YA Saves.

[fireun]

 I don't even know where to start here. But I will give it my even-tempered best.

"You are naive if you think young people can read a dark and violent book that sits on the library shelves and not believe that that behavior must be condoned by the adults in their school life."

Having a book in a collection does NOT mean the content is condoned- but it definitely means the content is acknowledged. Some of the strongest books I have read in a long time, 'Hunger' and 'Rage' by Jackie Morse Kessler, deal with eating disorders and cutting, and while I do not 'condone' that behavior, I would damn well want kids aware of it. To recognize it. To think about it. Same goes for a lot of the 'dark' YA.

"It is that question—the condoning of the language and content of a strong current in young-adult literature—that creates the parental dilemma at the core of my essay."

That closing argument is what really put the nail in the coffin for me on this piece. Parental dilemma? Engage in dialog with kids. They are smarter than you think. Perhaps, if you are leaving them to read and digest alone, you can be seen as condoning content. Take the time to talk to your young adults. Help them understand what they are reading. Don't condemn a strong trend emerging in a genre. It has to be emerging for a reason. Perhaps we really should be talking to our kids, since something in these books is singing to them so strongly.

Comments

[libwitch.livejournal.com]

I think what sort of pisses me off about it is that there is underlying attitude that kids shouldn't read this stuff because they are too...something to get it in a way that makes sense. That they will read it and assume that this type of behavior is, in fact, Good, because if it is In A Book It Must Be True.

Dear Gods, have faith in your kids. Have faith in how you raised them. Or better yet, REMEMBER WHAT IT WAS TO BE ONE.

I read some pretty dark books that had kids doing stupid stuff (they were out there then, even though there was not a YA literature category). And guess what? I recognized they were doing dangerous things, or making wrong decisions. I wasn't tempted to go out and change my behavior based on what I read.

I did however, recognize that for some people - this WAS what they did. They made wrong decisions. Shockingly, some kids grew up in pretty terrible circumstances. Reading about it, even in a fictionalized form, made me a bit more empathetic and understanding when I did things later in life like work a crisis hotline which took calls from abused women (and I knew the answer wasn't as easy as "get out of there"). Thankfully, my parents didn't see a reason to protect me from life - in all its forms.

[fireun.livejournal.com]

"I recognized they were doing dangerous things, or making wrong decisions." Bingo. Worried about kids not catching that? Talk to them. With your words. Simple. Valuable. Better to come from you than anyone else.

"Shockingly, some kids grew up in pretty terrible circumstances." I really hate how she just waved this point away in her rebuttal.

"Reading about it, even in a fictionalized form, made me a bit more empathetic and understanding when I did things later in life like work a crisis hotline which took calls from abused women " Amazing point.

[zrana.livejournal.com]

I don't even want to click the link, I know I'll be completely disgusted if I do.

I think that many kids who are willingly reading, are also the ones that are more likely actually thinking. Kids aren't idiots! As long as parents give them a sense of reality, they tend to turn out pretty well despite what they read or watch on tv. Shielding them from anything negative is more likely to rebound once the kids are old enough to REALLY think for themselves. Treating them lik idiots or pure innocence that must never be sullied does them a disservice. It's the intellectual equivalent of people who go crazy on disinfecting and cleaning and end up with kids who are sick all the time because they killed their kids immune systems by lack of small exposure.

There is no substitution to talking to kids and taking interest in their lives.

So says someone who was raised by a single mom for the first decade of her life (mom has a large family, I'm sure that helped) who's only censorship in entertainment for us was "cover your eyes" when it came to sex scenes in movies. Any willing reading is considered good--but don't you dare talk back, get in fights, steal, lie (mom knows ALL), or swear. Although the last one is funny considering the potty mouth of the adults. But that's an adult privilege. Lack of censorship seems to work well in my family.

[fireun.livejournal.com]

I think you hit the important point- we shouldn't be calling out the genre for being dark, we should be calling out to the parents and helping them engage their children on the topics these books touch upon. 'Parenting' has taken the place of conversation, and somehow along the way I think we started to really miss the point.