Originally Posted by questions
They're not dumbing them down for children - they're dumbing them down for the general audience, applying the usual formulaic movie treatment to every book.

I totally agree.

But, the end result, as you said, is the same. The Lightning Thief was shredded, and my DH and DS12 were disappointed.

Age-Gap parenting a 2e 12-year-old and an 8-month-old