Blah blah Golden Compass blah blah

Someone who clearly does not know me very well sent me one of those "BEWARE THE GOLDEN COMPASS FOR YEA VERILY IT SHALL SUCK OUT YOUR SOUL" emails. I was not impressed, and kind of wanted to write this person back and ask that the next time he chooses to blindly pass on inflammatory information like a mindless, mindless drone that he kindly leave me out of it.

My acquaintance isn't the only one sending this stuff out, though. I just read that an elementary school principal in Bountiful, UT sent an email to the parents of his students back in October, warning them about the film. Which, WOW. I was glad to read that he got a reprimand from the district, because as a parent I would have been well bothered by that.

The quite witty Eric D. Snider wrote a blog post about the whole hoopla surrounding the movie/books. His basic point: If you haven't read the books or seen the movie then you don't actually know what the message or intent is. All you know is what you've heard from other people, and it's kind of silly to just repeat those things as fact without checking for yourself. He made his point so well that I'm not even going to bother but will instead refer you to him.

But seriously. If you don't know whether you should let your kids read the books, read them yourself and then decide. Or, if needed, find someone who has read them, whose opinion and judgment you trust, and consider that. Also? The things you take away from a book may be completely different from the things your kids will get out of it. They might just see a great adventure story. I'm not saying you should give them, say, a bodice-ripper on purpose in the hope that it will go over their heads, but I am saying that the things that set you squirming might not make a dent to them.

I've read the series and there is quite a bit (especially in the third book) about throwing off an oppressive and cruel religious authority . . . which, um, wouldn't we be kind of . . . for? Some of the themes might bring up some really great conversations and teaching moments with your kids, where you can discuss how what you're reading aligns with your own beliefs, and how you can decide whether something is worth reading or not. And isn't it a good idea to help your kids develop the kind of critical thinking skills they'll need for when they head out into the world and start reading things that you haven't pre-approved?

So yes. You may decide that you just don't want to deal with the ambiguity and that you have neither the time nor the interest to screen these for your kids, so you're just going to pass on the whole thing. Which is absolutely fine. But if that's the case, please just say that rather than joining the screaming masses who take one quote from the author (who, let's remember, knows that nothing sells quite so well as scandal) and create a crusade out of it.

And stop sending me emails, because they just make me cranky.

Posted in: book lust,on my crap list