This book has a couple significant concerns that it is important for Christian parents to know.

Major Concern Areas:

A ‘side character’ comes into the fold not long into the story named ‘Erf’. Right away we see something strange as immediately Erf is referred to with “they” in places where it makes no sense. Then surprisingly Erf is asked if they are a boy or a girl. To this Erf replies ‘neither’, to which the main character comments that “they didn’t know you could do that”. Throughout the book, the reader is challenged to follow as “they” is used for Erf in the singular over and over. Later the uncle begins to ponder about the head of the family. He says that if they are male, they are patriarch and female they are matriarch, but then adds that if they were “another gender” that they would get to pick their title, to which he adds that is something he is “quite looking forward to”. At another point a character comments, again out of nowhere, that “you know… when I was born, everybody thought I was a boy. The doctors said I was a boy. My parents thought I was a boy. My parents bought me boys' clothes. I had to learn to talk in order to explain the situation to them and they were terribly embarrassed by their mistake”. This gets further expanded with comments like “no one in the world makes that decision but you” and “I quickly learned those people don’t matter’. Later a character hopes to communicate with a spirit (see next point) in order to find out if she really had a romance with a queen. Obviously, this is in 100% direct opposition to what God declares about who we are and how He made us.

Next, a dark element of the story is introduced and gets a good bit of focus toward the end of the book. A machine is introduced for communicating with the dead. At first it seems like this will be shown to be a total hoax, but instead the young reader is left feeling convinced that this machine really worked. When they use it, they refer to it as a seance. The main character describes using a Ouija board (again left with the feeling it worked). What makes this incredibly dangerous for kids is that the whole topic is handled very ‘lightly’ as if it is no big deal. The Bible tells us that is very much not the case. In fact, the main character even gets excited when the machine is unveiled. We need to take attempts to bring this type of darkness into our homes extremely seriously.

Additional Concerns:

There is a lot of immoral behavior and moral ambiguity (probably not surprising given everything above, but important to know about). The main character is far from “good”. Retaliation is justified. Faking ill is mentioned to stay home in order to get read to. Cook, one of the side characters, is said to have run away from home when she was young. The parents are completely absent, traveling the world for the entire story. One sister steals the other’s diaries to read. A character is said to be finally tall enough to pickpocket. Sneaks into Aunt's room to steal a key. One character, when asked what she would do if burglars came, replies that she would ask if they wanted to be kidnappers and point to her sister’s room. One of the young girls takes a sip of champagne because not one is around to tell her not to”. Proud when told that her gran would call her a “bad influence”. That same gran has instructed the family not to involve the police even when very serious crimes occur. Cook is said to be ‘cursing’. At one point one of the young girls said they learned words from her that she wouldn’t say in front of their aunt. One character says that investigating an attempted murder gives them something to do. Dishonesty is referred to as “not technically a lie”. The family holds an insult contest where they take turns exchanging really mean insults. This highlights with a mean exchange between sisters. Even worse, all the onlookers enjoy this.

There is a decent amount of violence mentioned, even the author keeps this from ever being graphic. A few characters die as the mystery unfolds. One is said to have a large marble bust where their head used to be. The girls play a game called “post mortem” where Shenanigan fakes her own grisly death and her sister has to piece together how she’d been killed from the clues. Shenanigan comments that she wants to murder the bad guy when they find them. A man is show with a crossbow and several things like this and a handful of other things like this. There is a quick mention of an “ax to the back”, “taking an ax to all of them”.

One character mentions wanting to get a tattoo eventually. One of the chapter transition pictures shows someone shirtless with stars covering both sides of their chest.