Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

The biggest thing to know from a concerning content viewpoint is that Jamie (the 7-year-old main character) fights with her sister a lot and they are just really unkind to each other for the majority of this short book. While we don’t want to overstate it, and this does setup a redemptive element at the end, it is still a bit hard to take in and probably goes a bit further than you might expect. In fact, in the middle of the story the girls are pretty awful to each other. There is a point where Jamie breaks her sister’s special necklace and hides it. What makes it worse is she really shows no remorse. When she is confronted, she turns the blame, eventually storming out of the room and slamming the door. Her sister eventually gets even with her. Even with simple things, like when Erica, the sister, wakes Jamie up, Jamie immediately just says, “go away”. While none of this is over the top, it does stand out in a book that really comes across in a very sweet way for all other aspects of the story. We are glad it resolves well, but we would suggest using it as a chance to point out how important being loving and kind within our walls is to God. Other items we noted: We hear from Loren (the other main character), “We had church at the house… Me and my parents, we’ve been travelling so much all year it’s usually what we do… Read parts of the Bible and discuss it together.” While there are certainly good things about this and, when travelling Christians often have to get creative, in this story we get the sense this has been going on for a long time. It is important that we teach our kids the importance of corporate worship and being a part of a church home where we attend regularly, serve, give and grow. It is handled gently, but a terrible tragedy involving a child is mentioned.