How an author's world view impacts your children's minds.

Recently, I was told by a friend that my book home page should have just images of my books since those are my products. (She sells ballet skirts.) But I realize that she and I sell two different products that have totally different impact on a person’s mind.

If you bought a skirt and tried it and didn’t like –either for yourself or for your kids, it’s easy to do a reverse—either return the skirt for a refund, or give it away to Goodwill.

You might argue that it could be the same with books.

Technically, yes. But psychologically it’s not so easy. When you read a book, or give one to a child (since my books are meant for kids and teens,) the message of the book sticks to the readers. As a homeschool mother carefully guarding what my children are exposed to at every age of growth, I am concern with the books they read.

Why? When I was growing up I had friends (boys) who were normal and dated and so forth, but then as literature students in college we were exposed to different books. Some of these same friends became homosexuals. The books they read –our literature professor was gay—influenced them and changed their minds--forever. Such is the power of books. Especially fiction.

When you read non-fiction you are seeking out knowledge. The logical part of your brain is engaged and you can evaluate the facts and ideas that are being placed on the page. You consciously, or subconsciously, throw out things you don’t believe in and accept ideas you already hold on to.

Things are different when you read fiction.

Imagine a young person reading fiction—his guard is down and he’s just enjoying the story and plot. Things get exciting, the plot thickens, he’s involved in what he’s reading until he reaches the end. But at the end of the story he just didn’t get a story. He also got the author’s world view. He got messages sent to his brain about what is deemed right or wrong. He might not even realize this while reading. When he reads enough of such messages—that may reinforce one another, or might contradict one another—he begins to form his world view. Questions arise in his heart—like “Does God really exist? The main characters in the books he read didn’t think so.” Or, “It’s okay to have sex before marriage, after all, those incredible heroes and heroines of the fiction, all did it. And they were the main characters. They saved the world,”  etc.

Which brings me to the authors of those fiction books.

Who do you trust for your children to read? Like it or not those authors have leaked out a small, or in some cases, a lot of their world view and values on those pages.

Which was why when I started homeschooling I liked the idea of my children reading classics and I encouraged them to do so. For the most part, most authors before the 20^th century hold conservative, biblical values, even if they are themselves not Christians.

But, frankly, sometimes my boys, who loved adventure and mystery and the thrill of the chase or being chased, sometimes got bored with classics written a century ago. The language is a little different and the details bogged down the action. Of course the classics are of tremendous value. But I wanted them to love to read and not force them to read hundreds of pages that would kill their love of learning. They were, after all, just twelve or thirteen. Given enough time they would read the classics—perhaps in their late teen years or early adulthood. But until then, what? 

So, I went about collecting lists of good books used by homeschool curriculum. You can find them all here. We read a lot of books then.

I also got to thinking about the kinds of books my young teen boys (and girls) liked. And I started writing my Keeper Of Reign series. (That’s how I got into writing fiction for children.)

I hope that explains somewhat why my homepage isn’t just about books that I sell. I feel that as a parent it’s important for me to know a bit about the authors of fiction books my children read. It gives me peace of mind to know that the authors share the same world view as myself, and will not throw unchristian and loose morals at my children when my kids’ minds are susceptible to receiving these moral standards and wild ideas.

I realize that it’s a free world and parents are free to choose whatever path they want for their children. As for me and my house I like to be more conservative with our choices. Not at the expense of adventure and thrill that readers get from reading books, of course, but I like to know where the author is coming from, and where the subtle messages will lead my children