The censorship challenge is an unusually long look at book challanges. They ask: Are profanity and sex appropriate literary tools to reach worldly teenage readers, or should books containing such material be barred from school libraries?
“Kids want things that are realistic,” said Beverly Becker, deputy director of the American Association of School Librarians, a division of the library association. “The language is not what readers take away; they take away the story, and the language makes it realistic.”
A novel concept – parents and kids read together
I’ve got an 8-yr-old at home. While we haven’t gotten to Mackler’s book yet, we’ve gone though some of the Narnia stories, Nancy Drew mysteries, and her all-time faves of the moment, the Young Jedi Knights series. Some of these she’ll read on her own and others we read together. It keeps me “in the loop”, creates topics for us to talk about outside of, “So, how was school?” A: “Fine.” scenario.
She WILL be approaching puberty in about 2 years, if history/ heredity is any indicator. She is already ACUTELY aware of body types, sizes, concepts of thinness and obesity. From my point of view, not allowing her to find other perspectives in the books that are available may do more harm than good in terms of self-discovery. My $0.02. –D
“Kids want things that are realistic,”
They also want ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner.