Should I let my kids watch that?

Hey, parents! This blog entry is especially for you:

These days, it seems like more and more books are being turned into movies! It can be exciting watching your favorite book characters come to life on the big screen, even though the book is almost always better than the movie, don't you think? My personal policy is to read the book before I see the movie!

No doubt based on recent movie buzz, lots of Bennett students have stopped into our library to inquire about the book, Divergent (by Veronica Roth, first book in a trilogy), which recently hit the big screens; as well as The Fault in Our Stars (by John Green), which comes out in theaters on June 6. We don't have these books in the Bennett Library due to their YA ("young adult") classification (pretty mature content in both) but that hasn't quenched students' excitement about them.

Are you wondering if the book and/or movie is appropriate for your child? Well, I've got a great resource to share with you! It comes from Common Sense Media, which I first mentioned in my Winter Olympics post. They have an enormous database of book and movie reviews and ratings, but that's not all! You can also go here to check ratings on the latest video games, TV shows, websites, and even apps! How cool is that?

So, for example, I searched the reviews for "Divergent" and got the following information:

As you can see, both the book and movie are recommended for age 13. Click on the title, and you are brought to a summary, additional materials like movie clips, and a "Need to Know" section that rates the movie (or book, or other entertainment type) using different criteria like positive messages, amount of violence, language, sex, etc.

Now you have another tool for helping you decipher all the different messages out there! So, the next time your child asks to download a new app, watch a movie, or you've been wondering if that internet game they found has any educational value, check Common Sense Media first for a very careful evaluation of current entertainment.

To get to Common Sense Media, click on the link on the sidebar; or, to go straight to the Reviews page, click HERE!