Podcast 14: American Girls, Dangers and Delights

What are the dangers and delights of the American Girls series of books?  I gave you guys an intro to this subject in an American Girls post last week.  Today, I discuss the Kirsten series with my oldest daughter. So far, we have read the first book in the series, Meet Kirsten, and a short story collection about her.

I’ve already talked a little about the delights of the stories.  Historical settings that are educational yet fun, young girls who are winsome and represent various cultures in America’s melting pot.  And the writing is a step above many books for kids this age.  American Girl books often contain well-constructed plots that interest the target age group.

So what are the dangers?  Here are a few general thoughts:

• Good Without God:  What happens when positive role models solve difficult problems, and in the case of Kirsten, deal the death of her best friend, with little to no mention of God?  Christian kids may unknowingly absorb the lesson that God is irrelevant to being good or successful. I don’t think this is an insurmountable problem, but it’s something we need to be aware of.  To avoid this pitfall, I recommend two things: 1) kids read two or three Christian resources to every non-Christian book like this.  That means I might read several chapters of the Bible each day to her, and I try to keep on hand songbooks, Christian poetry, and stories of missionaries or Christian historical figures who consciously depended on God for their survival or success.  And 2) teach them to go beyond moralism to see Christ in stories that never mention him.  Ask them, how are these characters being like Jesus–do they forgive each other or give sacrificially?  Teach them to connect the dots and see that we as readers are attracted to that kind of behavior because it is Christ-like.  But also remind them, these girls aren’t Christ, so they will always fall short in some way.

• Multi-culturalism: I love that these books present heroes from many different cultures and religions.  If we’re going to appraise them without God in the picture, we’re all pretty similar: deeply flawed but still beautiful in that we bear the image of God.   I want my kids to believe that people from Sweden and Mexico and Native American tribes are no less valuable that the kids in their Sunday School classes.  And my belief is that each of these cultures has been gifted uniquely by God in a way that other cultures just aren’t.  I love that these books foster that.  However, probably the most seductive anti-Christian philosophy in our culture today is what D.A. Carson calls “cherished pluralism.”  It’s the idea that there is no Truth, just a cornucopia of truths and cultures that are equally beautiful and meaningful.  Tolerance is the highest virtue, and any dissent or idea of exclusive truth is viewed as hatred or intolerance.  My suggestion here is to talk explicitly about this to your kids.  Tell them what the Bible teaches about the peoples of the earth–that in heaven we’ll see every people and tribe and tongue and nation.  God values them all.  But apart from Christ, we all fall terribly short, and there is no hope without Him.

• Feminism:  While the American Girls don’t fall prey to some of the more obvious displays of feminism–for instance, men and boys aren’t demonized–they can stray into girl-power mentality.  Certainly, many adults who foist them on kids will see them as empowering to girls, since girls are the heroes in this series and there isn’t any sense of girls having a different calling or sphere of influence than boys.  Issues like headship or what it means to be a good wife are things that you’ll have to bring in through other resources.

• A Thing to Be Discussed:  As Sherry at www.semicolonblog.com said in her comment to my first post, there is often a “thing to be discussed” within these books.  Lying or keeping secrets from parents are common plot devices, and it’s often not critiqued.  After reading a few of these books, my daughter suddenly started keeping a “secret diary” and trying to form a club with her sister that purposely excluded me.  These were new ideas for her, and it took little suggestion for her to seek to apply them in her own life.  But we talked about it, and at this age, she was pretty easily disabused of the notion it’s cool to hide things from mommy.  As she gets older, that may not be the case.  In addition, there is a significant amount of religious content in these books–in one of the Kaya books, we hear her grandmother praying to her gods, and Rebecca’s Jewish traditions are a significant part of her stories.  All of these things are problematic, but in my opinion, provide a wonderful opportunity for parents to discuss these things with kids.  The reality, though, is that in general, I do think their impact on the culture is largely to lead girls further away from Christian belief.

But enough of my thoughts!  Here is my interview with my six-year-old daughter about Kirsten.  It’s a little long, but I’m trying to teach her to be able to think critically about what she reads, and we really enjoyed the interview process.  Hear from her mouth what she found fascinating or problematic about the Kirsten books!

[powerpress]