Ok.. don't know if anyone's going to join this tribe dealy, but I figured I'd start with a discussion question.
While in college I took a class on Young Adult Lit. It was fantastic and I loved everything we read, but I often asked myself "Would I want my 14-year-old reading about this?". Some of the books addressed issues like rape, molestation, damage to property, poverty, drugs, discrimination, etc. I believe these are issues that adolescents face and that talking about them is good, but what's appropriate for what young person? This could easily turn into a discussion on banning books, as well.
So what do you think?
While in college I took a class on Young Adult Lit. It was fantastic and I loved everything we read, but I often asked myself "Would I want my 14-year-old reading about this?". Some of the books addressed issues like rape, molestation, damage to property, poverty, drugs, discrimination, etc. I believe these are issues that adolescents face and that talking about them is good, but what's appropriate for what young person? This could easily turn into a discussion on banning books, as well.
So what do you think?
-
Re: So What's Appropriate?
Wed, December 3, 2003 - 2:43 PMI wrote my undergrad thesis on a "forbidden" topic and how it's been handled in children's lit over the last 150 years. It's amazing, if you actually track it, how society's opinions have changed as to what is appropriate for children/teenagers to read and what is not. The topic I researched was death in children's lit, but there was a period in the 1970s when many, many YA authors covered difficult subjects (rape, divorce, death, poverty, etc). Hardly any books for YA then DIDN'T have some Difficult Topic being discussed. The pendulum seems to have swung back the other way.
My question for you is this, Heidi. Would you rather your 14 year old learn about it from a book, in which it's covered in a particular manner, or would you rather she learn about it from TV/Movies/her friends, or would you rather she learn about the difficult things in life from you? A lot of parents have some sort of vague idea that they don't want their kid knowing about stuff, but the truth is, they learn about a lot of things way before you think they do because of TV and peer influence. One of the good things about having books available to discuss these subjects is that it makes them somewhat removed, but still makes them relatively easy for the kid to understand and relate to.
I was glad that my parents didn't put any restrictions on my reading. I read what I wanted, when I wanted, and I didn't read stuff that was way over my head because it didn't interest me. And I got to learn about a lot of things that I would have probably felt uncomfortable about if I had had to talk about them with my parents. -
-
Re: So What's Appropriate?
Wed, December 3, 2003 - 2:57 PMI agree that books make forbidden topics discussable, if there is such a word. Parents and adults can discuss the book and the subject without putting a kid on the spot. I work as a vounteer with teens and I am astonished at how many kids say they had their first sexual experience at 12, 13, and 14. Sometimes in was consensual, sometimes not. But most at least know about these things and have a strong curiosity. I think books provide a safe way for them to satisfy this curiosity.
Great topic, by the way! -
-
Re: So What's Appropriate?
Sat, December 6, 2003 - 6:53 AMI agree about books being a gateway. Its a little difficult for me to discuss this because I don't have children myself, but I do work with kids who don't read and don't have parents worth speaking of and find out about these life issues in the worst of ways. My parents, too, allowed me to read whatever I liked. My mother used to catch all kinds of trouble because my brother liked to read comic books. Her friends would critize her because he was reading 'junk', but her response was always, "Hey- he's reading!".
So, to take this another step, do you feel that its depends on the child? (My brother grew up to be incredibly intelligent and now reads mathematical books among other technical stuff for fun!)
Also, do you think there's such a thing as 'junk' reading for kids? (stuff they shouldn't read maybe not because it will harm them in some way, but because it has nothing of value in it)
Oh, and as a side note, one author I was thinking of when I posted this was Robert Cormier. Some of his passages gave me chills when I read them.
Oh! And, and! (I have so much in my head this morning!) Do you think just because a child is able to read a certain grade level, that they should- i.e., I know 12 year olds that are capable of reading Stephen King or Anne Rice but I don't think are emotionally mature enough for that kind of content. Should we come up with a rating system for books like we do with movies and now t.v.? (I know other 12 year olds who would be ok with some of the content in adult horror books..)
Ok.. enough with the ramble..:) -
-
Unsu...
Re: So What's Appropriate?
Sat, December 6, 2003 - 10:46 AMi don't think there is such a thing as junk reading. if you spend 80% of your time studying and working on highly technical things, you deserve a little junk to give yourself a break.
also, exercising your imagination is what allows you to grow. -
-
Re: So What's Appropriate?
Sun, January 11, 2004 - 12:07 AMWow, I just found this tribe and it's an area I have so many ideas to talk about with like-minded people... but I should start small... and this topic of junk-reading is one I wonder about with my 5th grade classroom and 6th grade son. I agree that we all need light entertainment sometimes... and school kids do work pretty hard (harder than people I have encountered among the cubicle farms out there)
anyway... I gotta say though that great themes and characters are what make reading so worthwhile... and there is a lot of hollywood formula crap being peddled to kids these days... I rather enjoy Captain Underpants now and then, but I can't seem to find much substance in the Goosebumps series or many of the School-Girl-scenario books they crank out through Scholastic... The characters and plot formulas don't offer much in terms of complex relationships or families. Everybody is a stereotype in many of them.
So I say... a little junk for kids can be fun, as long as it's not their only diet.
But even the junkiest book is probably better than TV.
I'm a big fan of Sharon Creech... and Jerry Spinelli... and Paul Fleischman... and Katherine Patterson... and......... -
-
Re: So What's Appropriate?
Tue, January 13, 2004 - 2:03 PMI think I know what you mean by the School-Girl-scenario books but I wonder if those aren't exactly the kind of books that girls that age identify with? I can't say I've ever read anything like that, but now I'm thinking I might and try to look at it from a 14-year-old girl's point of view.
But I do agree that kids should have *something* substantial. Of course, when I was in school I don't think I ever enjoyed reading anything our teachers required us to read (or would admit to it) and didn't want to pick up anything they felt was good for me to read. For that very reason I'm kind of playing catch up now! :)
Thanks for joining the list, btw. Its been a little slow as of late and I'm ready to talk about any of the multitude of topics you'd like to! -
-
Re: So What's Appropriate?
Wed, January 14, 2004 - 6:34 AMjunk-reading: yeah, there's some pretty valuless crap out there, but it's better than TV and video games in my book.
freedom in reading: let them read anything they want. if they pick up and actually read the book, they're ready for whatever is in it. if they don't learn about it from reading they'll get it somewhere else. at least they'll be expanding their minds while they're at it. in the days of the internet and mass media, it's hard to "protect" kids from things you don't want them to know. you just have to keep up a dialog so you can explain the parts they don't understand. there are a lot of hard truths out there; kids should be ready to deal with them. i would rather my child learned about them young and talked with me about thm than confronting them for the first time when i'm not there to help.
i read a lot of maturly themed books when i was young. yes, i learned quite a bit about sex from books. but then, when i was confronted with a sexual situation i was well-informed and didn't have any half-formed ideas about what was going on.
i've always considered book banning the manifestation of fear. we are afraid of our children learning the truth. why? are we afraid of them challenging the bounds of our society. news flash; that's what kids are supposed to do.
okay, i've said more than enough. sorry if i started sounding preachy there. this has always been a touchy subject for me. :) -
-
Re: So What's Appropriate?
Tue, January 20, 2004 - 12:47 PMHey, Cady- don't apologize! :) I think its great that you feel so strongly about this issue.
But I do have to wonder about special cases. I have worked with some kids that are seriously and genuinely troubled. I don't think certain reading materials do them any benifit. Sometimes these young people get stuck in a thought pattern and can't get past it. I had one kid who made lists and wrote out plans of women he wanted to tie up and kill. For this reason I didn't go through with a lesson plan centered around The Highwayman. I didn't shy away from the lesson because I thought it was anything he hadn't been exposed to before, but I chose not to do it because it would only flare his fantasies and undermine the treatment team's goal of helping him work through his feelings. There are also books I won't reccomend to girls that have been raped or abused because the pain is too near. Pulling into books is fantastic and can be extremely benificial and healing but would anyone else agree that sometimes written material can be just as damaging as television or movies or music or video games? -
-
This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.
Re: So What's Appropriate?
Fri, September 3, 2004 - 5:51 PMi think you're right that reading about a topic that a person already has toxic unresolved issues about, could aggravate the pain or the obsession... especially if they read it alone, unsupervised, or without enough guidance. and a classroom might easily not be enough guidance
i'd like to add that there is very little i wish i hadn't read myself, EXCEPT for stephen king books! there are some frightening and malicious concepts in them that are hard for me to get rid of now! ...there was also a very graphic rape scene in *The Mists of Avalon* that shocked and disturbed me a lot when i was younger... but the glory of the rest of the book made it worthwhile i think.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
