Possible Books to Check Out

Plus useful commentary on the value of fantasy literature:

Much of contemporary culture rests on assumptions that would make Christianity, and Christ's death on the cross, not so much false as irrelevant. If suffering is only a nuisance to be avoided, if love is a negotiation between two egoistic sets of wants, if honor and chivalry are nothing but cloaks for misogyny and violence, if duty is Puritanism and the natural world is an accidental effusion of molecules, then what is Christ?

 

All unwittingly, non-Christian and even anti-Christian authors may provide their readers with an antidote to these cultural poisons. This fact may become clearer by contrast with those authors whose Christianity clearly informs their work. I've noticed three different approaches.

...the most effective way to help your child draw out the best in reading and reject the worst elements is to be a model of Christian faith. And it's a cliché, but it's true that talking about what your children are reading will help them make sense of it. They're probably not finding the same things in the book that adults would find. What they notice and remember won't necessarily be what parents notice. And there's so much richness in children's fantasy -- in both storytelling ability and moral lessons -- that it would be a shame to keep children from that treasure trove.