Children’s Book Screening Website

[Red Dove]

Remember the book screening website I was getting your opinions on? Here is the finished product: ScreenItFirst.com We are running a book screening contest from now until the end of the year. Hop on and share what you see to help other parents guide their children in the ways that are important to their family.

The Right Book at the Right Time, Builds a Healthy Mind

We're building an army of homeschooling parents to pre-read children's books  

 Join ScreenitFirst.com by screening children's books to help parents choose the right book at the right time.  Thanks to some generous contributions we are kicking off a book screening contest. Learn more at: screenitfirst.com/screen-a-thon

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Red Dove

[Drama Llama]

Oh how sad to see people's identities like that on a line with foul language and violence.   

 

[Red Dove]

Drama Llama, I understand what you are saying, but the purpose of this website is to allow parents to see what is in a book before their child reads it. When we did market research, LGBTQ content was one of the top 3 things parents would like to know is in a book before they let their child read it. All of the categories may not resonate with you, so you just ignore that category. Not everyone is concerned with a death occurring in a book either, but some parents want to know first before they hand a book over to their child.

We do not have a “good” or “bad” rating for this reason: What is good for you, may be bad for another.

And sometimes a parent doesn’t think a certain category is wrong, they just want to know it is in the book so they can have a meaningful and relevant discussion with their child before or during the reading. 

[Drama Llama]

4 hours ago, Red Dove said:

Drama Llama, I understand what you are saying, but the purpose of this website is to allow parents to see what is in a book before their child reads it. When we did market research, LGBTQ content was one of the top 3 things parents would like to know is in a book before they let their child read it. All of the categories may not resonate with you, so you just ignore that category. Not everyone is concerned with a death occurring in a book either, but some parents want to know first before they hand a book over to their child.

We do not have a “good” or “bad” rating for this reason: What is good for you, may be bad for another.

And sometimes a parent doesn’t think a certain category is wrong, they just want to know it is in the book so they can have a meaningful and relevant discussion with their child before or during the reading. 

I get that market research says that you can profit off hate.  It just makes me sad that someone would choose to do so.  

[MercyA]

It looks like Screen It First is partnering with offering incentives from Brave Books. These are the people who brought us picture books:

*Entitled Paws Off My Cannon (because with all the mass shootings, kids need to know that unrestricted gun ownership is the Most Important Thing)

*Teaching kids the "danger of critical race theory" (I do not think that phrase means what you think it means...)

*Depicting Trump as the hero of Fruitland (so much I want to say here)

*Written by Sean Spicer to teach kids not to "jump to conclusions" (hmmm....)

*Titled "Little Lives Matter" (I am 100% pro-life--see my siggie--but the title of this book is tone-deaf at best and hostile at worst)

*Rail against "cancel culture" (ironically)

*Depicting raccoons bravely fighting off possums entering their western town (so much for love thy neighbor)

Edited November 11, 2023 by MercyA

[Danae]

I guess “badly written political propaganda thinly disguised children’s story” goes under “other” since there’s no tag for it.

[Red Dove]

2 hours ago, MercyA said:

It looks like Screen It First is partnering with Brave Books. These are the people who brought us picture books:

 

I’m not sure where you are getting that Screen It First is partnering with Brave Books. Can you tell me why you think this? Because we are not partners with any other business. 

[Terabith]

That website sounds positively dystopian.

[WildflowerMom]

1 minute ago, Terabith said:

That website sounds positively dystopian.

What makes it any different than commonsense media or any other movie review site?   What am I missing?   I would have loved to have a book review site like commonsense media when ds was little.  

[El...]

2 hours ago, MercyA said:

It looks like Screen It First is partnering with Brave Books. These are the people who brought us picture books:

*Entitled Paws Off My Cannon (because with all the mass shootings, kids need to know that unrestricted gun ownership is the Most Important Thing)

*Teaching kids the "danger of critical race theory" (I do not think that phrase means what you think it means...)

*Depicting Trump as the hero of Fruitland (so much I want to say here)

*Written by Sean Spicer to teach kids not to "jump to conclusions" (hmmm....)

*Titled "Little Lives Matter" (I am 100% pro-life--see my siggie--but the title of this book is tone-deaf at best and hostile at worst)

*Rail against "cancel culture" (ironically)

*Depicting raccoons bravely fighting off possums entering their western town (so much for love thy neighbor)

Wow. I hadn't heard of Brave Books. Those picture books are...not subtle. 

[TechWife]

I missed the original post about this. I have questions - 

Why is this needed? I read books before I gave them to my child if I thought they would be at all questionable. In addition, librarians already know this info & they will gladly share it with you. This includes info about age and/or developmental appropriateness and the content.  Librarian’s are very accessible & can be reached by phone, email & at the physical library. Also, Is it legal to post images of books like that? I’m just curious because I know that’s been discussed here before. Brief quotes in a review don’t violate copyright law, but I thought the finished product is copyright protected. 

[Heartstrings]

7 hours ago, Red Dove said:

Drama Llama, I understand what you are saying, but the purpose of this website is to allow parents to see what is in a book before their child reads it. When we did market research, LGBTQ content was one of the top 3 things parents would like to know is in a book before they let their child read it. All of the categories may not resonate with you, so you just ignore that category. Not everyone is concerned with a death occurring in a book either, but some parents want to know first before they hand a book over to their child.

We do not have a “good” or “bad” rating for this reason: What is good for you, may be bad for another.

And sometimes a parent doesn’t think a certain category is wrong, they just want to know it is in the book so they can have a meaningful and relevant discussion with their child before or during the reading. 

Could parents use it to search for something that they wanted?  Like if you were looking for LGBT characters after an older sister comes out as lesbian or trans, or after the child expresses that they might be LGBT themselves? Or death in a book after the child experiences a loss?  I know I scoured the internet looking for homeschooled characters at one point. 

 I do think categories are helpful, I might want to purposefully find a book like Hatchet or Spiderwick for a child experiencing divorce, or I might want to expressly avoid books with a death for a sensitive child after a death in the family or losing a pet.  I know that it's recommended to be careful with certain books and movies for kids in foster care or recently adopted out of care, so a way to see if a book had parental abuse, neglect, or abandonment would be helpful, or some children might really appreciate reading certain books like that to help feel more normal and I might want to seek out those books.  

I recently had to put down a favorite book of mine that I was re-reading as a comfort book during a stressful time.  I had forgotten that the first several chapters deal with the death of a beloved parent and I just couldn't handle it so soon after losing my mother.  It's amazing how it had barely registered to me prior to losing a parent myself.   

Edited November 11, 2023 by Heartstrings

[WildflowerMom]

3 minutes ago, TechWife said:

I missed the original post about this. I have questions - 

Why is this needed? I read books before I gave them to my child if I thought they would be at all questionable. In addition, librarians already know this info & they will gladly share it with you. This includes info about age and/or developmental appropriateness and the content.  Librarian’s are very accessible & can be reached by phone, email & at the physical library. Also, Is it legal to post images of books like that? I’m just curious because I know that’s been discussed here before. Brief quotes in a review don’t violate copyright law, but I thought the finished product is copyright protected. 

There would’ve been no way in the world for me to possibly read every book my kid read while also running a home.    It wouldn’t have been possible.    
We knew our librarians very well.  At no point could they have memorized every curse word, sexual situation or whatever of ever single random book ds checked out.    A review site is helpful.   I always read through Amazon reviews or asked other parents if they knew of anything.  We didn’t censor much once he got a bit older but he wanted to read *all of it* by about 8 years old and not everything is appropriate for an 8 year old.  

[MercyA]

29 minutes ago, Red Dove said:

I’m not sure where you are getting that Screen It First is partnering with Brave Books. Can you tell me why you think this? Because we are not partners with any other business. 

You are using the Brave Books' Family Books Plan as an incentive for contributors to your site. I meant "partnering" as in working together or having an agreement between two companies.

I get wanting to have the appearance of neutrality, but your positions do seem pretty clear. It seems disingenuous to not be open about them. I could be wrong, of course, but it certainly seems as though you are giving a nod of approval to Brave Books and their messaging. That's problematic for me.

[TechWife]

2 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

There would’ve been no way in the world for me to possibly read every book my kid read while also running a home.    It wouldn’t have been possible.    
We knew our librarians very well.  At no point could they have memorized every curse word, sexual situation or whatever of ever single random book ds checked out.    A review site is helpful.   I always read through Amazon reviews or asked other parents if they knew of anything.  We didn’t censor much once he got a bit older but he wanted to read *all of it* by about 8 years old and not everything is appropriate for an 8 year old.  

I understand what you’re saying. I agree librarians don’t know everything about a book. What they do have is easy access to the information. I read Amazon reviews as well. My son was hyperlexic & also had higher than average reading comprehension. This meant we had to carefully look at a lot of different materials.  That’s how we know librarians know this stuff. Personally, we never asked about foul language, never really thought to. Maybe that just wasn’t a thing in Children’s & YA books back then. If people find this beneficial, then great. I just think it’s duplicating a lot of info that’s already out there.

[MercyA]

10 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

I always read through Amazon reviews or asked other parents if they knew of anything. 

Yep. If you want to know about possibly troubling content in a book, the one-star Amazon reviews are invaluable. 🙂 

[Innisfree]

37 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

What makes it any different than commonsense media or any other movie review site?   What am I missing?   I would have loved to have a book review site like commonsense media when ds was little.  

What I remember about common sense media is that it pointed out things parents might want to know about, but there wasn’t any value judgement about the movies. It was just a matter of factually reporting what was there, similar to the G/PG/PG13/R system. This seems different in that the website has a clear bias toward a particular political orientation, just based on the books that are being offered as incentives. I didn’t go past the first screen of the review site, but not being familiar with the Tuttle Twins series which is offered, I looked at them. Their website opens with the question “Are your kids being brainwashed?” It goes on with:

Quote

Dear Parent,

If you’re like me, you’re worried about the “new normal” society is trying to cram down our throats.

In the wake of Covid-19, the government has asserted its power, printed a ton of new money, and restricted our rights.

Our kids have had to adjust, too — and many of us struggle to know how to help them understand what’s happening in the world.

To make matters worse, the public school system, the mainstream media, and the entertainment industry aren’t helping. They are openly pushing socialism and woke-ism into the minds of our kids every day.

That’s not a product which would reinforce my values. Offering those books, plus the Brave Books @MercyA linked, makes it clear that the SceenItFirst website shares those particular values. It’s not neutral. That’s how it seems different from Commonsense Media to me.

[MercyA]

57 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

What makes it any different than commonsense media or any other movie review site?   What am I missing?   I would have loved to have a book review site like commonsense media when ds was little.  

I think quite a bit of it could be valuable. My DD was *very* sensitive to content involving death, scary themes, bathroom humor, and s*xual situations when she was young. Contributors to the site do flag some of this stuff. 

Some of the objections here arise from the fact that the site lists the following topics as subjects they screen for: foul language, violence/death, LGBTQIA+, alcohol/drugs, racism, lying/stealing, dark content, potty humor, and explicit content. It certainly seems like these are all viewed as negative.

I will be curious to see how much racist content is flagged.

I'm also curious about the copyright issue TechWife mentioned.

Edited November 11, 2023 by MercyA

[Heartstrings]

I always had the idea that Common Sense Media was a Conservative website.  Is it not?  

Edited November 11, 2023 by Heartstrings

[WildflowerMom]

4 minutes ago, Innisfree said:

What I remember about common sense media is that it pointed out things parents might want to know about, but there wasn’t any value judgement about the movies. It was just a matter of factually reporting what was there, similar to the G/PG/PG13/R system. This seems different in that the website has a clear bias toward a particular political orientation, just based on the books that are being offered as incentives. I didn’t go past the first screen of the review site, but not being familiar with the Tuttle Twins series which is offered, I looked at them. Their website opens with the question “Are your kids being brainwashed?” It goes on with:

That’s not a product which would reinforce my values. Offering those books, plus the Brave Books @MercyA linked, makes it clear that the SceenItFirst website shares those particular values. It’s not neutral. That’s how it seems different from Commonsense Media to me.

That’s what I thought this site was doing.  I completely missed the ‘are your kids being brainwashed?’ spiel.   
 

and woohoo!!  I looked more at commonsense media and they do books, as well!!    That’s awesome!   I’m not sure if they did that back in the dark ages, but if they did, I missed it.  I wish I would’ve been able to use them as a resource.  They make it so easy! 
 

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews

[Innisfree]

4 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

I always had the idea that Common Sense Media was a conservative website.  Is it not?  

Short answer, I don’t know. But I just looked at the website, not having been on it in a while. On their menu, under Celebrating Community, they list books in various categories: Latino Culture, Black Voices, Asian Stories, Native Narratives, and LGBTQ+ Pride. Those terms alone suggest a positive attitude to the topics, compared to the Screen It First website which asks for pictures of “questionable content.” 

[WildflowerMom]

7 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

I always had the idea that Common Sense Media was a conservative website.  Is it not?  

I honestly don’t know.   I just know it was always straightforward, not judgy, just ‘this movie used the word “xyz” 12 times’.  That sort of thing.   I looked at it as a heads up, here’s what’s in the movie.  

[Heartstrings]

22 minutes ago, TechWife said:

I understand what you’re saying. I agree librarians don’t know everything about a book. What they do have is easy access to the information. I read Amazon reviews as well. My son was hyperlexic & also had higher than average reading comprehension. This meant we had to carefully look at a lot of different materials.  That’s how we know librarians know this stuff. Personally, we never asked about foul language, never really thought to. Maybe that just wasn’t a thing in Children’s & YA books back then. If people find this beneficial, then great. I just think it’s duplicating a lot of info that’s already out there.

Not everyone has access to great librarians.  Our children's librarian is an elderly woman who while sweet is not exactly accepting or open minded.  I would never dream of going to her and asking her for a booklist of books with LGBT characters so a gay child could see others like themselves portrayed.  Honestly, my library doesn't have books like that at all, they don't buy books with positive portrayals of LGBT characters.  My library is what Mom's of Liberty wants all libraries to be. It's part of living in Red America.  

Edited November 11, 2023 by Heartstrings

[Innisfree]

2 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

That’s what I thought this site was doing.  I completely missed the ‘are your kids being brainwashed?’ spiel.   
 

and woohoo!!  I looked more at commonsense media and they do books, as well!!    That’s awesome!   I’m not sure if they did that back in the dark ages, but if they did, I missed it.  I wish I would’ve been able to use them as a resource.  They make it so easy! 
 

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/book-reviews

Note that the “Are your kids being brainwashed?” was on the Tuttle Twins website, not the Screen It First one. I’m just judging Screen It First by the company they keep. If these, and the Brave Books, are the rewards they’re offering for participation, I think that says something.

[rebcoola]

Yeah I dont screen much but if I do I will stick with commonsense media and reviews.  Their seem to be a lot of tells that this website and its creators have certain beliefs.

[Heartstrings]

6 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

 I looked more at commonsense media and they do books, as well!!  

I had no idea and never would have thought to check!  

4 minutes ago, Innisfree said:

Short answer, I don’t know. But I just looked at the website, not having been on it in a while. On their menu, under Celebrating Community, they list books in various categories: Latino Culture, Black Voices, Asian Stories, Native Narratives, and LGBTQ+ Pride. Those terms alone suggest a positive attitude to the topics, compared to the Screen It First website which asks for pictures of “questionable content.” 

That sounds very promising.  That was along the lines that I was thinking would be helpful.  

[ArtHaus]

@Red Dove

I love the concept behind the website, great job! Is this your brainchild? 

I think the “topics” are spot on. I hate buying books only to dislike the content. So many books for children are either subversive or blatantly against our values, and your(?) website offers an invaluable service. I would especially consider this a value for the parent who has a child who reads well above reading level, as mine did. Screening books for them was/is very time consuming.

FWIW, your topics are fine, those are the things that many parents would be screening for anyway. Good Luck with the site! I think it is excellent.

[Red Dove]

1 hour ago, WildflowerMom said:

What makes it any different than commonsense media or any other movie review site?   What am I missing?   I would have loved to have a book review site like commonsense media when ds was little.  

Wildflower, Common Sense Media does not allow reviews to be published if parents try to warn others of certain topics. They are decidedly left-leaning, and do not allow users to post if users disagree with CS Media. They also lean towards subjective reviews, whereas screenshots are objective. Lastly, CS Media is primarily focused on movies and less on books. 

Screen It First is an open community resource allowing anyone to post a snapshot (anonymously) that might be helpful for other parents to know about.  

 

[Red Dove]

2 hours ago, TechWife said:

Also, Is it legal to post images of books like that? I’m just curious because I know that’s been discussed here before. Brief quotes in a review don’t violate copyright law, but I thought the finished product is copyright protected. 

We are covered by the fair use doctrine under the U.S. copyright law. That’s a good question; we get asked that frequently. 

Edited November 11, 2023 by Red Dove

[rebcoola]

The results will be skewed heavily conservative by the prizes you offer to top contributers

The only bonus prizes Pureflix, Tuttle Twins and Brave Books.  Which are not appealing to anyone who isn't quite conservative.

 

[Red Dove]

5 hours ago, Heartstrings said:

Could parents use it to search for something that they wanted?  Like if you were looking for LGBT characters after an older sister comes out as lesbian or trans, or after the child expresses that they might be LGBT themselves? Or death in a book after the child experiences a loss?  I know I scoured the internet looking for homeschooled characters at one point. 

 I do think categories are helpful, I might want to purposefully find a book like Hatchet or Spiderwick for a child experiencing divorce, or I might want to expressly avoid books with a death for a sensitive child after a death in the family or losing a pet.  I know that it's recommended to be careful with certain books and movies for kids in foster care or recently adopted out of care, so a way to see if a book had parental abuse, neglect, or abandonment would be helpful, or some children might really appreciate reading certain books like that to help feel more normal and I might want to seek out those books.  

I recently had to put down a favorite book of mine that I was re-reading as a comfort book during a stressful time.  I had forgotten that the first several chapters deal with the death of a beloved parent and I just couldn't handle it so soon after losing my mother.  It's amazing how it had barely registered to me prior to losing a parent myself.   

Heartstrings, advanced filters and searches are on our feature roadmap. Finding books that address sensitive topics that we want to discuss with our children at the right time is absolutely part of our mission: The right book at the right time builds a healthy mind. 

4 hours ago, ArtHaus said:

@Red Dove

I love the concept behind the website, great job! Is this your brainchild? 

I think the “topics” are spot on. I hate buying books only to dislike the content. So many books for children are either subversive or blatantly against our values, and your(?) website offers an invaluable service. I would especially consider this a value for the parent who has a child who reads well above reading level, as mine did. Screening books for them was/is very time consuming.

FWIW, your topics are fine, those are the things that many parents would be screening for anyway. Good Luck with the site! I think it is excellent.

ArtHaus, yes, this is a personal project my husband and I started two years ago inspired by people who feel this exact way, though we didn’t officially launch until July of this year. Thank you for your kind words. We wanted to build a resource that we can all band together to save each other time and effort. “Many hands make light work.”

40 minutes ago, rebcoola said:

The results will be skewed heavily conservative by the prizes you offer to top contributers

The only bonus prizes Pureflix, Tuttle Twins and Brave Books.  Which are not appealing to anyone who isn't quite conservative.

Rebcoola, these are the rewards that resonated with our current users. I am happy to diversify the rewards. Do you have any suggestions?

[ScoutTN]

7 hours ago, rebcoola said:

The results will be skewed heavily conservative by the prizes you offer to top contributers

The only bonus prizes Pureflix, Tuttle Twins and Brave Books.  Which are not appealing to anyone who isn't quite conservative.

 

We are quite conservative and I find all of those decidedly unappealing as prizes. No way would I have given any of those to my kids.
 

Excellent, classic children’s literature would be a good prize. 

Edited November 11, 2023 by ScoutTN

[ScoutTN]

I generally found that pre-reading when possible and consulting sources such as likeminded homeschooling friends, these boards, Redeemed Reader, Read Aloud Revival, and the Amazon reviews was enough, even with crazy fast readers. Shopping for used books kept our shelves full of good choices within our budget. 

I found that steering my children’s reading toward classic children’s literature and older works avoided most content issues. And ones that exist, I am aware of - e.g. Poe was too creepy for my older child before high school. She started HP later than some do bc of scary/creepiness. I chose recently published books carefully, gradually allowing my kids more and more latitude in choice of books as they got older. By the time they were teens, I trusted their judgement. I read anything that I had questions about so we could discuss. I now have a child in ps and one in college, and I still read so that we can discuss. 
 

Imo, a large proportion of newer books published for children are not worth reading, just in terms of literary quality or story, though there are some gems. There are plenty of both challenging books and fluffy books to read without spending any time on very recently published ones with an agenda (right or left). Those books are propaganda, not literature. 
 

I do think it helped me that I was a voracious reader growing up and have continued to read widely as an adult. Curating book lists would be harder without this background. 

Edited November 11, 2023 by ScoutTN

[Eos]

I generally avoid joining any thread with replies by a certain poster but I am finding myself close to tears over this website. I absolutely curated my kids books and occasionally restricted their choices.  This website is not offering analysis or thoughtful critique but anonymous photos. It seems designed to let rhetoric and snap judgments instill an emotional rise, then a soothing dose of groupthink in the form of points to win anti-kindness media.

Sorry, Rosie, I'll just go weep.

[bolt.]

I'm not exactly appalled that people who fear that a 'woke agenda' might be brainwashing their children through literature might want to collaborate on a website to share information that is mutually alarming to them.

There just doesn't seem to be any sense in the thinly veiled pretense that it could also serve as a screening tool for parents in general or for the whole body of homeschoolers.

That kind of misdirection creates ill-will and a bad reputation -- which I'm sure this website isn't hoping to generate for itself. Instead, if it is a product for a specific group of people, simply market and label it clearly. Then others will have more of a 'not for me, thanks' set of feelings instead of a bait-and-switch type of resentment.

For myself, I'll stick with Common Sense Media: which is neither 'left-leaning' nor is it bad practice to decline to publish reviews that 'warn against' ordinary healthy ways of being a person (that's a practice that is protective of human rights and dignity, a very 'common sense' practice). That's the way you actually craft a tool that the whole community of parents can and will use in their own ways according to their own values.

[WildflowerMom]

'Left leaning' is not at all how I would ever describe CommonSense Media.  I don't know if I've ever heard 'left-leaning' and 'commonsense media' in the same sentence until now.    That's kind of mind-boggling.    

[ArtHaus]

9 hours ago, Red Dove said:

Heartstrings, advanced filters and searches are on our feature roadmap. Finding books that address sensitive topics that we want to discuss with our children at the right time is absolutely part of our mission: The right book at the right time builds a healthy mind. 

ArtHaus, yes, this is a personal project my husband and I started two years ago inspired by people who feel this exact way, though we didn’t officially launch until July of this year. Thank you for your kind words. We wanted to build a resource that we can all band together to save each other time and effort. “Many hands make light work.”

Rebcoola, these are the rewards that resonated with our current users. I am happy to diversify the rewards. Do you have any suggestions?

Okay, cool beans. Again, good work.

I would like to concur with some of the posters regarding the rewards program. I wouldn’t be interested in those either. If you diversify those offers, I think you will gain better traction:)

[Red Dove]

8 minutes ago, ArtHaus said:

Okay, cool beans. Again, good work.

I would like to concur with some of the posters regarding the rewards program. I wouldn’t be interested in those either. If you diversify those offers, I think you will gain better traction:)

ArtHaus,

We are going to add some options this weekend. If you have any suggestions, throw them my way.