Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

The most concerning content to know about in this book revolves around frequent (unfortunate) name-calling, jabs and bickering that Christian parents should work to rid their home of. This is almost exclusively heard from bad or at least obviously flawed characters (which is an important point), but still there is enough of it to give pause to parents with children who may mimic this behavior. Similarly, there are a few terms used by these same characters that again feel unfortunate and unnecessary. Examples include: crafty wench, Sneedlejuice (refers to a movie we would not want Christians watching), cave-dwelling pantywaist, 4-eyes (used many times throughout), idiot, moron, diarrhea-doused diapers (describing a bad smell), blabbermouth, turd, dummy, snot-nosed pipsqueak, “little red panties (making fun of a superhero character’s tights), a mention of brandy, a mention of Santa Claus, a chapter called Idiot’s Delight and another called Safety Last. At one point a pre-teen boy (11 ½) says he is too young to die and mentions he never kissed a girl. Two female characters snicker at him, giving the message to young readers that this is not normal (a message many of us would not want our kids walking around with). Obviously, there is enough here that it may warrant reading this with your children or at least a discussion with your child describing how these are bad comments intended by the author to show people’s imperfect, unsaved hearts and not meant to be behavior to mimic. For some parents, knowing their child, they may choose to wait or even skip this one. It is also important to know that while the feel of the book is light, there are a couple of things used to describe the danger of the city that may concern more sensitive readers. There is a mention in passing about a knife fight happening for a stolen purse. It mentions something having died in the dumpster (character mentions hoping it is a dog and not a cat). A bad guy threatens to “strangle” and “shoot” people. Some characters are shown as being held captive and forced into forced labor. A few of the drawings may also be a bit odd/dark feeling for some children. It should also be pointed out that serendipity is mentioned a few times, which focuses on “chance”, which is not something we as Christians want our children attributing God’s actions towards, so that is another point to discuss.