My recommendation? As a parent and educator, I say, "Let your girls read this, or better yet, read it together." The pros are you will get to have conversations with your daughters and when the questions come up, you will be there to answer them. I have already created a girls' group reading unit utilizing this book. Of course, permission has to be sought to teach the unit due to the nature and content I described above, but is that really a con when we should be having these conversations?
The truth is most parents are afraid to expose their kids to what is sitting right in front of them, every day. The internet is explosive. The real issue should be this: Is teaching the awareness of sexual predation on the internet earlier in age better and safer? Is it better for parents and trained educators to guide young pre-teens and teens through these realities and possibly save young girls from potential danger, or should we shield their innocent eyes? Are we really protecting them?
In the words of Katherine Tarbox, "There was a certain kind of power, control, even romance in knowing that together we were building our own relationship that no one else could influence, control, or even see. In my mind he was no longer just an on-line buddy that I met in a chat room. He had become the love of my life. I loved the way he talked. It was soothing and sweet."
Katherine Tarbox ended up being one the first known victims of sexual predation from a online pedophile. The courtroom battle was known as United States of America v. Frank Kufrovich. While this is now in Katherine Tarbox's past, it does not have to be another girl's future.
What will you decide?
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