Book Review: Children's Edition

The Monster at the End of this Book, is very cute, I actually had the original foil mirror one when I was little in the 90's. My nana and parents read to me all the time. The lesson being told from this book is to not fear the unknown. Grover is scared by the title of the book and in the new rendition of it, we see that it is just Grover and the old one is the child. It teaches children not only to not fear the unknown but to not judge a book by its cover. Sadly, because I was a child in the 90's and not an adolescent, I grew up with the trophies and ribbons for just being present. When I worked hard for certain things, like answering all the questions correctly, I was awarded not only with a trophy or certificate but accomplishment. I feel like some people from my parents and grandparents’ generations felt that hardship was "too hard" for kids. In the end we were sheltered from it. Even though we have the same lesson from both renditions of this book it is still sad to see that the mirror was labeled fearsome and not "okay" for kids. I have two kids of my own and I have shown them movies I loved to watch as a kid that many parents now look at me like I am crazy.

Leading me to the video I watched by Nostalgia Critic-Should We Scare Kids. It is okay to scare our kids in my opinion, to a degree, because they will not learn otherwise. My oldest, now 11, she found a lighter outside on our grill and decided it would be a great idea to play with it. We found her with it and first did the now "normal" thing of talking with her. A few weeks later she was playing with matches at my sister’s house. It was in that moment when I received a phone call from my husband that I decided to have him show our then 5-year-old Google images of playing with fire. Yes, it scared her to see burn victims and burnt forests, but this also hindered her curiosity about playing with fire. Now, that she is older, she helps us with our bon fires and cooking. She learned then that fire can be fun to play with in safe settings and dangerous at the same time.

My Hiroshima, is just like my experience with my daughter. It is a story from someone’s past. It gives a slant of what the author/or character experienced from the war in Japan. My husband and I were discussing this question. Is it appropriate for children? Yes, I believe so, some people might think it too scary though. I surely don't, I see it as a peep hole into our past and history. If we never know our history, we will be likely to repeat it again. I wasn't surprised by the book, but my daughter was. She just started had middle school, she has yet to learn about world or US history from a different perspective. My three-year-old became bored and went and played with his Legos. The question I got from my daughter was, "Mom, was that story true?" I had answered her honestly and told her," Yes, there was a war and bombs exploded and many people were hurt."

Some parents or guardians might think that these books are too much for their kids. Which that is fine. Parent the way you think is best for your child. Mine learn differently and we use books and communication. Both of these books teach, but differently. Morals vs history, it is however, still teaching.