Corban’s school hosted a book fair by Scholastic in the school library. I met him there to browse what was available to purchase last month. Everything was neatly organized and easy to purchase. I listed the books we purchased and what I thought about them.
The Coach Potato written by Jory John and illustrated by Pete Oswald ($6.99). It centers around the modern life of a potato who ended up making better life choices. Hopefully a reader will catch the illustration and contemplate the message.
The Good Egg written by Jory John and illustrated by Pete Oswald ($5.99). Out of a dozen eggs there was one good egg. The good egg shares stories of how certain eggs did bad things and his acts of kindness. The egg ended up leaving due to self-induced pressure, went on a journey of self-reflection and made decisions to return with a different mindset. Personally, I don’t agree how it ended but it is certainly a good discussion to have at home.
Red Titan and the Runaway Robot written by Arie Kaplan and illustrated by Peter Spaziante ($6.99). First, the Ryan’s World YouTuber kid Ryan is an illustrated character that gave tips on how to read the book like pointing out the speech bubbles, cloud thought bubbles and reading from left to right in the panels. The story is about an average kid with his family who have special watches that transforms them into a super family. Another character tells them about a malfunctioning dancing robot that ends up heading towards the city. The super family and friends work together to stop the robot from wrecking the city by challenging it with a dance off.
Hello Neighbor The Raven Brooks Disaster written by Zac Gorman and illustrated by Dave Bardin ($12.99). This is a graphic novel that reminds me of a soft back version comic book. Hello Neighbor is a stealth horror game about sneaking into your neighbor’s house to figure out what horrible secrets he’s hiding in the basement. Sounds like a movie plot that I remember watching decades ago. Also, I didn’t believe my seven year old son actually played this game on our cell phones, but he has played it in Roblox where grandma is a zombie. And the goal is to escape. Roblox is basically a game engine with a social network integrated.
The book is absolutely not appropriate and I should have read through the pages before the purchase. On the back cover, it currently states that this book is appropriate for ages 8 through 12. The story is about step sisters that evacuate their home from an emergency alert while their parents were on a date. As the story unfolds they happen to engage with the mastermind who created a weather machine that caused the stormy weather for his diabolical scheme upon a small town called Raven Brooks. There are some hurtful family dynamics and some language. The back of the book blurb is misleading.
Needless to say, Corban just saw the cover and wasn’t interested in reading it. He flipped through to see the pictures which is what he was ultimately looking for in a book.
I do enjoy psychological thrillers, mysteries and other types of adult drama. As a parent, I’m doing my part in being present and making the choice to allow certain things to be in our home to be accessible for my children. Being the anchor and security for my child is important. I may have missed the mark by purchasing it and I’m glad that it’s not a big fuss to not leave this on the kids book shelf. I don’t want my children to have this in their mind.
Have there been books that you have purchased at a book fair or checked out that you believe was not appropriate? If so, tell me about it in the comments below.