A disturbing testimony about a book series.....

[MommyInTraining]

I just read this about the Anne of Green Gables series. It is very disturbing and I am wondering what the rest of you think about it.

I have always been concerned about what my dd is exposed to in books, but have not figured out how to reconcile that with her desire to read. After reading this testimony I am now wondering if I should be more selective in her reading choices.

What is your opinion?

Here is a link that goes to the page about the author, L.M. Montgomery:

http://www.keepersofthefaith.com/catego ... Montgomery



The testimony link is entitled "In Her Words...":

http://www.keepersofthefaith.com/category/InHerWords

Thanks for sharing your insights.

[Amylynn]

Terri,

I am so sad to read this. I will agree that it is VERY disheartening. I have the entire series and my oldest dd read most of the books. I had NO IDEA that these weren't safe. I consider myself pretty particular about what my children read, too. I guess I had better be more cautious. It is just so hard to find the time to pre-read everything when you have voracious readers.

Thank you so much for posting these links, Terri. I am interested to read what others have to say.

Blessings!
Amy

[Shimmer]

I found the links rather extreme and have to take the reviews with a grain of salt. I loved the Anne books as a child. They were some of my favorites. I look forward to sharing them with my girls when they are older. By default, I also liked the author without knowing anything about her. I'd have to research more about the author myself to asess her life, but I think if you tried to hold all authors up to a high standard they'd come up lacking. We are all siners by nature.

I think it's important to talk about anything you don't like in a story with the kids and help them see the how certain things aren't right. I really like that DITHOR teaches kids to learn how to do that for themselves. I think that is a better tool to give them for their own discernment than to try to restrict what they read. Just my opinon.

[Tansy]

I have read much of Montgomery, in fact I believe I have read every book of hers. One summer(as an Adult) I just kept checking them out, as the library had 2 shelves of them
I came away with the following feelings:
She is a bit of a one theme writer "poor girl elevated to status and security."
And
You can see an underlying dissatisfaction with Religion.
Altho I did Not find a dissatisfaction with a personal relationship with Christ. God is just not in the for front.

She writes about Nature quite a bit as an expression of God. But it just made me think of verse's like this one. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world (Psalm 19:1-4).

When Anne is told "to Kneel down and say her catechism, and not be a heathen" she says to Marillia "my Idea of a prayer is to go out into a field lay down and Look up at the sky to just be." I'm sure I'm Mis-quoting but that is what I remember. This has always struck me as Anne knew how to be quiet and still before God. That her relationship with God was one of intimacy not repetitious prayers or stilted conventions. I would also point out that Anne as an 11 year old has had NO Religious training as Marillia soon finds out Anne was not trained or specifically taught about Christ. Marillias response it to immediately start teaching her the "shorter catechism.

You can see in her writings a desire towards silliness, and she often pokes fun at the "warring factors of Presbyterian and Methodists." In each case the "Religion" causes separation in a community that should be close knit. I personally think she employs these characters to our benefit. As we all know a person who looks at our outward appearance, gossips, is back biting and still claims to be a Christian aka. "Mrs. Rachel Lynn" Her Christians are not without fault and don't always do the right thing. Like real people. They are sinners, we can learn from them as Montgomery holds up a mirror to our occasional Self-righteousness.

I personally did not find any occult pushing in her body of work, I think the Characters were real. In fact in when Anne lets the Gothic aspect of her reading runaway with her thoughts she frightens herself out of her mind. When you read them together with your children you can discuss why Anne got herself in trouble. (What is Anne dwelling her mind on? How did that work out for her and her friend Diane?)

I also found the Web site a bit extreme and this site has no reason to give us a balanced view. How often have you written down something in your private journal that you would never wish published? I agree with Shimmer were all sinners. Lets not toss the baby out with the bath water.

[Daisy]

I also find the review extreme.

I've read all the Anne of Green Gable books and hardly remember them other than their wonderful vivid descriptions. They definitely didn't turn me on to the occult, l%sbi@nism, false religions, evolution, etc. That they would accuse the author of nature worship simply because she uses vivid descriptions & applies fairy tale-like qualities to the world around her, is amazing to me. I do know this particular website shuns all those types of things and even thinks Little House on the Prairie books are bad.

Oddly enough I thought this review would focus on how precocious Anne was as many conservative homeschoolers have problems with women who have Anne's type of personality. This threw me for a bit of a loop.

It seems to me that if a person is open to demonic suggestion it isn't going to matter much what they read. Satan is going to use what he can and the young woman in this review was obviously susceptible. If it hadn't been Anne of Green Gables, it would have been some other book, even a christian pop psychology book. Who knows? It is sad though what this girl states she went through.

By the time a child is able to read and understand the vocabulary in the Anne of Green Gables, they should be showing some spiritual discernment. There are mature themes in the older books such a marriage, dating, etc. But much stronger literature is soon to be on the horizon in high school, college, etc. As always a parents much assess whether their child is ready for such literature or not.

[water2wine]

I'm going to agree with those that call the review extreme. I love KOF products but even though I am pretty extreme in what I allow for my children, I find KOF just goes a bit too far in their reviews sometimes. I think if you are concerned you can preread them if you want or just not have them in your house. But to me this seems a little too far. I am confident in my child's ability to discern spiritual issues. I am more worried about the Amish series that seem to romance the forbidden relationship type thing than this. But everyone has to find what is right for them according to their child and go with that.

[MommyInTraining]

Ladies,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Your responses were very helpful!

[Tree House Academy]

An author's beliefs do not have to align with mine for me to read her books. Same goes with actors in a movie. If I held to that standard, I would likely never read or watch a thing.

I also think that there is a time in a Christian's life when we all wonder what we believe exactly. When I was 16, I struggled with this same thing. Even now, as an adult who attends a Baptist church, I can't sit and tell you that I follow and believe strictly by Baptist teachings. I mix my beliefs in a more non-denominational way. I don't think this makes me a bad Christian. It sounds as if she struggled with the wrathful God portrayed in the Old Testament and chose to believe in the beautiful and loving God we see (and know!) throughout the newer books and after the coming of Christ. Mostly, though, it sounds as if she was perpetually lost and searching. That makes me really sad for her - I can only imagine how hard that must have been. She seemed to want so much to believe and be firm and grounded in that. You can almost hear the pain in her words at times through those journal entries.

[my3sons]

This has been an excellent discussion, ladies. I enjoyed reading it thoroughly, and I know Carrie will too when she is able. I agree - I find the review extreme as well. I concur with Rebecca's statement...
An author's beliefs do not have to align with mine for me to read her books. Same goes with actors in a movie. If I held to that standard, I would likely never read or watch a thing.

Standards are important, but I think the standard should be what is in the book itself, not what happened in the author's life. Just think if someone wrote about all of the sins/struggles/negativities of any of our lives - if basing the merit of a book on the sins of the author's life were the measuring stick, would anyone then want to read a book any of us wrote? As far as HOD goes, that is why they offer many book selections and always make it possible for you to choose a book of your own - putting you in the driver's seat for final book choices, since we all have different standards for our families. Thanks for posing the question, Terri, and thanks for the wonderful thoughts shared here!

In Christ,
Julie

[JaneP]

I have just skimmed through the KOF's reviews and the replies to original post on this forum.

I agree that the KOF seems a little extreme. However I was disturbed by one of the short stories in "Further Chronicles of Avonlea" - The Return of Hester. There is quite an extended scene in which one of the characters returns as a ghost to bless her sister's romance. (She had forbidden the union while alive).

According to Wikipedia, L M Montgomery never intended for these stories to be published... still, it's there now and perhaps some parents might want to pre read this particular book. You can check it out online at Gutenberg etc.

Jane

[Carrie]

I agree that it is important to be diligent about what our kiddos' read. I also fully understand that there are a wide variety of opinions as to what is acceptable reading material among Christian families. This is why we do screen the books that we include within our programs carefully and do often make the literature selections that we recommend optional, typically providing choices among several titles in our guides for literature study. This is also why Drawn into the Heart of Reading is written to use with any book that you choose. In this way, we can leave the parent in the driver's seat when directing the choices of what their kiddos are reading.

On a sidenote, I will say that we have a very different philosophy from that of Keeper's of the Faith when it comes to literature study overall. Since we adhere much more to a Charlotte Mason style philosophy of learning, heavily factoring in the fact that Charlotte Mason was a very dedicated Christian who felt that the Bible is the cornerstone to all learning, you will find many differences between our company and Keeper's of the Faith. You will easily see these sweeping differences when you look at both companies in terms of our program designs and book selections from history, to science, to grammar, to writing, to poetry, to Bible, and especially in our philosophy about literature.

What I have discovered from reading thousands of reviews about books through the years is that it is important to preview the book yourself first before reading other reviews. In this way you can see what you think about the book yourself and how you feel it aligns with God's word and your family goals for literature. If this is not possible, then it's so important to take reviews with a grain of salt and realize that the reviewer also has a bias and is only providing information that they feel supports their point of view and philosophy.

I do agree that even the classics need to be carefully screened, which is what we definitely strive to do. Currently, only Anne of Green Gables is carried by Heart of Dakota as one of 3 choices within the read-aloud section of our CTC guide. I did read the book carefully before selecting it for inclusion in the guide and didn't find what these particular reviewers were pointing out. Since it is scheduled as a read-aloud, you would have the chance to see for yourself what you think of it as you read it aloud. However, if this particular book does not fit your philosophy, there are two other choices within CTC to explore instead. And, as the parent if you don't like any of the 3 choices that we provide, you can always choose to substitute your own book choice instead.

Blessings,
Carrie

[DHT1999]

This is all very interesting. When I was growing up, I loved to read. I was offered practically nothing but garbage, to be honest, and I had no idea that books like the ones I'm reading to my children or having them to read to themselves even existed. We went to the school library but no one ever showed me good, high quality literature. I read ALOT of junk. In fact, I read things that detrimentally affected my Christian walk and hindered my personal spiritual growth well into my adulthood.

When I was around 16, my mother purchased the entire Anne of Green Gables series for me. Those were the first books (and only books - besides a couple of picture books from early childhood) that my mother ever gave me. I read all of them and loved them. To this day, they are among my most prized possessions. Maybe I was not very discerning but I only have fond memories of those books. I can't remember anything at all that caused me to feel any fear or that caused me to question my faith (immature though it was). I remember thinking they were different than the other things I had been reading, in a good way.

Maybe I should go back and re-read them! I've always wanted to. I don't know about the review. I remember finding out awhile back that a certain very famous woman in history, someone who Christians highly esteem, was a self-professed occultist. I couldn't believe it. So, these personalities have lives beyond what they put out there for us to read. I guess we all have to set our own comfort level in regard to what authors we expose our children to. I'm glad there are so many choices written into the HOD guides. Personally, I have planned to have my sons (yes, sons!) read atleast the first two books in the Anne of Green Gable series.

[SoaringEagle]

I loved Anne of Green Gables series. I read them and reread them growing up. I never did read the other books. I will definitely be sharing the AoGG series with my daughter when she is older. If anything questionable comes up, then we discuss and keep reading.

[gmhaynes]

I agree with the other moms that the reviews are extreme. Carrie, I appreciate the fact that the curriculum you publish is CHRIST centered. The Word needs to be at the center of what we are teaching our children. If our children are centered on the word of God, they are much less likely to fall astray as this poor girl seems to have. She also makes very clear in her testimony that she was not a believer. She had her own idol in Anne of Green Gables. I think we just need to keep in mind Hebrews 4:12 - For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
I see this as a challenge to us that we should be bathing our children in the word of God and prayer and teaching them to run EVERYTHING that they read and do through the filter of scripture. I also read Anne of Green Gables as a child and at the time was not saved, and I did not worship at the alter of Anne! To accuse the books of being demon possessed goes a bit too far and that is when my attention to this review went right out the window.

Just my 2 cents.... Bottom line, if we are diligent with our children, then we will not be facing this in our own families.

Mary