What Should I Read Next? Book recommendations from readers like you. The True Story of How Books Ruined Our Lives. What's up, Betties and Baldwins? We here at FYA are, like, totally excited about Banned Book Week (and totally excited about drinking our way through Banned Book Week, obvs)!! Today, we thought we'd share with you all the trauma, pain and horror that we endured while we were actually Young Adults by discussing the horrible impact that several of the top banned books of the 1990s had on us. I'll be honest, folks; it hasn't been easy revisiting this dark time in our past. Oh, if only some overly concerned helicoptor parent had been looking out for all of the children in our country! Then we never would have had to suffer the indignities brought on by these trashy, trashy books!
We just hope that, by sharing these dark tales of our own literature-abated miscreance, we've saved someother poor child who doesn't understand how to think for themselves! The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson. Stuck between rage and compassion. Yesterday the Wall Street Journal published an article,* “Darkness Too Visible,” by Meghan Cox Gurdon. The subtitle is “Contemporary fiction for teens is rife with explicit abuse, violence and depravity. Why is this considered a good idea?” (Pardon me while I take a couple of deep, cleansing breaths here.
Need to keep the blood pressure down, don’t you know.) Gurdon characterizes young adult fiction as “a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is. I’ll let you read the article for yourself and form your own opinions about the author’s intent and bias. I find myself shaking with anger. Second, because I know how ridiculous and harmful the statements are. Based on the thousands of interactions I’ve had with teen readers, they are drawn to YA books for at least one of these reasons: 1. 2. 3.
(Note to Meghan Cox Gurdon: you read that right. 4. 5. 5a. I know what makes people like Meghan Cox Gurdon afraid of YA literature. #YAsaves, Ignorance Hurts: The Wall Street Journal's Attack on Books. On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal fired a shot heard around the literary world: a so-called book review by Meghan Cox Gurdon condemning the YA genre. Gurdon begins by describing a mother looking at covers in a young adult section and finding nothing she considered appropriate for her daughter, only "vampires and suicide and self-mutilation, this dark, dark stuff. " Of course, many YA readers (myself included) could name titles that are not "dark, dark" at all, but Gurdon uses this dubious anecdote as a launchpad for a deluge of problematic assertions, contradictions and tacit accusations. I would have to go line-by-line to break down everything misguided about Gurdon's "review," but let's unpack some of its more egregious passages:
Cheryl Rainfield: » YA Saves – Cheryl Rainfield speaks out. Oh, the Depravity! Pearl Clutching at the WSJ Over Young Adult Fiction. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a ‘commentary’ on young adult fiction by Meghan Cox Gurdon, who evidently ‘regularly writes about children’s books for the Journal.‘ With a qualification like that, you can expect some quality journalism; a thoughtful discussion, perhaps, of the current state of YA, maybe. Some coverage of attempts at book bannings, perhaps, like the assault on Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak that occurred last year. Possibly even some coverage of the rise of crossover fiction, books that appeal to both youths and adults. There are lots of things to talk about, given that YA is exploding, as a genre. But no. This is the Wall Street Journal. Ah. Every year the American Library Association delights in releasing a list of the most frequently challenged books.
There’s Dark Things In Them There Books! « A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy.