Several years ago, we stumbled across a movie - Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief. I watched it with the older kids, and it was a so-so movie, but an intriguing concept, and so when we discovered that it was based on a book - nay, a whole series! - we were excited. Now of course, modern children's literature, and Young Adult to an even greater extent, is tricky territory. There are gems here and there, but there is much more drivel, and mixed into both the good and the bad, a myriad of ideas and events that contradict our value system. Or introduce confusion. Or maybe just push boundaries and inspire thought. Often it's hard to tell. In any case, we don't really ban books in our house; in general, I just try to steer the kids toward good writing and storytelling, with values closer to ours than not, and I hope that they will see for themselves the truth of the other kind. I can't possibly read first everything that the older kids in particular find, anyway, and that's really okay. The foundation they have will withstand occasional encounters with concepts that don't line up with our values. In fact, since the world is overflowing with concepts, events, ideas, and choices that don't line up with our values, I would rather the kids encounter some instances of these things while they're with me, than be overwhelmed with it all when they venture out on their own.
At any rate, in this instance, we all embarked on the Percy Jackson books together. And you know what? I'm not ashamed to admit it - I found them intriguing and exciting, and I was just as eager to get to them as the kids. So. We read all the books in the Percy Jackson series, then read the Kane Chronicles (which contain a bit more magic than I would normally like in children's books), and then eagerly awaited and devoured upon release the Heroes of Olympus installments. None of the characters in the books are Christian kids. We get that. Any instance of any kind of faith is of the mythological kind - and a bit of a caricature of mythological Greek, Roman, and Egyptian gods at that. But none of the series has pushed any kind of political or social agenda, nor has it appeared to put down or work against any kind of other worldview. The teenagers are in some ways "typical," but in most others, they seek higher goals and embody more noble character traits than the "typical" teens of our day. In general, if there are character traits and ideals exalted in any of the series, those are of bravery, courage, sacrifice, honor, and friendship. We can certainly deal with that!
So we were excited when the latest installment of the Heroes of Olympus series was just released last week. We had pre-ordered it, and had to enter serious negotiations to determine who was going to read it first. Aimee ended up finishing it first, and it was my turn next. About midway through the book, I read a scene that was unsettling. As I've explained, there have never really been any deep issues, approached from any angle, within the books. But here was a doozy, complete with the popular mantras of our day. I wasn't worried about Aimee having encountered it first - she's grounded and pretty well informed. But I was a little disgruntled at the notion that I was going to have to explain something to the boys that is controversial and yet rather a social darling. Now, I know that some of our friends would celebrate the issue that is touched on here, and they probably envision us having a book-burning while making signs to ward off evil. I have others that would see that issue as a deal breaker and probably question my decision to let the kids continue reading. We can't win.
Fortunately, while we love all our friends, we don't answer to any of you. I know that there's no way to convince those of you on the one side that while we have firm beliefs on this topic, we're not brainwashing the kids into spouting programmed responses. And I know that those on the other side think we're being too lax in monitoring what our kids read, so just by continuing to let them read, we lose a bit of your respect. But as I pondered how to broach this with kids who were eager to read the book, I acknowledged a couple of things - in the first place, banning the book would simply cause confusion, frustration, and a heightened desire to read it; and in the second place, this is something they are going to encounter repeatedly, and in just this form, with the emotionally manipulative wording. And after I finished the book myself, I found that the story itself unwittingly offered a counterargument. It was worth finishing.
So I talked with Drew about what he was going encounter in the book. Naturally, it went like, "Evil, evil, evil, people bashing, brainwashing material, here's what you are to believe, evil, evil, evil." OR...we just talked about the situation the book presented. We talked about how our society views and presents it, and we talked about what the Bible says about it. We talked about how we are all born with natural tendencies , instincts, and desires, but that God calls us to be more than the sum of our biological urges. And ironically, the book ended with that theme as well, as more than one character makes choices contrary to the way he was made and the way he had lived (in the context of this fictional world) for eons. There is more than one great moment like that, reminding me of all the things we really do like about Percy Jackson.
I said in the beginning that I'm glad for the kids to encounter these kind of opposing values while they're with me, so I guess in one way, I'm glad for this little plot twist. It would have been more fun to read the book without it, but there it was. It remains to be seen how the issue will be handled in the next book, but for now, I think we navigated it as best we could. It would be great if Rick Riordan would just stick to adventure and daring, but I suspect that's too much to ask for. now that we've crossed this bridge.
I wonder if it's also too much to ask for that friends who read this won't try to convince us one way or the other on these kinds of matters. I wonder if I can just post it as an example of how we who believe the Bible to be true dealt with something that contradicts what the Bible teaches us, and of how we can read a really good book and be disappointed in some things, but also find some redeeming qualities in the same. I hope so!
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