Betsy and the Emporer 12.06
If anyone hasn't pre-read this one, please do yourself a favor and preread it before you give it to your children. Yuck-o. Bad attitudes, bad language, immoral behaviors (Betsy's sister loses her virg!nity).... all this for a little peek at Napoleon, which could be gotten elsewhere without all the baggage. Tolstoy gave a brilliant depiction of Napoleon in War and Peace, and I'm sure there are plenty of others.
I agree that this one should be preread by the parent. I'm thinking of doing Betsy as a read aloud just because of the potential for more easily discussing the important issues in it. My dd is getting to the age that some of her acquaintences (kids in her youth group and or summer camp, etc) are likely losing their virginity, or thinking about it. So it's definitely a good natural opportunity to discuss the issue in a non threating/lecturing way. I never like to pass that one up. The bad attitudes don't bother me. That's also real life and worth a discussion.
I actually really liked this one (I pre-read them all) and so did dd. Her sister losing her virginity is not portrayed in a positive light, so I guess it didn't bother me.
I pre-read it last week and I don't think I will be having my sons read it. The virginity part was slightly bothersome, but the part that really bothered me was the innuendos that Bonaparte may have felt more than just friendship for Betsy. She was only 14 in the book (12 maybe?) and the whole idea of him being attracted to her just skeeved me out.
The attraction thing didn't bother me because I took it as an admiration more than something he was going to physically do something about if that makes sense. Boys might not enjoy the book that much, but I knew my dd would love it and she did.