CHILDREN’S BOOKS, Jan 7 (LifeSiteNews.com) In a commentary yesterday, evangelical leader Chuck Colson warned parents against the “mega-selling Goosebumps books” by best-selling author R. L. Stine. Colson explains that the Goosebumps series is shock fiction which is very addictive to children since it gives “physical gratification, a bodily experience of accelerated pulse rates and queasy stomachs.” While some literary classics induce sometimes induce similar responses, they do not glamourize fear and horror.
“By contrast,” says Colson, “in shock fiction, both the characters and narrative exist solely to support a series of shocks.” Thus the reading of such material becomes “a crude tool of physical stimulation, wholly devoid of mental, emotional or spiritual engagement”—akin to pornography. Colson concludes that “fixating our kids on horror is the last thing Christians want to do” which “rules out giving our kids books that manipulate their glands while shutting down their minds.”
For more from Chuck Colson go to: https://www.breakpoint.org/