I am not sure about the children in your church, but my kids have been enraptured by a series of books entitled Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. The book is called “a novel in cartoons” and consists of pencil sketches made by a “kid” as he writes about his life in a diary.
I am wanting to bring this book to your attention because, truth be told, your children do not need to be reading this book. Greg Heffley, the “author” of the diary is a smart-mouth kid who does everything he can to challenge authority and get away with everything he can. For example, he writes, “If there’s one thing I learned from Rodrick, it’s to set people’s expectations real low so you end up surprising them by practically doing nothing at all.”
This is the tip of the iceberg. He writes of how he makes fun of kids and how he wants to beat them up and on and on it goes. You may want to advise your parents as to what is in these books and that their children ought not be reading them because there is nothing in them that is glorifying to God. If anything, these books will be counter-productive to anything you are trying to accomplish in your ministry.
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Thanks for the info. I was wondering about this book series. I’ve seen a lot of kids (not church kids) reading it and choosing it as their summer reading project. I will pass on the word.
Terry,
Thanks for the ‘heads up.’ I’ve only seen it for sale at stores, but never knew much more. I guess not all comics are as wholesome as my old Heathcliff – the gluttonous cat who loved to fight.
Terry,
I appreciate the heads up as well. I’ve never even heard of the book, but I’m sure if I poked around, the kids would know about it. Sounds pretty awful to me – not the kind of character we want our students pursuing. Thanks again
Truth be told, what got me interested in this book was one of my church kids, who does not read was raving about how he read three books in 2 weeks. I got curious and asked if I could borrow them. This is what he read.
Perhaps we can continue making others aware of the pitfalls in reading and movies and cartoons out there through this website.
Terry,
Thanks for the information. I haven’t read these books yet, but I see them at the book store all the time. Oftentimes people post with suggestions for books, but I think people are sometimes afraid of seeming judgmental in posting about resources to avoid. I for one appreciate the heads up. It sounds like these book convey the cynicism which is rampant in our culture today.
Thanks again,
Wayne
Thanks for the alert! We can’t be too careful with this stuff, our kids are so vulnerable! I appreciate you taking the time to spread the word!
Terry, thank you for the article. My husband and I seen a news intro on this book. We were not sure and we did not buy the book for our grand-daughter. We were going to buy and read it; we just saved some $$.
Keep up the great work and newsletter coming.
My daughter age 7 just got this book from their book fair at her elementry school……. I have already put a call in with the principal because I couldn’t believe they had this at their book fair.
Nothing better then a book with the word “jerk” and talking about “cute butts”
Shame on scholastic for having this in their book fair!!!!!!!!!
This is why we, as Christians, must be engaged with our culture and must be aware of all that is happening in our children’s lives. Unfortunately, many parents in our churches today have no idea what their children are reading (either at home or worse at school). We will do our best here at Ministry to Children to keep you updated on stuff like this.
Please, if you (or anyone) find something like this in your child’s book bag or come across some stuff like this, let us know so we can alert everyone else.