Book Review Resources

Our Anchor students are great readers!! As parents, we encourage reading, and our hearts often swell with joy when we see our students choose reading over screens. Stories capture the imagination, and imagination motivates and provides direction for behavior. Therefore, wise parents need to be relentlessly diligent at helping our students discern the underlying messages of the stories they are reading.

For instance, a popular middle grade series is the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. Rick Riordan is a talented writer who draws his readers into a story before dropping in characters and actions which seem morally right, but are not. One underlying premise of this series is that Greek gods have affairs with mortal women, resulting demigod children. The author then continues to gradually insert darker themes including beastiality and homosexuality. While it is not wise to completely shelter our kids from secular and even pagan ideas, exposure must be appropriate based on the maturity of the student and must be in conjunction with discussion based on biblical principles. We need to help our students learn how to discern absolute truth in a culture convinced that truth is never absolute.

Busy parents do not have the luxury of pre-reading every book our students pick up, but there are some resources available to inform your decisions and provide ideas for conversations.

1. Plugged In 
2. Redeemed Reader
3. Common Sense Media (This site has summaries and some warnings such as violence and sex,­ but will not give warnings pertaining to worldview or morality.) 

​In addition to these resources, we have Anchor families who are willing to offer further ideas on how they manage to have great conversations about books and stories. It has been a blessing to watch the Anchor community of parents supporting and encouraging each other throughout this year. Let's continue to support and pray for each other as we navigate this cultural moment together.  Thank you!

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