Search Results for: blog censoring good or bad

The Anti-Review

I take my responsibility as a media reviewer very seriously. Keeping in mind the goal of this site, which is to strengthen families, I look for books that are uplifting and do not contain offensive material. Unfortunately, as I carry out this search, I run into a lot of books that, in my opinion, do not live up to the aims of the site and so I do not review them. I thought I would take a moment to mention some of the books that I’ve had to put down, in hopes that you can avoid running head-long into them … Continue reading →

Confessions of a Shopaholic – Sophie Kinsella

I went to bed with a bad headache last night. After taking some medicine, I thought I would lay down with a book until the pain subsided, and then I’d be able to go to sleep. I stayed up until 2:30 a.m. – there was no way to put the book down until it was finished. In this nationally published chick lit book, Rebecca Bloomwood is a financial journalist for the magazine “Successful Saving.” There’s just one problem with that – she’s also a compulsive shopper, and is in debt up to her eyebrows. She regularly gets letters from her … Continue reading →

The Day They Came to Arrest the Book – Nat Hentoff

As a fast introductory note: at the time this book was published (1982) the politically correct term for a person of color was Black. I know things have shifted somewhat since then, but as I’m reviewing this particular book, I’ll use the term Black, as that is what is found in the book. “The Day They Came to Arrest the Book” is a classic young adult fiction novel about censorship. George Mason High School is the setting, and Nora Baines is the teacher who started it all. She’s a history teacher who believes that sometimes, the best lessons can be … Continue reading →

How Do I Select Novels to Review for Families.com?

I thought you might be interested in taking a peek into the highly scientific, complex methodology I use to choose the books I will review for you here at Families.com. It all begins with a library card and a very beat-up book bag that has seen better days and looks like it has been the object of much attention from an Uzi. I go to the fiction section and scan the shelves, looking for any books I haven’t picked up yet. Here’s where things get really scientific – I start shoving books in my bag right and left, until the … Continue reading →

The Captain Underpants Books – Dav Pilkey

I had heard about Captain Underpants many a time and frankly, the whole idea didn’t thrill me all that much. I don’t care for underwear jokes and wanted to establish a higher level of thinking within the heads of my young, gullible, impressionable children. However, one day my husband took the children to the library. Without proper supervision (i.e. without nagging wife) he allowed my son to check out the book. I wasn’t terribly amused. They were three chapters into it before I discovered the misdeed, and they were laughing their heads off. After reading my husband the riot act, … Continue reading →