Why would I start a blog? Do I need a reason? Why would anyone start a blog? Any purpose works--to share stories, for sanity's sake, to journal, to exchange recipes, to form a club, out of curiosity, etc.
My cause: to provide thorough reviews from a Christian point-of-view on teen and young adult speculative fiction literature both for parents and readers.
"Mom, what is Twilight about and can I read it?"
"Why do some people say Harry Potter is bad?"
"Is there a fun Christian fantasy to read?"
These are common questions I've heard parents try to answer.
"How do I know what to let my child read when I don't know what the books are about?"
This is a common question I've heard parents have to ask.
My prayer is that this blog, A Quest for Good Writing, will answer those questions for both young readers and their parents (or even old readers and their parents).
When entering bookstores as a child, I searched the Christian shelves for fun adventure novels to bring my imagination to life with every turn of the page. I succeeded a few times with John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress pulled from between two romance novels, or Tolkien's The Hobbit on the bottom shelf, but more often than not, I meandered to the secular section, disheartened by the lack of child-centered Christian writing. These secular shelves, though laden with fantasy, adventure, and new worlds, held a threat of danger behind their pages. With every turn, I risked encountering swear words, inappropriate violence, or morals that conflicted with my own. Though many of the books turned out to be decent and even inspiring, I craved soul-satisfying writing...with fantasy and adventure thrown in.
Now, a child no longer, I want to help parents, children, teens, and young adults read good writing with solid morals, or at least discern rewarding messages from harmful themes in current novels.
My cause: to provide thorough reviews from a Christian point-of-view on teen and young adult speculative fiction literature both for parents and readers.
"Mom, what is Twilight about and can I read it?"
"Why do some people say Harry Potter is bad?"
"Is there a fun Christian fantasy to read?"
These are common questions I've heard parents try to answer.
"How do I know what to let my child read when I don't know what the books are about?"
This is a common question I've heard parents have to ask.
My prayer is that this blog, A Quest for Good Writing, will answer those questions for both young readers and their parents (or even old readers and their parents).
When entering bookstores as a child, I searched the Christian shelves for fun adventure novels to bring my imagination to life with every turn of the page. I succeeded a few times with John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress pulled from between two romance novels, or Tolkien's The Hobbit on the bottom shelf, but more often than not, I meandered to the secular section, disheartened by the lack of child-centered Christian writing. These secular shelves, though laden with fantasy, adventure, and new worlds, held a threat of danger behind their pages. With every turn, I risked encountering swear words, inappropriate violence, or morals that conflicted with my own. Though many of the books turned out to be decent and even inspiring, I craved soul-satisfying writing...with fantasy and adventure thrown in.
Now, a child no longer, I want to help parents, children, teens, and young adults read good writing with solid morals, or at least discern rewarding messages from harmful themes in current novels.
"Let each of you look out
not only for his own interests,
but also for the interest of others."
Philippians 2:4
not only for his own interests,
but also for the interest of others."
Philippians 2:4
I care about the interest of my fellow bookworms and believers (and then some!), and I pray that, just as Christian movie reviews help me choose a decent family film, my Christian book reviews will help you find an uplifting novel.
I know I'm commenting on an old post, but it seemed the most appropriate place.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to thank you for doing this blog, particularly from a Christian perspective. As a rather heavy reader myself (I don't want to even consider how many books I read and re-read each year) I am sometimes asked by friends and acquaintances to recommend books for their kids. Unfortunately when I was a kid the YA genre didn't exist and my parents, though they tried, would have freaked out if they knew the contents of some of the books I read.
So thank you for blogging, and providing this resource which I can refer to myself, or direct parents and kids to.
Cheers,
Thank YOU, Aaron, for your encouraging words. I am so glad that you find my blog helpful and a good resource. That's it's purpose and sometimes I wonder if it's actually succeeding. ;)
ReplyDeleteI pray it continues to aid and bless you! Cheers to you, my friend.