One of the most concerning items comes towards the end of the book. Sophie (the main character, a child) tells a series of lies to her guardian Charles. He tells her she is a bad liar, but then surprises us by telling her “as long as you aren’t doing anything too extravagantly illegal.” Following it with, “I’m happy for you to have secrets… Keep your secret then my darling. Everybody needs them. Secrets make you tough and wily… Off you go… go and practice telling lies in front of the mirror”. This is obviously extremely concerning from a Christian parenting perspective... and it is made all the more concerning by the fact that a) Charles is presented as this amazing, wise, loving guardian and b) Sophie’s ‘secret’ is sneaking out of her hotel room via the roof in the middle of the night with a boy and jumping between rooftops. In fact at one point, he catches her sneaking out late at night and just lets her go, with the sense that this is the right and good thing to do (again, she is a young child). So there’s that. This is by far the most concerning content and something you really need to make sure to talk with your child about if you allow them to read this book.

Also, near the end of the book, there is a pretty vicious fight scene between a group of friends Sophie has made (Rooftoppers) and another group. Weapons are used and violence is fierce and described in some detail. It is an intense scene.

There are a few surprising instances of alcohol use here. These are concerning because of their use by children. At first we hear of Charles having Whiskey at bedtime. There is a mention of him taking steps to try and keep it from Sophie. This comes up again later in the book. Even worse, eventually Charles gives Sophie “a gulp” of whiskey, saying to think of it as medicine. There are several things like this across this title. Later Charles smokes a pipe and offers it to a child.

There are many examples throughout the book of doing things “for luck”. Sophie touches the bookcase “for luck”. She spits on her palm and crosses her fingers “for luck”. A group sings one song “for luck”. For much of the book we see her crossing and uncrossing her fingers “for luck”. “Luck” comes up over and over. We also hear multiple uses of things being a “good omen”.

There are often several uses of the Lord’s name in books we review. This is sad in how consistent it is. Unfortunately, in this title this concern runs rampant. We read many flippant instances of things like “My God”, Good Lord”, etc.

Sophie is dishonest quite a bit in this book. At one point she is called an “unpracticed liar” (as if it is a skill she needs to polish). At one point she takes a loophole in something she promises her guardian, feeling justified by it. She is raised to be very polite, but we often read of her thinking otherwise, as in one case where she wants to say, “you potato-faced old hag”. At one points she gets mad at a really bad couple of adults and responds by lying multiple times, getting angry, thinking how she wants to hit them, saying she hates them, insults them (e.g., “the witch”).

Here are a handful of other items to be aware of:

Sophie and Charles own a Bible, but its only mention is being used as a plate at a meal.

At one point Charles jokes he will “bludgeon you (Sophie) to death with Robinson Crusoe” if she dog-ears a book.

The following terms/phrases are used: “mustaches with idiots attached”, “made with the delicacy and detail of witchcraft”, “scared the hell out of me”, “skin you alive”, idiot, farting, stupid, soothsayers, “I hate you”. The term “damn” is used as a curse word several times by Sophie and at one point we are told she “swears” (word not shown). When scared by a boy Sophie picks up a book saying, “it might help if he tried to stab her”, later saying that he “didn’t look like a murderer”. There is an idle threat to “burn off all your hair”. An orphanage is said to be “like hell” and a meal is said to “taste like Heaven”. Something is called “majestic as a god”.

The boy Sophie meets who lives on his own steals food and other items sitting in window sills and justifies it to himself and Sophie (never shown as wrong).

Sophie insults someone by saying they look like a baboon to which Charles replies that he did seem to be “an excellent proof of the theory of evolution”.

At one point Sophie actually breaks into a government building to find information she believes is being kept secret.