My ten-year-old has gotten really into the Diary Of a Wimpy Kid and Big Nate series. I have very mixed feelings about both.

On the one hand, I love that he is reading on his own and and that he has found some book series that he really likes.

On the other hand, both series are objectively terrible.

I don't expect my kids to be reading high literature, but I would like to not have to constantly have conversations like “I know that joke is funny when it happens in the book, but it is mean and horrible in real life.”