Is Warriors Child-Friendly? by Mossflame

Mossflame wonders if the series we know and love is truly suitable for children.

(I did this for a school project, by the way 😛 )
Don’t get me wrong, Warriors is a beloved and wonderful series. The fans are nice people, mostly, and you can get a lot of good things out of reading it/being a part of the fan base. But is Warriors actually kid-friendly? Is this series a series your kids should be reading? I’m here to tell you the truth. I’m going to go through the good, and then the bad, and then state my opinion based on the facts I’ve learned.

Warrior Cats is a wonderful book series, rich with descriptions and cats. It’s a challenging read and can make your kids better readers. You can get immersed in the story and root for your favorite characters. It doesn’t hold back from using big words that your kids might need to piece together to understand. For example, in Into the Wild, it says: “There was a stirring in the shadows, and from all around lithe, dark shapes crept stealthily over the rocks.” Lithe is a pretty fancy word. Other words Warriors use include wiry, swath, stifle, and tantalizing. This information can be supported by vocabulary.com’s information on Into the Wild.
It wants you to enjoy the story, and by using big words, your kids can become smarter and become better readers. It can also help you find friends if you’re lonely. The Warriors fan base is a mostly friendly community and can help you make friends with people that share your interests. Warriors has some realistic additions to it, despite it being a fiction book series. Wild cats do fight each other often and it can be a warning to your kids not to go near feral cats, especially in groups. It can be dangerous.

But, alas, every book has its downsides, and Warriors has a… lot. First off, there is no mention of the kitten crisis or overpopulation, and while I agree that it is a fiction book, there should be some mention of it to avoid confusion. Kittens all around the world are being killed off, and you can’t even get mad about it. Overpopulation means there are so many cats in the world that there aren’t enough people to take care of every single one of them. According to an article by Maham Abedi, “There are about 9.3 million owned cats in Canada.” And that’s only in Canada! There are so many cats in each Clan, especially ThunderClan, most of them mating and giving birth. If this were real life, it would be adding to overpopulation and the problem of the kitten crisis. And I do get that it is a fiction book, but I also think there should be a little note or something at the start addressing the problem, because I’ve met some people that thought their cats would do better in the wild when they were young… which isn’t true at all, and it all happened because of these cat books, showcasing cats that do amazing in the wild. Overpopulation isn’t caused by Warriors, but some young people might make mistakes with taking care of their cats because of it. Each cat seems to do good in the wild, well-fed, and getting along with the other cats. But this just isn’t how it is in real life. Feral cats fight all the time, even if they’re in groups together. It’s unrealistic that the Clans don’t fight amongst themselves – they only fight the other groups. Then again, it’s a fiction book.
Warriors also has a lot of blood and some descriptive scenes. Because of this, it can be triggering for some people which nobody wants, and it can also cause some kids to turn violent and do some rash things. Warriors is unrealistic and bloody, and while it is a fiction book, some things just aren’t good for books meant for kids.

So, is Warriors child-friendly? No. It’s a good, intriguing series, but it’s very bloody and sometimes extremely descriptive, not to mention it doesn’t have any mention of the kitten crisis and overpopulation. I understand completely that this is a fiction book, but there should at least be a note at the front or something. If you’re a kid under the age of seven, this series is probably not for you. Some eight-year-olds and nine-year-olds may not be able to read Warriors either. Remember this is only for your protection and to make sure you aren’t exposed to things that aren’t good for you.