Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

* Sherman Alexie on the YA kerfluffle: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/09/why-the-best-kids-books-are-written-in-blood/

"Does Ms. Gurdon honestly believe that a sexually explicit YA novel might somehow traumatize a teen mother? Does she believe that a YA novel about murder and rape will somehow shock a teenager whose life has been damaged by murder and rape? Does she believe a dystopian novel will frighten a kid who already lives in hell?"

* More stuff I said on the YA kerfluffle BPAL thread:

I don't think publishers should be censoring this stuff. I do think adults (parents teachers, etc.), should talk to the young people reading if there is concern about the book or the maturity of the young person, but I was reading John Varley in third grade, and I do not think my reading a mix of adult, YA, theoretically age appropriate stuff did me any harm. My father tried to exercise some censorship, but i was way too bright for this to work. My Mother had an open door policy, and i could discuss anything that was of concern in my reading with her. When I read Fountainhead in 7th or 8th grade, Mom and I had a lot of conversations about the ideas in it. I thought things through, and you will note I am not a member of the Tea Party. Far from it.

My point is, young people take all kinds of things out of books. they don't automatically agree with things they read. They think about things. They talk about them. They work things through. Reading a book about a teenager with a drinking problem doesn't mean that kid will think it's a good idea to have one of their own and it could give them a heads up that a friend may be in trouble. Being exposed to Twilight doesn't mean a kid will want a scary stalker ***** boyfriend of her own. She may look at that and think, "something's really wrong here." Individual human beings vary at any age. I think conversation and education are the answer, not hiding our heads in the sand.

Keep in mind the traditional stuff can get pretty dark. After all, my middle school taught Lord of the Flies. My high school taught Ethan Frome, Their Eyes Were Watching God, et al.. We had books with adultery, suicide, torture, domestic abuse, people surviving or failing to survive racism, war, grief, etc..

All this panic over what young people are reading fails to take into account that they 1. routinely read adult literature as well as YA or Middle school books and always have, 2. they watch stuff significantly hard core in movies or TV, 3. not only is it likely high school students already know people dealing with things like self harm, eating disorders, discrimination, substance use, sex, and sexuality, but we're finding kindergarteners with eating disorders and middle schoolers cutting, coming to school drunk or high, etc..