Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

The content, while never feeling dark or too graphic, is something to carefully consider for your particular children. This is likely one to wait a bit on for younger and/or more sensitive readers. The main bad guys, the Fangs, are large lizard-like creatures that have poisonous venom. They are frequently violent and in certain instances the violence is somewhat descriptive. As an especially evil practice, the Fangs will occasionally sign a child up to be abducted and taken off in a “black carriage”, never to be seen again (the author walks the line a bit here, but manages to keep it from feeling overly dark). There are characters who do not survive interaction with these Fangs, including the family’s small, beloved dog the reader grows to love throughout the book. There is a place outside of town that is said to be haunted and characters discuss if ghosts are real. There are other strange creatures in the woods and one has a drawing included that is more weird than scary. The main characters make a handful of poor choices (steal a map, snap at grandfather about their responsibility, harbor unforgiveness), but it is always handled as you would hope a sin would be. There is a mention of townspeople smoking pipes. There is also a pretty gross description of the food prepared for the Fangs to eat. The Plugged In review below does a nice job of providing additional detail on these potential concerns.