Geek Parenting

April 1, 2016
These days, science fiction, fantasy, and superheroes are pop-culture juggernauts, featured in blockbuster movies, buzzworthy TV shows, and best-selling books. Segal and Lupescu take their interest in geek culture and combine it with parenting advice in this collection of short essays on the do's and don'ts of raising children, as demonstrated in popular movies, TV shows, books, and comics. The authors pay plenty of attention to the classic sf/fantasy canon (Star Wars; Star Trek, in all its iterations; Harry Potter; the works of Neil Gaiman and Octavia Butler) while including plenty of newer works (Game of Thrones, Orphan Black, The Walking Dead). There's also a nice smattering of kitschy pop culture, including essays about Clash of the Titans, The Addams Family, and Bewitched, as well as excellent coverage of recent graphic novels. As far as parenting advice goes, it's nothing groundbreaking, and sometimes the takeaways are a bit obvious, but Segal and Lupescu do draw some fascinating conclusions from unlikely sources. This is an enjoyable light read for parents with an interest in popular culture.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)