The wisest man who ever lived once said, Say not, "Why were the former days better than these?" For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. The implication is that the good ol' days weren't any better than the current time, but the propensity to look to the past as a golden period of sound morals in the face of obvious evil seems to dog us perpetually. We can't shake the idea, nor the one that says people really can be almost perfect if they try hard enough.

In all fairness, the books in the Golden Inheritance Series don't explicitly teach any of this. Written by two Englishwomen in the Victorian Era, each novel takes place in England and features a young boy or girl who is or becomes a paragon of piety, faith and perseverance, even when everything around them is going wrong.

Highlights include the realistic British dialects of the characters and the moral tone of the stories; lowlights include the moral tone of the stories. We in no way want anyone to think we're against children having good character—but we also don't want our kids to think perfection is a thing to be grasped in this life. Perfection is to be attempted, but part of the curse of man is that it can never be achieved; we don't need our kiddos reading about children who can attain near-sinlessness before death.

Maybe we'd be more forgiving of this attitude if these were quality literature in their own right, but unfortunately the style is stilted and often difficult to follow. One element they do include, however (that similar series often don't), is an interesting storyline. The heroes and heroines have adventures, learn new skills, and face adversity much like characters in any story. That they do so in the name of Christ means the Golden Inheritance Series is a little more safe than many books for children, even if each volume should be approached carefully and with discernment.