My new event for this day is finishing the kids book “Percy Jackson & Olympians the Lightning Thief.”
This is one of the kid’s books that have recently been made into a movie. I have not seen the movie but I will be interested in seeing how they transfer the book into film.
The plot of the story is a seventh grader who apparently is a son of a god. He goes on a quest to find stolen items from the Olympian gods. He must battle evil forces and monsters from Hell. In fact this seventh grader and his two friends go face to face with Hades and must deal with going to hell and surviving all of its twists and turns.
I understand that Children’s books are supposed to deal with Good and Evil. And I can even deal with a children’s book having some form of Hell in it. But this book presents the belief that all people go to Hell and then are dealt with. And this picture of Hell is scary.
I have always been a big supporter of reading books and then deciding if they are appropriate or not for kids instead for just going on hype. I, personally enjoyed Harry Potter and believe that for the right age group, and with an open opportunity for discussion, kids, Christian or otherwise, can find it very entertaining. But the right age group.
Thightning Thief is written geared to 6th thru 8th grade. Yet it’s at a 4.7 reading level. That means that a fourth grader should be able to read this and understand it. I disagree. I do not want my fourth grader reading this and I do not want my fourth grader trying to understand this. Yet I know that fourth graders and probably some third graders are reading it.
So my question is who is discussing this with our children? When I was in Oregon I ran a reading club for 9 to 14 year olds. We read everything and discussed it all. You would never realize all that goes on in our children’s heads. I really enjoyed my time with these kids. And I really enjoyed reading all of the books.
So my quest to you: read a current kid’s book and find a kid to discuss it with. See what conversations are sparked. You never know, you might even learn something!
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Children are remarkably capable self-censors when it comes to printed material. They will often decide all on their own when a book's content scares them, and they will usually skip over or fail to understand references that are beyond their level of maturity. With things like movies and video games and other visual entertainment, kids can't put them down or skip parts, so I do worry about them not being ready for what they see, but with books...my feeling is that they stop reading when something makes them afraid or uncomfortable. That said, I of course think it's wonderful for adults to read children's literature and talk about it with them. The more viewpoints the better, and you're right: what goes on in their heads can be surprising!
ReplyDeleteI have yet to read the Lightning Thief series, mostly because it's pitched as MG, and that's not what I'm writing right now, but from what I've heard, it's pretty YA for MG, which aligns with your assessment, too. Maybe a better pick for the older teen than the elementary school reader.