This is an interesting one to review. In one sense, it is mostly “clean”. From a secular standpoint in fact, there isn’t much to worry about. But for us as Christians, when it comes to media for our children, often one or two aspects of a book or movie can change everything. That is the case here.
The first, most important thing for Christian parents to know about this book is that there is prayer made along the way as young readers make their way through this book, but it is prayer to allah, the god of the Muslims (who despite what many will say is 100% not the same God of the Christians, the God revealed to us in Jesus Christ). This is obviously not what we want put in front of our children. To provide some examples here, a young girl Mona shares that her grandma would “tell her the story of Noah from the Bible and the Quran", as if these books are simply interchangeable books we can get helpful content on life from (a very secular viewpoint). Then later Yasir decides to utter his “Ma’s favorite prayer for God’s help”, but what follows is actually in Aramaic and from the Quran. This prayer comes up multiple times. A really great line to show this dangerous line of thinking and messaging comes when Mona starts “praying silently all the Islamic prayers she learned from Pap and all the prayers from the Bible she learned from Grandma Jennings. She wonders if the people around her are also praying to whatever god they believe in. Whether their prayers will rise up to heaven, dry the flood waters and force Harvey to dissipate. Grandma Jennings definitely believed in the power of prayer. So who knows. Maybe?” (praise God that we don’t have to rely on secular thought like this!).
The second major concern here is somewhat related. This book delivers a subtle, but still very dangerous hint towards a very common message of our world today, that really all religions are basically the same. While not explicitly stated anywhere, over and over throughout the book the “flood narratives” that are found across many ancient cultures are held up as equals alongside the account of Noah from the Bible (despite the fact that they are all very, very different at their core). Now as mature Christians we know that the appearance of these many narratives actually point to the truth of the original scriptural account given of God’s judgement on the world in this story and His act of grace in preserving his family to allow humanity to survive, but that is not what anyone would take away from a surface reading of this book. This book instead makes it really feel that all these stories are at best interesting myths. Even worse than that, the author introduces a line to even cast doubt on Noah’s account, having Mona say that she “knows that’s not accurate, because all animals don’t live in the same geographical area. Noah probably collected the ones he could find” (as if the God who created all the Heavens and all the earth and the animals within and sustains them daily was stumped by something like this, so sad). Similarly, when she brings up Noah, she adds, “This is real life, not a myth”. There is also a creation myth from another culture that has very similar effect.
While the items above are not as focused on when we are discussing concerning content, it is critically important we work to limit exposure to these false secular messages that this culture barrages our children with. While we acknowledge you could certainly walk through all of this with your children, potentially reading it with them, we feel there are much better uses of your time and energy as a parent and would only suggest this option if it is assigned as mandatory for a school project.
Outside of these two main concerns, here is the rest of the potentially concerning content we found to share:
Yasir, one of the main characters, has a “lucky whistle” and at one point he thinks “Maybe Baba’s whistle really is lucky. Early on we are told that Namar (a famous soccer player) is his “idol”. Yasir lives near poverty and when he shares his dreams he says he wants “ten shiny cars in a ten-car garage”, going on to name car brands he wants. Early on he isn’t the best character. He complains about “rich kids” with their “entitled butts and constant complaining”. He calls another boy “that dude he hates” and “Loser”. He blatantly lies to his mother and it is not shown as wrong (he doesn’t want her to worry). To make it worse we read, “Lying is a big sin, he knows. But letting Ma come here would have been a bigger one” (so misleading!).
Mona also isn’t great at first. She calls her mostly absentee parents “annoying” and little brother “slightly annoying”. She rolls her eyes and is rude to her parents. She calls her neighbor a “rando” and her brother a “punk”. She comments on Cody’s “stupid face” on flyers.
Cody is the poorly raised, bad behavior character who grows. Along the way we here him say things like, “What the frak?”, “not that Cody gives a flying duck”, “frakking craptastic” and “a big steaming pile of shiitake mushrooms”. Though he grows a lot, we various things along the way he has to say, such as “Our country's a dangerous place… thanks to the gangsters jumping the borders”. Once when he is dishonest he thinks, “yeah, yeah, so he lies. Add it to his list of wrongdoings”. Late in the book he things that “they should get their revenge through murder or mayhem”.
Even after the character really start to grow, we sadly see things like eye rolls and other bad behavior persist.
Another aspect of Cody’s life introduces a surprisingly heavy subject. His father is an injured vet that did not come home in a good place. Early we read, “He’s always had a temper, always drank too much beer, but now he’s out of control”. We get multiple very clear signs of abuse along the way. One example line, “So Cody’s dad hits him and his mom doesn’t act like a mom… No wonder he’s such a terrible human being”. We also read, “He’d beat me senseless”. We are also shown that he gets drunk.
Some children may also be frightened by a storm that can destroy houses and leave children stranded alone. The children walk through this. For example, at one point Yasir worries very seriously about drowning and no one being around to save him. During a news report we get death counts and updates on homes destroyed. Mona has “grief when she hears the news about Houstonians who lost their lives by drowning or electrocution or some other horrific ending”.
In one scene young kids oddly get to read “Not even if you put a knife to his throat and tell him he’s only got sixty seconds to live… people get knifed every day in the United States of America”.
One floor myth includes “and his blood gushes out and covers the whole earth”.
There is an odd child/parent dynamic at times across the stories. At one point we read, “unlike her parents, she takes her job very seriously”.
In talking about her nightmares Mona says they are not “full of jump scares or gore. There aren’t any demons or witches hiding behind trees or chasing her through cornfields”. One character is scared of the dark “Because let’s face it, the real monster in his mind is the dark. The living breathing fear that pushes against his skin and makes him break out in a sweat”. Mona speaks of her “fear is like a malevolent spirit trying to smother her”. A scary setting is referred to as a “hellscape”. Something is compared to a “low-budget apocalyptic horror movie”.
Several times the characters wonder if a special mood in a “bad omen”
In advice from her mom, Mona is told “Don’t smile at strangers, especially men”.
Mona calls the “wild west” offensive to native people.
The author suggests looking into “climate change”.
Cody is not shown in a great light, but he makes the comment “You know firefighters don’t even have that many emergencies? Most of the time they’re just hanging out at the firehouse playing cards and eating chili” (firefighters are shown in a positive light otherwise).
The following terms are used: “gawd” in place of God, “dope” - an unfortunate word used at times for ‘cool’, stupid, loser, sucks, “keep your trap shut”, crap, jerk, bullcrap. There is a flippant use of “thank God”, “for God’s sake”, “soccer game from hell” and “Oh my God” (this last one many times). Cody’s dad is said to use “nasty curse words”. There is a line about “not acting all aggressive like a caveman”.
There is a reference to Taylor Swift as well as a crystal ball. Once when Yasir asks, “like a witch” the response comes back, “Yeah, how about we watch an episode of Sabrina (the Teenage Witch)? She’s an awesome witch, isn’t she?”