For Parents
The three questions you are actually asking
You are not browsing. You are deciding whether to hand a book to one specific child. These are the questions that decide it, answered without the marketing.
1. Is it going to preach at my kid?
No. And you should not have to take that from the person selling the book, so here is a reader saying it instead.
The plot itself is unique, original, and a great way to bring in the concept of faith-based stories. It's not in your face, and yet it makes you think and wonder. Truly a great read!
That is a reader, unprompted, describing the exact thing you are worried about. Faith is in these stories the way it is in life: underneath, load-bearing, rarely announced. Nobody gets lectured, and no character exists just to be corrected.
Bryant's stated heart is for people outside of the church. A book that preaches would fail at the only job he gave it.
2. Will my kid actually finish it?
The real question. Honest answer: some readers will and some will not, which is true of every book ever written. What we can give you is what readers said about the pacing.
Clever concept with a plot that moves along quickly and keeps a reader's interest.
It was fun to read and I enjoyed the little hidden stories. It was a great medium sized book length. I also liked the main character and the way she was portrayed.
Moves along quickly. Great medium sized book length. Those are the two things that decide whether a reluctant reader reaches the end. A twelve year old boy read The Demon and The doG and called it amazing. A ten year old said it would be a good book for boys his age. Both quotes are held until their parents say we may name them, which is why you are getting them second hand.
For what it is worth, the funniest thing in the book according to its youngest reviewer is that demons always have to go to the bathroom. Whatever gets a kid to page fifty.
3. Is it too scary, and is it right for MY kid?
Here is where most author websites hand you a confident number and hope you do not notice they made it up.
Here are the actual numbers, from Bryant's own listings.
The Demon and The doG: ages 7 to 12, grades 2 to 6, 83 pages. The shorter, funnier, more forgiving of the two. This is the one for a reluctant reader.
The A.I. and The Alien: ages 10 to 12, grades 5 to 6, 171 pages. Longer and more demanding, with a heroine on the run and a puzzle underneath it.
Those are his published figures, not our estimates. If your reader sits at the edge of a range, ask him: he would rather tell you to wait a year than sell you the wrong book.
So do the thing that works. Tell Bryant the age, and whether your kid is the sort who gets nightmares or the sort who wants it darker, and he will tell you honestly. He is a chaplain. Saying uncomfortable things gently is the job.
Reading it together
These are built for it. The faith questions are in there without answers attached, which means the conversation happens between the two of you rather than between your child and a paragraph.
Bryant led small groups for over ten years. Ask him for a handful of questions worth asking at the end of a chapter and he will send some. There is no download gate and nothing to sign up for, because a discussion guide that does not exist yet should not pretend to.