How to Avoid Questionable Content in a Book

In the last few weeks I have heard over and over again from friends, “Ok, I get it, there are books out there that aren’t wholesome, but is there a way to find out if the book is questionable or not?”

And to be honest, there is really no way to know EVERYTHING that’s in a book until you read it for yourself, but there are some tips and tricks to apply if you want to find out if the book will be a winner or not. These are the steps I follow to check if a book will be safe for me to read myself or even to read aloud to my daughter.

(If you are an audible or visual learner check out the Instagram highlight about this topic here.)

1. Check for the book title on Common Sense Media or Plugged In. I wish there were something like IMBD for books. Common Sense Media and Plugged In are the best companies I’ve seen that rate books as well as IMBD rates movies. About 50% of the titles I search for are found on these sites—certainly not all encompassing, but definitely an option worth checking out.

Common Sense Media gives books a 1-5 rating for educational values, positive messages, positive role models, violence, language, sex, drinking, drugs, and smoking.

But you still must be cautious because I’ve seen poor attitudes get overlooked. For example, I recently did a review on Junie B. Jones books, and by looking at the ratings on Commonsense Media, they look perfectly acceptable…so just beware.

Plugged In is a site run by Focus on the Family. I personally love this one because they are coming from a Christian worldview, but sadly, they do not have a vast selection of titles. They do include a FULL book review rather than just rating the content of each book. In each book review, they usually cover the plot, Christian beliefs, other belief systems, authority roles, profanity & violence, and sexual content.

2. Always check the 1- and 2-star reviews on Amazon. This is probably THE BEST trick I know of. Typically, if there is something questionable you want to know about in a book, someone will be complaining about it in the reviews. (Although sometimes the complaining can get a bit obnoxious as I’m sure you well know.)

The Junie B. Jones series is a PERFECT example of this. It has an overall rating of 4.5 stars. If you were just judging the book by the average rating, you’d think it was a perfect book for a 6-year old. But if you take a look at those 1-star reviews, you’ll find statements like: “These books are examples of everything I don’t want my child to be.” “Teaches disrespect to adults and naughty behaviors.” “Junie B. Jones is a brat!” “Extremely inappropriate behavior for young children!” “I’m appalled at the characters behaviors and attitudes in these books!” “I threw these in the trash!”

So as you can see, just taking a quick peek at the lower ratings will give you a good idea of what you can expect in the book.

3. Get recommendations from friends you trust. On a more practical note, this step is KEY! Following this rule, you can easily avoid A LOT of junky books. There are certain people I go to for book recommendations because I know their recommendations are going to be books I would want to read myself. I don’t have to worry about language, sex, or anything questionable because I know their book reading “standards” are like mine if not even more stringent.

Some of my favorite books have been recommended by dear friends…most recently Saving My Assassin by Virginia Prodan (cheapest price on Walmart.com or find on Hoopla here) and My Dearest Dietrich by Amanda Barratt (Audiobook on Audible or find the eBook on Hoopla here.)

4. For chapter books for children, check them while reading them aloud or listening to the audiobook together. Several people have mentioned they don’t have time to check every book before their child reads it, and that is completely understandable…especially if you are trying to read books for yourself! There is not enough time in a day!

One trick of the trade is to check the content of the book while reading it aloud to your kids. This way, you are killing two birds with one stone! If it is a winner, you can store the title away for future reading for the kids! We’ve done this the past couple of years and now have over 150 titles ready for E to read when she becomes a fluent reader.

5. Use good book lists. A good book list just can be a parent's best friend...truly! My favorite book lists come from Bob Jones and The Good and the Beautiful.

The Best Books list published by Bob Jones is a good trustworthy source to have at your fingertips. While I haven't noticed too many new titles, there are a lot of older gems that are worth reading.

The Good and the Beautiful book list is probably my go-to. They have a clear list of "standards" for books that make the cut, and it is top-notch. The downer is that you have to enter your email address in order to get it, which means that you'll be getting other emails from them in the future too. (I personally don't mind though as I do like their curriculum and like to stay up to date on their sales. We used it for Preschool and Kindergarten.)

I also like the book lists included in the back of Gladys Hunt’s books: Honey for a Child’s Heart, Honey for a Teen’s Heart, and Honey for a Woman’s heart.

6. Teach children what is acceptable and what is not. Sometimes books slip in that do not match up with your family values, and you have to quit it. Use these books as opportunities to teach your children why certain words, attitudes or actions are not acceptable even to read about.

Teach them how things we let into our minds can change us for either the better or worse. Teach them why we have to carefully guard what comes in our minds so that we will protect ourselves from damaging things. “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Philippians 4:8

Using the Bible as our guide for any issue that arises is the best thing we can teach our children. A good guideline to keep in mind for books is that sin is portrayed as evil and good is praised. If there is sin in a story, and it's not recognized as sin or is laughed at and made out to be ok, we are not interested in reading it.