I was going to have my 5th grader read Detectives in Togas to himself, but I hesitate due to the soothsayer involved in the story. We do not read about such things that does not support Philippians 4:8. Should I be concerned here? I read an older thread, mostly concerned with the literary quality.
And I read the reviews at Amazon and one “Home Educating Mom” was concerned about a violent story on p. 52. So I am wondering if this is really worth my child’s time to read this.
The story on page 52 is about some boys who were drowned. It is just a statement and not descriptive. It is being told by one character to another, who becomes upset and runs off. The witness to the drownings tried to save the victims.
It could lead to a good conversation about stepping in to do the right thing in a difficult and risky situation. Also discuss being thoughtful in how we recount events , and to whom we share them.
About the soothsayer, not sure if this helps you or not but I believe that he is shown to be a fake and a swindler. It didn’t seem to be promoting this at all but rather showing it to be foolish.
These things are all very indicative of Rome and the culture at the time. When you came to this part, you could possibly read in the Bible how the early christians handled these types of situations. There are several occurances throughout the New Testament of people such as soothsayers and such that the disciples and Paul came across. This may give your kids somethings deeper to chew on than what they would get from the story alone and bring Christ into the situation.