 Price Controversy?
I don't own the book and therefore I am not reviewing it, however I found it strange that if you look at the back cover of the book, the sticker price is $6.99, yet Amazon is charging $7.99 for it. Seems strange to me. Just my two cents.
 Caution For Parents Re: Bionicle Obsessions
When I first found that my 8-year old son was interested in Bionicles, I wondered why because they seemed to be dark, mean-looking figures, very unlike the typical LEGO figures he had liked previously. I went along with it anyway, assuming that they could not be that bad.
Over time, I learned that I was wrong. Not only are these Bionicle figures and their stories filled with dark images of death and cruelty, the paranormal, occult aspects are very liberally seen throughout the books. This dark world comes with an entire alternate reality, including it's own language, geography, religion and politics. It is very easy for boys of any age to get all caught in this dark world and the consequences could be very disturbing.
Both my son and his friend voluntarily stopped playing with their Bionicles. My son could not tell me why except to say that he did not want to get "addicted" to them. After doing some research on my own and taking the time to read through some of the books (which I should have done in the beginning!), I began to see why my son was drawing away.
We are Christians who teach our children the Bible and undoubtedly my son could sense how the themes of Bionicles were very different than those we were teaching at home and what he was hearing at church.
My advice is that ALL parents thoroughly review the Bionicle books before giving them to your children to read. My previous work in the field of child counseling showed me that children of today have enough problems with dark thoughts and tendencies (ie. the skyrocketing rates of childhood depression and suicide, boys getting "lost" in fantasy worlds, etc.) and do not need books with dark themes.
Christian parents who value raising children with a biblical worldview might well consider avoiding the Bionicle series as it will send messages that will conflict with views you desire your children to grow up with.
Bionicle books not suitable for younger children
Personally, I had my reservations about my child getting Bionicle Legos as a gift. Many of his friends were playing with them and even though I had my reservations, I thought, well, the Lego brand of toys seemed fairly reasonable, yet these were somewhat strange and ugly.
The more my son has gotten into the 'Bionicle Culture', the more obsessed he became about bionicle books and videos etc. The Bionicle culture is being marketed to boys 5 and up. The books take some reading skill, but if you have an advanced younger reader in your family you may want to take heed.
I would not endorse these book for younger children, pre-teens. The books use their own language and after reading a few of them I felt they were very cultish, violent and of a very dark subject matter, not suitable for younger children. Not until I read all of my child's Bionicle books and saw terms like Chamber of Death and torture did I realize the gift they received was not appropriate. I urge parents to read these books first and decide if this is how you want to introduce such heavy subject matter to your child.
Passage from Bionicle: Makuta's Guide to The Universe.
"I am Makuta Teridax, and this is how I became supreme ruler of all that is and ever will be in this Universe."
"Jaller almost volunteered to sacrifice his life for the mission in the Chamber of Death, but Matoro spoke first. Stopping Vezon and Kardas, using a special zamor sphere given to him by Axonn"
Is this suitable for 6,7..8 year olds? It is a lot of double speak with strange names and strange culture. All this for a Lego toy? It strikes me as bizarre and not appropriate to be marketed to young children.
 Excellent for bionicle fans
Bought this for my son, 8, for Christmas. He enjoys reading and telling me all about Bionicle stuff. It contains both pictures and words and encourages his reading and I'm all for that! It's not entirely "updated", as the set we bought for Christmas is not explained, but overall, I'm very pleased with this purchase.
Bionicle Encyclopedia
Good book. The pictures of the bionicles in the encyclopedia could be bigger. They are very hard to see.
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