In light of Banned Books Week, I've been making the rounds of Blogland, checking out banned book lists and arguments on both sides of this issue. It's the lists that are getting to me, friends. From my own very casual surveillance of these lists, it appears that the vast majority of the books fall into two genres: classic literature and Young Adult fiction. While I am astounded that anyone can think to ban The Catcher in the Rye (according to the American Library Association, one of 2005's most challenged books on the basis of offensive language and sexual content), the banning of classics seems to be generally met with an eye roll from the populous and a pat on the head of the challengers. Young Adult literature isn't given the same treatment or respect. In 2007, Maureen Johnson's The Bermudez Triangle was banned from a highschool in Barlettsville, Oklahoma without a single member of the committee bothering to actually read the novel. The grounds for the ban? Homosexual content and content unsuitable for children.If you haven't read The Bermudez Triangle, it's the story of three high school best friends - two of whom happen to fall in love and both be girls. There is no sex in the book, just a few shared kisses. As Johnson herself says, this book is less about the gender of the two people and more about "what happens to friendship when you start dating." This is not a book that was being taught in class; it was simply sitting on the library shelves alongside thousands of other books. For the sake of not getting into politics on this blog, I'm not going to touch the homosexuality issue (except to shake my head vigorously at the thought that any book with homosexual characters portrayed in a normal and positive light can be considered offensive), but instead how a book that is mild in comparison with most adult fiction can be banned without the consideration of a read through. Young Adult fiction is the only genre written specifically with teens in mind. Sure, most teens read adult fiction from across genres - from romance to science fiction to Oprah's Book Club picks - but only YA is written with them in mind, their hopes and dreams and issues they related to. This is why it's easier to ban YA books - from their audience alone, they are marginalized by most adults. It's the same attitude that has people looking askance when you recommend a YA book and tell them that yes, they will have to venture into the teen section. What this ban did was tell any student at Mid-High who was dealing with similar issues as the characters in The Bermudez Triangle that they were offensive, that their feelings should be separated and banned, as well. And this is the part of this issue I'm going to focus on, because after trying to write this blog a million different ways, I've realized it's a topic I could easily write a 500 page book on, with a chapter for every different angle on this issue.
Young Adult fiction is a genre that is wide in its focus and level of maturity. Next to the adorable pink romances are the books dealing with harder issues, like teen drinking or sexuality. There's a simple reason for this - the spectrum of teens is just as wide. Browsing in the same section are girls who are nervous about their first kiss and girls who are debating going all the way with their boyfriends. Other than age, these girls don't have much in common. The things they talk about with their friends, their levels of sexual maturity, the environments in which they were raised, their core values: all different. Ergo, what they are going to read is very different. Teenagers are remarkably self-regulating. They know what their values are and what they're interested in, just like adults, so their choice of reading material is going to reflect that. People who would ban books are not only discounting the intelligence of teenagers, but also discounting their ability to know themselves.
Chances are, the girl who's worried about her first kiss isn't going to be interested in John Green's Looking For Alaska (currently on the list of potentially banned books in Lake County, Florida). Whereas, for the other girl, that is exactly the book she needs to read - a novel that is, at its heart, an argument against emotionless sexual activity and for the non-physical intimacy that comes with a true emotional connection. However, because of one scene in Alaska (a brief sexual encounter between two teens that is highly awkward and provides the argument for platonic emotional connection over emotionless sexuality), this girl would be banned from checking this book out from a PUBLIC library. She would be banned by people who do not know her or the issues she's facing. It is one thing to know your own child and help them mold the choices of what they're ready to read (though, once again, I argue in favor of the intelligent, self-regulating teenager), but to presume to know the needs of every person under the age of 18? That's not only wrong, but naïve. In a perfect world, maybe teens wouldn't need books with characters who abuse drugs or are prematurely sexually active, but that isn't this world. There are teens who abuse drugs. There are teens who are pressured into sex at too early of an age. There have to be books for these teens too, showing them characters they can relate to handling these problems, living with the consequences, and learning from their experiences. Not only is it a violation of free speech to take away these books, but it's telling teenagers that the problems they're experiencing aren't relevant.
There is always going to be a disconnect between parents and their teenagers, no matter how close the relationship. The nature of the parent-child relationship is such that a mother or father will always think of that teenager as the child they once were, whereas the teen will always think of themselves as the adult they will become. Because of this disconnect, it's a fact of life that parents will not be privy to every thought and problem that their child is facing. This is where books come in. This is where books can help guide that girl who's feeling the pressure from her boyfriend, or similarly let her next door neighbor know that yes, a first kiss is a big deal. Teens are different. Teens are intelligent. As a Young Adult author, I have to remember this while writing and as a Young Adult reader, I see this reflected all the time in the books on the shelves. It seems naïve to hope for an end to book banning any time soon, but I do hope that banning Young Adult books will be received with the same consideration as attempted bans on the classics. This is a remarkable time to be a teenager, with the choices on shelves finally reflecting the varied experiences of that age, and to hinder their access to these books also hinders our chances of reaching them and helping them navigate adolescence.Taking a look at these lists, are there any YA favorites of yours in their ranks? Are there any books that helped you at one point or another? For those with children and teenagers, how do you handle the reading habits of your kids?
