Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

The main character draws a lot and there are a few instances where the art is shown that we wish were not included. At one point the main character draws an image of the “annual first day of school zombie apocalypse” where kids are shown as zombies across campus. This is meant to be light and funny, but the images would be a bit disturbing to some. In another place we see an image of him chewing his leg off to escape a trap. There is also an unfortunate picture where he draws a back to school history book and we see the word ‘boring’. To make it even worse, the image is a bit weird and when dad sees it he suggests he not show his mother. Another image shows a lunch room seating chart segmented by the coolness of various groups (e.g., anime dorks, computer geeks). Christian parents should also know there are a lot of references in here that you either won’t want your kids be encouraged towards or at least would want to pray about. These include Deadpool, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Percy Jackson, Blackish, Amulet, Bone, Dragon Ball Z, Instagram, Call of Duty. We also see a title called, “Socky Horror Picture Show”, an obviously bad reference to a horror movie. The main character acts different ways in different parts of town with different crowds and this is never really shown as being wrong. We also see him thinking unkind thoughts at times. The term “OMG” is a couple times along with “What a tool”. Finally, we want to mention one item from a later book. In one of the sequels the author uses the story to rail against book censorship. This is a more complex topic than we often realize as there are certainly books that should not be put in front of children or included in a kids library, for example. If you let them read this series this is something you will definitely want to talk with them about it.