My first book The Pop Culture Parent¹ released early last month, and public reader response has been slow, yet sure.

Understand: I’m on record directly opposing some authors (well-intended) efforts to demand, er, solicit reviews. I’m especially annoyed when indie-streaking types of authors stick out guilt-trip slogans, such as, “You’d buy a $4 cup of coffee but you won’t take a little time to buy $4 novel, eh? Or to post a review of that book to help the widows and authors, eh? EH?” To me this sounds like a sort of “support your local Starving Artist” kind of shtick. It might appeal to my give-money-to-missions side, but then, if it’s all about charity, why then would I give money to authors instead of missions?

So it’s true that I haven’t been haberdashing about the social medias to solicit reader reviews for The Pop Culture Parent.

Friends such as Marian Jacobs and Cap Stewart have reviewed it, though! They had already read pre-release copies for endorsement, then shared their remarks on Goodreads. My thanks to them both! On release day, Cap Stewart also shared this longer article inspired by our themes.

Shepherding our children’s hearts is a challenging task in and of itself. It’s a responsibility that shows us our own weaknesses, our own childish and petty ways—and the Savior which we and our children desperately need to overcome our sin. In His kind provision, God has graced the church with numerous books on the subject of parenting, many of which have proved beneficial to my own family.

The Pop Culture Parent earns its place near the top of the list of those books I will likely refer to again and again, for years to come. It may not have been a parenting book we were looking for, but it’s a book we discovered we needed. And dare I say it, my perspective on parenting—and on living the Christian life itself—will never be the same again. That’s about as strong of a recommendation as I can give.

After them came this review from Shirley Alarie. In part, she wrote:

Raising children with a biblical worldview is no easy feat. Add to that today’s secular culture of television shows, movies, and music, and the challenge is even greater. The Pop Culture Parent is written by a trio of authors who describe why it’s important for parents to engage with their children in popular culture. They also discuss why the alternative techniques of avoidance or endless childproofing won’t accomplish a healthy or biblical outcome. . . .

The focus of Pop Culture Parent isn’t about finding fault with secular television, movies, and music. It’s more about helping your children discern Christian values or lack thereof and finding examples of God’s common grace among those pop culture venues. The book includes examples of what engaging with your children in popular culture would look like and plenty of encouragement to make it a routine part of your parenting and ongoing communication. There are also resources listed for additional support.

How this book affected me: I chose to read this book not because I’m parenting a child, but because I think that today’s parents can use guidance for the many challenges they face. Christian parents face great challenges to raise their children with a biblical foundation. I hoped to be able to recommend a positive resource depending on whether I found the book content to be relevant and actionable, and it is both!

Read her full review over at Goodreads. She also posted this to Amazon.com (which, of course, owns Goodreads).

This is just the kind of review we hope to receive. Lord willing, The Pop Culture Parent will serve even more readers in the months and years ahead!