Help! Mom!  Hollywood’s in My Hamper

By Katharine DeBrecht

Illustrations by Jim Hummel

Kids Ahead part of Worlds Ahead Publishing

I seem to be torn on these books as to the value they have with my children.  I still feel that this second book was mocking and teaching a spirit of making fun of others.  Granted, the theme of this book was all too true in it’s opinion of the average American.  It just was not funny to me.  The illustrations were humorous but the story was too true to be funny in my opinion.  I did like this one better than her first one in this series.  I, still, would not just hand these books to my children and let them read on their own.  They are just not written for children under about the age of 12 or so.  I can see the value in talking about what is presented in these books. 

I was torn by the fact that Christian parents would condone the watching of such shows to begin with but I also realize that I am not most parents in America.  We do not even let our children watch television outside of the occasional PBS Clifford episode.  Maybe my children would not get this but there are probably lots of kids out there that would and I believe the message was overall positive.  I do not condone making fun of people and this book does that but that could be addressed in conversation, too.  My 12 year old read it and then we had a nice discussion about its meaning and contents.  It is a good conversation starter for older children and their parents.  It has value for showing the ridiculous in our world today.  The resolution was positive and is a good lesson that all of us need to hear. 

Again, these are not books I would readily pick up but they would make fun gifts for some.  I was glad for the discussion it brought but that conversation could come from other venues and have in my home. 

You can still check it out here…

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