Thursday, January 10, 2013
Book reviews for parents
I absolutely love that my daughter loves to read! She spends a great deal of time with her nose stuck in a book. And for the most part I don't police the books she reads. But lately she has been interested in some books that friends are reading and a few are books I don't feel are appropriate for her, at least not yet.
Thankfully she has not argued when I have mentioned that I would rather she set them aside and read something else.
She brought me a book last night that she wanted to read and though I was sure it was fine we looked up a few reviews on the book. After she and I looked at a few reviews we decided that it was fine for her to read. We then decided that from now on if she or I felt a book may be questionable, for whatever reason, we would look up a few reviews and decide from there. I could read every book first but I don't want to police her books that way and I honestly I would much rather read books for me!
I know it's different for each family. I know some parents that police every book before their kids read it and I also know those who never even look at what there kids are reading. I myself try to stick somewhere in the middle. Trying to give my daughter the freedom to choose her books yet keeping boundaries age and subject matter appropriate. She is only 11, and so far I have been pleased with the books she has chosen to read.
Right now she is reading the last of the "Series of Unfortunate Events", by Lemony Snicket. And she just started the first book of three, "Fire Within", by Chris D'Lacy. She seams to be really enjoying them.
For those interested there are quite a few sites that review books for parents. Here are a few I have found helpful: storysnoops.com, focusonthefamily.com, commonsensemedia.org
Most of the time I have been able to find simple reviews that list facts about the books and the content. I prefer those over personal reviews simply because I am looking for what's in the book and if it is appropriate for my kids, not what another thought of the book.
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It's good that you take the time to find out more about what your kids are exposed to, even in the books they read. Your approach seems sound.
ReplyDeleteI hope that other homeschooling parents as well as parents of public schools will check out the reviews and heed the reports.
ReplyDeleteWhile in Junior High school I read voraciously and one time I bought a book from the school book club that ended up being questionable. My parents and I talked about the books content and then they decided at that time that I was mature enough to handle it and not be influenced by the content. I appreciated their involvement and then their trust. I felt no need to stretch or break that trust and was content!
Good going Amber
That's how I handled it, too, Amber. It got sticky only once when my youngest daughter was in 9th grade and was assigned "The Kite Runner" - not that I censored and forbade her to read it; however, I did read that one first so that I would be prepared to answer any questions that came up. (By the way, a very good book.)
ReplyDeleteThen there are the MOVIE assignments! Oh yes. My son is in AP history (10th grade now) - he was asked to watch Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List. We, of course, watched them together with him!