"We also outline soem critical steps toward the ending and the ending. I see it like a director mapping out the scenes, though they may change. Also, I never quite finish a chapter so that I can pick up mid-point, which helps my train of…"
ASK AN EDITOR: Morality and Young Adult Books
Dear SheWriters,This week I began my career as a public speaker. Just kidding—I gave two speeches, and other than presentations at work and oral reports at school, these are the only two talks I’ve ever been asked to give. I was terrified; more so, I think, by the seventh graders than the college kids. But I ended up having a great time and left each presentation inspired and excited. Both talks touched on ethics in the publishing industry. Morality is on my mind.
Books are products that people choose to buy. But does the publishing industry have a certain responsibility to readers? Consider young adult books. Most forms of entertainment—movies, TV, music—come with some sort of rating. Movies rated R are obviously not appropriate for thirteen-year-olds. Thirteen may be about thirteen-year-olds, but would you want your newly teenaged daughter to watch it? A CD branded with “Explicit Lyrics, Parental Advisory” clues in parents that the words to their child’s new favorite song are graphic. TV shows frankly advertise the suitability of a program’s content, specifying whether it includes “suggestive dialogue, coarse or crude language, sexual situations, or violence.” But books don’t have ratings. Granted, a book title that appears to drip blood probably indicates gory text. A typical romance novel will probably have “sexual situations.” But in my experience, the content of a young adult book usually isn’t that obvious. And the suggested age range has more to do with reading level than content.
The Gossip Girl series is incredibly popular. I find the books compelling and un-put-downable. But I’m almost thirty. Blair’s sexual pursuits and Serena’s drug use probably won’t affect the choices I make. These books are about high school students, and ostensibly for high school students. But should even seventeen-year-olds be reading about sledding naked while incredibly high (only one vivid scene from the series)? And come on… kids read up. Who read Seventeen magazine when they were actually seventeen? I was bored with it by twelve, long before I needed tips on making out.
Should the publishers and writers of young adult books be responsible for providing only age-appropriate content to young readers? Like a violent TV show, could a violent book encourage a teenager to be violent? Could a group of characters who go to boozy parties convince a young reader that drinking is cool? Maybe. One of the seventh graders I talked to explained that “images are WAY more influential than words”—ugh—so maybe not. But in case books are even a fraction as influential as movies, video games, and TV shows, should publishers and writers be responsible? Do they have a moral duty to protect the young minds of their readers?
I once worked on a wonderful book about a girl in search of her family. She also happened to be bulimic. At the redemptive ending of the book, the girl had located her mother and was more confident in herself. But she was still bulimic. I had to write a reading guide for the back matter of the book which included an interview with the author and discussion questions for book clubs. In the interview, I asked the author why she didn’t resolve the character’s eating disorder, and she responded that the book wasn’t a public service announcement. It’s true. No book is a public service announcement. But did the author have the moral duty to address the main character’s disease?
I’m torn. On one hand, I don’t think drinking, drugs, and promiscuity (wow, do I sound like a prude!) have a place in young adult books. But I sure did when I was a young adult. Books about the above can be more interesting and compelling—certainly more scintillating—than their safer counterparts. The most important thing is that those young adults are reading, right?
xoxo,
Lea Beresford
The Girl with the Red Pencil
Next up, the morality of memoirs?
Views: 75
Tags: #childen's literature, #publishing, Lea Beresford, The Girl with the Red Pencil, YA, ethics, parental advisory, public speaking
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Comment by Lea Beresford on November 13, 2009 at 7:42am -
I'm so pleased to see John Green coming up again and again, and now I will have to check out Barry Lyga. Thanks Leah!
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Comment by Leah Odze Epstein on November 12, 2009 at 7:01pm -
If you delve deep into the YA section, you will see past the Clique books and all the candy-packaged books to the brilliant books by John Green, as LaTonya pointed out, and Barry Lyga and many many others who are writing literature that adults and young adults can treasure.
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Comment by marykmusic on November 12, 2009 at 11:37am
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LaTonya said: "No writer sets out to corrupt children." Maybe this is true... but marketers do.
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I am mentoring a high school freshman, a young woman who is "Special Ed" and her academic level is in early primary grades somewhere. However, this does not mean she's happy reading "kid books" that are on her actual reading leve.; she's currently reading Twilight --"but I'm only on page 21." What this means to me is that there are potential YA readers out there who need subjects that interest them, written at a much more basic level.
I didn't like Twilight at all when I read it for a Children's Literature class last spring (I'm in grad school here in Texas), but I understand its attraction (I think.) My point is, I see teenagers who don't read well, wishing they read better but are intimidated by only having interesting books available that are far beyond their capability. This is a problem I saw back years ago when I taught in Adult Literacy programs: nobody wants to read kid books, but that is their reading level. This is an untapped market!
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Comment by Mishna Wolff on November 12, 2009 at 9:23am -
I don't read or am involved with YA but they all look like porn to me these days.
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Comment by Lea Beresford on November 10, 2009 at 8:41pm
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Oh, I love John Green's LOOKING FOR ALASKA. One of my favorites, and what I aspire to write when I finally get a move on my young adult book.
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Comment by LaTonya on November 10, 2009 at 6:47pm -
Leah,
You make perfect sense. You couldn't pay me to read Clique or Gossip Girl. Have you read any John Green? Paper Towns is a great example of showing how complex teens are. Great writing, realistic and yes there is alcohol and sex and promise, growth and love and friendship and.....
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Comment by Leah Odze Epstein on November 10, 2009 at 7:37am
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Thanks for raising this very tough issue. I'm writing a YA right now, and one of the fifteen-year-old girls will have sex, and another will bring alcohol, maybe more, to the other girl's house. This is nothing compared to Gossip Girl, but I consider every decision carefully. I don't believe in censorship but I also get annoyed by these packaged books like the Clique and Gossip Girl that I believe are not the work of one writer but are suggested by a publishing company and packaged as a way to make money. These books sell the same fantasies that are sold in the media, so while I wouldn't censor them, I would make sure I discussed with my kids what packaging/marketing/mass culture is, and how they try to tell us who we are and what we want, rather than necessarily reflecting the way things are or could be...hope that makes sense...
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Comment by LaTonya on November 8, 2009 at 4:57pm
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Oh my! Note to self: do not hit 'post' until you've taken time to proof. Ah but even that won't catch all my errors. lol
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Comment by Lea Beresford on November 8, 2009 at 11:56am
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Thank you, all, for these incredibly thoughtful comments. I think this is an important debate.
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