Do Catholic Characters Make a Book Catholic?

Dear Catholic Exchange:

I kept waiting for some change to come over someone—for a redeeming moment in the book, but it never happened. Just because there are Catholics in a book does not make it a Catholic book. Nancy Drew is a much better role model for young readers, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, and I think Miss Drew and her friend George would be shocked to be compared with the characters from The Night the Penningtons Vanished.

Sincerely,

Sonya Romens

Former Avid Nancy Drew Reader, Mother of Seven

Dear Mrs. Romens,

Thank you for your feedback. I tend to look for certain things when reading a book for review, most importantly if the story holds my interest. In the case of Penningtons, the story held my interest mainly through the characterization of Isabella, a girl with whom I could identify in many instances throughout the novel. Teenage literary characters should not have to be cut from the same cloth; where Nancy Drew is slim, beautiful and has access to a nice car and money, Isabella is practically the polar opposite. Nonetheless, like Nancy, I found Isabella to be a competent young sleuth. Yes, there are points in the book some may find offensive (the mild oaths, etc.), but it is precisely the flaws of these characters that make them more real to me. One also has to remember when the bulk of Nancy Drew novels were written. Since the Penningtons is a recent publication, one is going to find passages and dialogues that would not have been printed forty years ago, but are today considered tame. Of course, I don't expect every reader to agree that my opinion of “tame” should be the norm.

Regarding the question as to whether the book review should have appeared on Catholic Exchange, looking back at my review, I do not mention anywhere that The Night the Penningtons Vanished is a “Catholic” book, although I do reveal there are Catholic characters. If you check the archives of Catholic Exchange, you will notice secular movies and books have been reviewed in the past. In deciding whether or not to submit a review of The Night the Penningtons Vanished, I considered the dearth of content aimed at young adult readers. Here was a book that did not involve wizards or “Goosebumps”-style gore, but I thought young readers might still enjoy. I do recognize not everybody will agree with my thoughts on every book I review, and I am perfectly fine with that. In fact, sometimes it pleases me to know some people are willing to call me on certain reviews; it means my reviews are being read.

With regards to whether or not Catholic characters make a book Catholic, we could argue for weeks on this and never see eye to eye. As a member of the Catholic Writers Association, I can tell you that we have had many a discussion about this same topic. I have authored a mystery myself where the characters are Catholic and the main sleuth is a teenager. I don't consider the book “Catholic” fiction and have never tried to market the book as such. However, one reviewer commented that the morals in that book were too “heavy-handed,” and that the book might be “too Catholic” for readers, even though it had been my goal to keep Catholicism in the background. People are going to see different things in the same book.

If you think you might find the content of Penningtons questionable, I am always happy to suggest alternative titles. George Galloway's The Powder Monkey is set during the Revolutionary War and is a wonderful coming-of-age story about young people of young America who yearn for adventure. Cathy Bruggerman-Beil's The Samurai and the Tea (to be reviewed in the near future on CatholicExchange.com) touches on the history of Catholicism in Japan. Joan Stromberg's Ecce Homo Press publishes a series of books in the vein of the American Girls series, where youngsters interact with various American saints, although the reader level of these books may be more suited for pre-teens.

Of course, there is always Nancy Drew.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Lively

20 Ways The Lord of the Rings is Catholic

Dear Catholic Exchange:

I would like to thank Mr. Williams for his insightful article 20 Ways The Lord of the Rings Is Both Christian and Catholic. I, too, am encouraged by the message(s) of The Lord of the Rings. In regard to the title of the article, I would maintain that Catholic and Christian are one in the same, and I would’ve refrained from differentiating between the two.

Jay Trapp

Dallas, Texas

Should Our Kids’ Lives Be TV-Free?

Dear Catholic Exchange,

If I may, I’d like to present my view of modern television and it's effects on the family. I grew up in a household where TV was present, but in a rudimentary form. We had two channels (sometimes three when the weather was good), and there was one TV located in the family room where my parents had full control over its content. Not that supervision was really necessary anyway, since the worst we were subjected to were Batman's phony comic book fights and Ginger prancing around Gilligan's Island in those slinky gowns (why would a someone bring a ten year supply of clothes on a three-hour tour anyway?). Even still, I often remember my father turning off the “boob tube” when the content got a little too bawdy. We didn't protest, we simply got up and found something else to do. That something else usually consisted of reading (books were always readily available in our home), playing outside or working on our latest project (for me it was balsa wood airplanes and tree forts).

Now we live in a time where televisions are not only the central fixture of homes, they are located in every room, even the bedrooms of young children. They have become electronic babysitters. My family has been TV free for about four years now, and I have been struggling lately with the decision whether or not to acquire cable. My wife wants some of the PBS material for the children, and I must admit that I like to watch the History channel among a few others, and, of course, EWTN. However, when I watch my children's growth away from television, the argument to remain TV free is very strong. My oldest, who is nine, is learning to play piano and guitar at the same time. His brother, who is eight, is always bugging me to play chess or cards, and he is very good. Both of them play creatively for hours with no disputes. Their younger sisters, five and four, love to imagine they are cats, with one being the mother and the other being the kitty. They, too, spend countless hours in their own fantasy world of cats, dogs and tea parties. To see these young minds planted on the couch or the floor with their eyes glued to the “boob tube” is simply not acceptable to me. When my wife and I go anywhere outside the home with our seven children, the most common reaction we get is amazement at how well our children are behaved and how content they are. I attribute this to home schooling and the TV free environment of our home.

Andrew J. Nadeau

Springvale, Maine

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