Warriors Series

The Warriors series is good for early teenagers, especially cat fanatics. It has fantasy elements, and something interesting happens each arc. HOWEVER, it's not good for little kids and those who are sensitive to blood, animal death, and violence. The Warriors series contains battle scenes and bloodshed, sometimes detailed deaths even.

My daughter has high-functioning autism, so she struggles with words and reading comprehension and was not very interested in long form stories. She also did not easily empathize with human characters. The Warriors books have opened up longer stories for her, raised her vocabulary, and illustrated complex social interactions. I read them to her (she still can't handle large chunks of text) and I define the larger words as we go. I have to go slowly and sometimes check that she's followed some of the implied social interactions. But she is still very very into the story, and it challenges her abilities in a great way. Also it's fun! I'm as into the story as she is, so it's great that we can share that. The violence is definitely there. The cats are in the wild, and they live harsh lives. There are very evil deeds done by the bad cats, and terrible tragedies. One series we had to stop because she was triggered by the death of a pregnant cat. That one wasn't explicitly described, as she was carried off by an eagle. But others have been somewhat. When one of the bad guys was killed, the injury and the (long) process of his death was described, though an intense visual description was not given. But it was bad enough that I had to skip over it. I do like that the violence has emotional impact. While it is more intense than some of the simplistic media she watches, it also shows the consequences of violence for the people that care. I'd much rather have that kind of input in her life. If your child is triggered by a specific kind of violence, check doesthedogdie.com to see which books to avoid. It really helps. The story is intensely dramatic, so for kids that have trouble paying attention there is always something to keep them stimulated. And the visual descriptions and creative use of language is great! Also there is a continued reinforcement of a code of honor, though I think loyalty as a virtue is too much emphasized. But even then characters are shown having to struggle between blind loyalty and their own conscience. I would say these books are intensely moral without being preachy.