see more discussion on this below). For this book, the content of this section is not meant to point out unfortunate content we wish wasn’t there (as is typical of secular books). This story transitions and ends in such a faith-building and positive way, one that redeems everything we will list here. This section is simply meant to point out what you should know to make the decision on when your particular child is ready for this title. That is an important distinction. Here is what you should know. — This book hits many mature topics. There is insight throughout the book on anorexia, its impacts (obsession with food, extensive lying, serious health impacts, etc.) and its root causes. It shows the ugliness and emptiness of the worldly popular world that many children desire to be a part of (shown from behind the scenes of something within it). Devotions shine light on the dangers of pornography (which is wisely tied in similarity to “romance novels”), premarital sex and the ever-slipping line of activities that lead to it (and the boundaries to avoid it), drugs/alcohol use, etc. In one very serious moment a councilor shares that a friend took her own life. There is a particularly emotional devotion that addresses physical and sexual abuse. One boy has been physically abused by his parents. A friend has a boyfriend who it implies has physically abused her. An adult female councilor shares that as a teen she was offered a ride home from a boy she had a crush on for a long time who raped her and threatened to lie if she told anyone. A male councilor shares that a man who befriended him as a child sexually abused him as a child for multiple years. This issue is handled incredibly carefully and kids are left with excellent lessons on how to handle these situations and heal from a very godly perspective… but obviously this is heavy. — This is also a particularly important book to make sure your child finishes if they start it. For over half of this longer story, we see life through the eyes of a young lady… and what we see is not pretty. She is shallow, self-centered, disrespectful, dishonest, deceitful, manipulative, overly boy focused, overly looks focused and anorexic. This makes the ending of redemption and restoration that much sweeter, BUT in the same way we see with the Bible, we are shown the ugly side of things without Him first. — The words “sex” and “sexy” are mentioned several times. There is a young child who reads romance novels. There are a couple of covers that are described, e.g., “a powerfully built man passionately embracing a half-dressed beauty as she ripped the shirt off his muscular body”. The word “kinky” is mentioned once. Many characters are very focused on looks and describe guys with things like “hottie” and “smoking hot”. Again, this is shown in a negative light, especially towards the end of the book, but good to know it is there.