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A review by aliciajoy
The Amazing Adventures of John Smith, Jr. Aka Houdini by Peter Johnson
1.0
First, I have not read the whole book--this review is based on whether or not it's a good choice for younger readers.
I checked this book out from the library for my kids, who are 8 and 7. My impression was that it was appropriate from about age 8 and up. The title of the second (third?) chapter is something like "Swearing and Sex." I had flipped through the book a little bit before giving it to my son, but hadn't caught that! They immediately showed me, and as I read through the chapter I saw a list of swear words (not really bad ones, but definitely not what I was expecting to see in a middle reader-level book), and then some comments about explicit sex. The narrator is talking about how the kids aren't supposed to write about "explicit sex," but that wasn't a problem because they weren't having explicit sex, or any sex, and mostly aren't really comfortable talking about sex at all...Yikes!!! Clearly this wasn't an appropriate book for my kids, at least at this time. I don't want any discussion about any kind of sex in any book they are reading right now, even if it's in this context.
The rest of the book may be great--it's too bad it's being marketed to the younger set. I'm very disappointed because it looks like a fun story, and it's really hard to find a book for middle-reader boys that isn't Captain Underpants! But we'll keep trying.
I checked this book out from the library for my kids, who are 8 and 7. My impression was that it was appropriate from about age 8 and up. The title of the second (third?) chapter is something like "Swearing and Sex." I had flipped through the book a little bit before giving it to my son, but hadn't caught that! They immediately showed me, and as I read through the chapter I saw a list of swear words (not really bad ones, but definitely not what I was expecting to see in a middle reader-level book), and then some comments about explicit sex. The narrator is talking about how the kids aren't supposed to write about "explicit sex," but that wasn't a problem because they weren't having explicit sex, or any sex, and mostly aren't really comfortable talking about sex at all...Yikes!!! Clearly this wasn't an appropriate book for my kids, at least at this time. I don't want any discussion about any kind of sex in any book they are reading right now, even if it's in this context.
The rest of the book may be great--it's too bad it's being marketed to the younger set. I'm very disappointed because it looks like a fun story, and it's really hard to find a book for middle-reader boys that isn't Captain Underpants! But we'll keep trying.