“Mom, this book is totally inappropriate,” said my daughter with a wicked grin as I went to kiss her goodnight. “I can’t believe you gave this to me. You’re a StorySnoop and everything.” The book she is referring to: The Perks of Being A Wallflower.

Yes, I am aware of all the high school naughtiness that goes down in this book. It’s a banned book, in fact, but then again, so is Harry Potter. It’s my personal feeling that the story and the themes in this book are very valuable, and ones I want my daughter to experience. I mean, yeah, I cringed a little handing it over, but the cringing was more a parenting moment, you know? It was a reminder that she was not a little girl anymore. There is nothing in this book that she hasn’t heard at school. And the upside of her growing up and maturing is all the good books she gets to read for the first time and the great book chats we get to have.

She finished this book in a day and we did have a great conversation about it. I didn’t think anything about it until a few days later when she told me that the book was right, just being kind to people pays off in ways you might never imagine. Just because a person was shy or didn’t speak up didn’t mean they were invisible. Don’t you love it as a parent when a book becomes a teaching moment?

Then, she told me that for Christmas she wanted a “really old typewriter, like Charlie’s, to write stories on.” Maybe she is just trying to butter me up because I know that she also wants a pair of ridiculously expensive Ugg Boots for Christmas. Whatever. It’s working.

-Shannon, StorySnoop

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