Not long ago my 9-year old granddaughter, who is a voracious reader, begged her mother to let her read her grandma’s series, Haunting Danielle.
My daughter and I thought about the books, wondering if there was anything in it that might be inappropriate for a child. It is a murder mystery, but kids read mysteries, and some pretty spooky things happen in Harry Potter, and she reads some of those.
I didn’t think there was anything in the books that you wouldn’t see on network TV during family hour. The extent of the cursing is crap, hell, and damn—which is minimal. There are no sex scenes.
So we gave it a go. Turned out Addison enjoyed the books, and sailed through the first four. But there would be questions asked of her mother along the way—such as, what is a noose?
But then my granddaughter slammed into something Lily said off the cuff—more a joke than anything. It was in book three, The Ghost Who Wasn’t, when Lily is discussing her parents going through her belongings. Lily said, “…Do you realize they went through—All. My. Stuff. I’m just grateful I didn’t have any sex toys!”
Gulp.
I guess you can figure out what question my granddaughter asked my daughter.
Now Grandma is in trouble, and my granddaughter will need to wait a few years before she finishes my books.
LoL Yikes… That had to be a difficult question to answer! Sorry about laughing. Just thinking about my little Grandbabgirls. Mine need to be 30 before they get to read the 1200+ books on my Kindle. Haunting Danielle is one of my all time favorite series along with several series from Lily Harper Hart but I have a weakness for military heroes & cowboys & they are far from appropriate for young readers.
Maybe I need a 2nd Kindle…1 for age 13-30 & 1 for over 30 LoL
I think perhaps waiting till children are at least 13+ before reading the HD series.
Love what you do so thanks❣
Susie
Oh my stars. I’m laughing so hard right now. I didn’t know where you were going with that because I also couldn’t think of anything really inappropriate in the books. Oops!
Oops! lol. Oh well, grandma shouldn’t get into much trouble. If that’s the worst thing, I think that she did pretty good. I’ve just started book 9 and I’m loving the series.
I think she will survive, LOL. But I did want to mention something, as I was earlier bursting with pride that my young granddaughter not only wanted to read them, but enjoyed them. Yet after stumbling on that one line (which to many might not seem like a huge deal) I wanted to give my readers a heads up, for those who might see it as a problem, especially as I jokingly said the series was for ages 9-91, after both my mom and granddaughter was reading them at the same time.
Meh ;), I was one that said my 5 year old granddaughter was enjoying listening to your book. In fact Saturday, she said “Put that book back on Rammy”, my response “Sorry kid I finished it”. I’m one of those if a child asks a question respond appropriately with as much factual information for their age level. My 9 year old (many years ago) caught a Phil Donahue episode one day and asked what impotence was, I told her “When a man has a medical problem with his penis” satisfied her, and I didn’t lie 🙂 My Mother was furious because I answered her question but she was a repressed lady of her time.
I grew up with many hang ups that took me 30 years to get over. My daughter on the other hand is 36, well adjusted and confident.
I don’t think my daughter or myself is particularly worried about the question scaring my granddaughter, LOL, but I did get concerned that a reader might allow his or her young child read to the book on my recommendation, then get upset when the kid asks, “What is a sex toy?” Heehee….it was kinda funny….although I will confess the question threw my daughter at the time.
I totally get it and would never impose my belief on another parents ideals. I’d NEVER let my young grandchild listen to lets say, the Outlander series but if my granddaughter prefers listening to your books versus a Ryans World video on her tablet. You win 😉
I confess, I love hearing kids enjoy my books.