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I am so pleased to post the review of this book. It is about a million miles away from a NR rating and is so good it lands itself at just-about perfect. I absolutely loved Ida B's voice, she has the greatest sayings and the cleverest way of expressing herself. The reading is not interrupted at all with foul language or inappropriate themes. I could hug Katherine Hannigan in a powerful way.
Even though this book is on the "young" side of YA, I would recommend it to any age reader because the writing is so enjoyable and the main character so endearing.
by Katherine Hannigan
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This was a very difficult rating to give-- not to mention the fact that I would have preferred my first rating to not have been the harshest available. The book had so much potential! It was cleverly filled with cartoon drawings, making it original, and the writing for the most part was humorous.
But when you look at the Criteria Statistics, I hope you'll see why I, as a Christian wanting to encourage responsible, God-honoring reading, felt compelled to give it this rating.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,
by Sherman Alexie
230 Pages
Library of Congress summary: Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
FOUL LANGUAGE: 39 occurrences (one "F-bomb")
SOFT LANGUAGE (heard on cable TV, but undesirable in the mouths of Christians): 32 occurrences
SEXUAL CONTENT: 22 occurrences
BLASPHEMIES: 11 occurrences of the Lord's name used as a swear word.
DRUG USE: alcohol use rampant around the characters, but never in a glamorous light.
REFERENCES TO AND GENERAL ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD: 5 occurrences. Very casual, crude, disrespectful. Examples: "More than anything, I wanted to kill God." (page 173), also main character refers to God creating thumbs so that boys could gratify themselves.
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These ratings do not tell you whether the book is good or not. If you want further details, read the review and criteria statistics attached to the particular book in question.
Ida B. by Katherine Hannigan
Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
The City of Ember and The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
Eragon and Eldest by Christopher Paolini
A Great & Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
I pondered the fact that many Christian parents don't know what their teens and pre-teens are reading and don't have the time or discipline to read all of their books before they "authorize" their reading material.
Enter Me.
I love to read and have a soft spot for the Young Adult (YA) novel as you are more likely to find something sweet and clean for that age group than in the Adult section. However, that is not always the case.
I want to help protect the eyes and hearts of young readers by giving them the tools to make a wise decision where their reading material is concerned.
I endeavor to post reviews of as many YA books as I can wrap my eyes around.
In addition, I will rate each book with certain criteria, including:
Humor
The "Aw, sweet" factor
Action
Violence
Language, including Incidents of the Lord's name taken in vain
Sexual Content
Drug Use
References to God and the general attitude toward Him
...among others.
My prayer is that this website will be a useful tool in the hands of teens and parents alike.
Please feel free to give me book suggestions for review and I would love feedback where a rating has been helpful.
Here's to putting worthwhile reading before your eyes!
