Children's Book Review

Recently my daughter came home with a book her teacher recommended because she knows she loves to read. My husband read the cover and became concerned because the book contained disturbing scenes and violent content. After looking into it further and reading the reviews we decided that this was not a book she should be reading. We explained our feelings to her and why we felt this was not a book that would be good for her based on our Christian values and her personal needs.

As mother's, I know, we are all concerned about what our children read, watch on TV, play video games and so on. There are many good resources to help us make decisions for our children based on Christian values and their individual needs, temperament, and understanding. The Bible in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 urges us to "Test everything, hold onto the good. Avoid every kind of evil."

The book I am referring to is called The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins. This book is aimed at children and young adults 13-18. Many of the books written for this age group tend to be very dark in nature. I am sharing the following link so that you are informed about just one of the books out there that your children may find in their school library or classroom. This provides info about the book and suggestions on life lessons you can teach them if they have read the book.

Kim Ratcliffe

Here is the link for Focus on the Family review of the book The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins:
http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/protecting_your_family/book-reviews/h/hunger-games.aspx


Summary of review: In this tale of 24 teenagers forced to kill each other, readers follow a number of gruesome, bloody and otherwise disturbing scenes. One tribute murders another by snapping his neck. Other tributes are killed by spears, arrows, blows to the head with rocks and the stings of mutated yellow jackets. Wounds ooze blood and puss, and the wounded smell festering flesh. One of the final tributes is mauled by a pack of rabid dog-like creatures for hours before he dies. Katniss also mentions how, in previous games, tributes were killed by venomous snakes, went insane from thirst or froze to death. One previous contestant tried to eat the tributes he'd killed, but the Gamemakers stopped this because it didn't play well with the audience. Leaders in the Capitol cut out the tongues of those who disobey them.