With the mass appeal of Harry Potter, children may not think twice about googling for extra stories and images of their favorite characters from the books. Remember, however, that anyone can publish on the Internet. Nothing stops fans from posting adult-oriented content, even when it involves popular characters well loved by children.
Growing in popularity on the Internet, fan fiction is a genre of creative writing by fans who write their own stories involving characters borrowed from the original works. While some fan fiction is innocent, other subgenres of fan fiction infuse violence and sexual content that is inappropriate for children.
In particular, parents should be aware of the term chanslash, a subgenre of fan fiction that places underage characters in sexual situations. Because the content of these stories may not be obvious at first glance, parents need to take the time to read what their children find online.
By using parental control software, parents can monitor the sites their children are viewing. When children use the computer alone, encourage them to use "kids-only" Web sites 
, such as Yahoo! Kids , KidsCom , or Kids Web . Refer to the chanslash entry in the encyclopedia for more tips on protecting children from inappropriate content online.
References
- Fan Fiction (Wikipedia)
- Fan Fiction Terminology (Wikipedia)
- Filling in the Gap (Star Ledger)
- Four Kids-Only Sites (eSchool News)
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