"Warriors" series by Erin Hunter - too intense?

[Dillpicklechip]

Please forgive me if this is not the correct forum for this question...I figured homeschoolers tend to know lots about books! :)

My daughter is 11, will turn 12 in January. She loves to read. Recently she started reading the Warriors series by Erin Hunter. To say she loves these books would be an understatement. She devours each one quickly as we bring it home from the library.

But I haven't read the books myself and I'm concerned that they be to intense for her. Each time a book ends, she is literally in tears for the rest of the day, telling me the ending was so dramatic and sad...This is to the point of making her weepy and irritable, being snappish with her brothers because she feels so emotional over the book. This doesn't quite sit right with me...Are there any adults out there who have read these books and can offer some information for me? Thank you!

[littlest birds]

My ds loves these books.  He started reading them when he was 9yo and is now 11yo.  I generally feel positive about them.

I read one of them, they are not the most engaging stories for me, but I remember I was pleasantly surprised by the positives.  The warrior cats are a tribal society comparable to Native American tribes and the stories have a social emphasis that impressed me.  This was nice for my ds because he has Asperger's and social deficits. 

There is a lot of drama among the cats.  There are betrayals and deaths.  Many births and  special frienships as well.  Ds does seem to really care about the characters.  I actually consider that a positive, myself.  I'm glad he gets wrapped up in concern for the lives of anyone even if fictional.  Perhaps it is somewhat positive for your dd as well?  I know that I have sometimes carried the concerns and emotions of a good story with me for a while after I close it.  A young person maybe would handle that differently.  I know that our 11yo dd is starting to seem distinctly hormonal and gets very upset over simple things and melts down emotionally.  She also carries her upset feelings around for extended periods and snaps at her siblings frequently, and also cries over minor disagreements for long periods.  It is certainly an age of brittle and tender emotions, whatever the "subject."

Ds just got the newest book, though, and he said it was like a "horror story" because the dark forces are rising.  So it involves classic powerful evil at that point, obviously requiring heroes and heroic deeds.  Sometimes I don't like media with to simplified and intense good-evil dynamics (for instance in Disney movies for young children) but with this I do find the intensity age-appropriate.  No more overwhelming than Harry Potter, or the Lord of the Rings which his twin sister read over a year ago. 

It has been a while since I read the book so I could be missing important things, but I tend to consider this series better than most popular series in this age range.  I think you should be more careful of teen genre that your dd may get interested in like Twilight or books by Holly Black which are worth parental concern for their content.  I'd certainly pick Warriors over those types of things.  The things marketed to teens can be really bad IMO.  BTW I am a bookstore owner, just so you know that is part of my perspective.  I see a ton of books, I hear a lot from people about them. etc. and see who is reading what... 

While I do think these are good books for that age, I think you should read one.  It's good anyway to get in the habit of reading some of the books you see your dd interested in at this point because there is so much value in just being aware of what she's encountering.  Only you know what is right for your dd and how she might be handling certain kinds of content.  You may be happily surprised as I was, or you may notice things that I missed that may seem questionable.

[Dillpicklechip]

Thank you for all the information, Littlest Birds...that helps a lot. :)

[Starflower]

I have read these books. They are pretty intense. I have trouble finding interesting books that DD can handle emotionally because of her age(7) and reading ability. She read all of series one last year and most of the second series a few months ago. However, she's recently gone through a realization about death and our eventual mortality, so now I suspect the books would freak her out a bit and might be too much for her. Also, I thought the last one in the first series was overly bloody at the end.

I think there is a lot in this series that's worth talking about. I would suggest you may want to read them and discuss them with your DD. I used the deaths and other dramas in the books as a way to open up a lot of discussion points. She read most on her own and I had been reading some parts to her and I got sucked into the stories!  I thought the books were enjoyable and exciting to read (I mostly read literary fiction or non-fiction so it was fun to read these as a change). There's a Shakespearean styled romance between two cats of different Clans. There is a huge theme dealing with greed and power and how power can be used in different ways. The main character is likable and learns a lot about himself as he grows. He models compassion and the internal struggle of following his own conscience vs. following orders. There is a lot of stuff about belonging in groups which I think kids relate to well.

I also like that there is no overt sexuality in these books because my DD is certainly not ready for that. I think it's a worthy series to read, but may need discussion with some kids to help them process everything.

[CA OK]

I too am looking for parental feedback on the Warriors Books.  My daughter is an AVID reader, now age 12.  She started reading the Warriors books on a whim last year after a trip to the store.  She saw the first Warriors book and thought it would be a good use of some money she had earned.  She was instantly hooked...obsessed might be a better word.  She got so into the books that she read one right after the other, and would read them over and over again until she got the next 'fix' of a new book.  They became a distraction at school...teachers constantly having to take them away so she could listen and do her work.  The final straw was when she started writing the clan codes and various details from the books over and over.  Then she started making up her own clan and we just could not get her interested in anything else.  When playing, she even started acting like a cat at times...pouncing on stuffed animals, hissing, carrying things in her mouth, curling up in her bed...way OVER the top.  We finally had to take the books away and put a hold on them at the school library. 

A year later she begged to try to books again. We reminded her why we had to stop reading them.  Unfotunately, same thing started happening again, so we had to put them away again.  The subject matter is just too intense for her.  She would be edgy and irratable all the time when reading these books.  When she stops the books, this behavior resolves, so it must just be too intense for some kiddos...definately mine. 

Further,  I also have some moral concerns about the content...too much 'cult/clan' information.  I hate that we've had to 'ban' a book she loves.  These do seem very well written and very inticing to young readers, but at least for my daughter, the lines between fantasy and reality were just too blurred.  Fortunately, there are so many other good books out there that she has found plenty of other things to read.  She isn't thrilled about the parental restrictions, but for now this is the way it must be.

Relieved to hear I'm not the only parent experiencing similar concerns with these books.

[Lakeeffectsnow]

My oldest daughter read them when she was 9 and 10, she was obsessed with them for a while.  I read them with her so she could discuss them with me.  I didn't find the series very intense, more dramatic and soap opera like.  I remember at that age being obsessed with the Elfquest comics and graphic novels.  I loved the idea of being transported to another world with conflicts, clearly defined good and bad people, questions of moral ambiguity and true love. My world at that age was rapidly changing (puberty, my sister's birth, my mom's remarraige) and I loved immersing myself in another world. I saw her obsession as being similar.  She was entering puberty, we moved twice, DH retired from the military, and the differences between herself and other kids her age became more pronounced.  I remember all my friends and sisters having similar obsessions at that age be it horses, a tv series, or books.

My oldest son read them around the same time, he's a year older.  He seemed to enjoy them and was happy to join her in some of the speculation and obsessing.  However, he was never as intensely interested.  The series did spark his interest in graphic novels and lead to more sophisticated reading habits, like"the Complete Maus: a Survivor's Tale", "Bone", "The Pride of Bagdad" and "Stuck Rubber Baby".  Some of them are a little too sophisticated, but for a kid who thought the Hardy Boys' books were too hard, it's an improvement.  

[Linda on the move]

Originally Posted by Lakeeffectsnow 

My oldest daughter read them when she was 9 and 10, she was obsessed with them for a while.  I read them with her so she could discuss them with me.  I didn't find the series very intense, more dramatic and soap opera like.   

both my DD read this series when they were younger, and I therefore have read several of them too. I don't believe in censorship, but I do read a sampling of what my kids read (truly cannot keep up with everything they both read) and talk to them about it.

I highly recommend reading ANY book you are concerned about. But rather than forbidding the books, I suggest you talk very frankly to your DD about her behavior with her siblings, and let her know that it is not acceptable. That is, after all, the real problem.  She's 11, and even if you forbid the books, in the next few years she'll find lots of things to be emotional about.

I also think that compared to a lot of the "teen" fiction, these are pretty light.