Recently there has been a media storm in my state over some books that were banned in local schools. Of course, banning books is always idiotic because it only makes the books more popular. One point that is continually discussed about this ban is that some of these books are targeted towards “Young Adults”. I was thinking about the ban, but also about the YA category in general. My 1 AM social media post on the subject (I'm always online when other people are not) was, understandably, lost in the ether (web, actually). I involuntarily kept thinking about the subject though, so I'm posting it here.
(radio story for context at the bottom)
With the banning of certain "YA" novels in Utah schools, I keep thinking about whether or not I actually wanted to read any such novels when I was a teenager. Between ages 13 and 17, I read some of those classics that are on the college reading lists, but also I read lots of garbage, like spy novels, fantasy novels that were definitely not written specifically for kids even though mostly kids read them... Some were innocent, and some were not at all... Also HP Lovecraft, Naked Lunch, and other William S. Burroughs novels, the Communist Manifesto, a Henry Miller book (I forgot which one) that I hid under my bed, but also The Bible, the Book of Mormon, wholesome biographies of prominent people, churchy stuff, trashy stuff, Salinger, H.G. Wells, Tolkien, CS Lewis, Whitley Strieber, Tom Clancy, Leroy Jones, Samuel Beckett, Tennessee Williams...
I think my biggest reading problem was probably that I hardly read any books written by women. Ironically, if you look at the list of banned books above, most of them are written by women (I'm sure you can figure out, in our patriarchal culture, why this is the case).
Also, I have to admit that when I was assigned to read Oedipus in my drama class, I thought it was one of the most badass and messed up things I had ever read (I loved it), despite the fact that it was totally sanctioned. Meanwhile, there was, I think, a Judy Blume book banned in my state (I lived in Missouri then… worse than Utah) at that very moment in time. People who ban books don't understand irony, though.
... So, basically....
I feel like there are bigger problems at hand than parents being worried about any one specific book or author. Moreover, I feel like specifically pointing out three of these problems, here.
1: Most kids don't read anything that they don't have to, and when they are forced to read something, they often just skim it so that they can answer the test questions.
2: I really really hate bodies of adults coming together and deciding on the books kids shouldn't read, but I also hate when they decide what young people SHOULD read. While you have to have a couple of books that the entire class reads together, I say expose young readers to a variety of interesting topics and ideas and titles and authors and let them go find something. If they get passionate about reading ANYTHING, that's great. As for risky and transgressive content.... Who cares? As a person who has worked in education, I can say that a lot of school libraries are way too small and that most of the selection in those libraries is pretty dull. If we want to develop a love of reading, perhaps we'd be better off just giving kids vouchers to go into a bookstore and buy themselves whatever books they want.
3: I really can't think of anything worse than a novel that is written specifically for you because you are a "young adult". It's not like we're asking kids to read Hegel. Most books written for adult people are not any more complicated to read than a young adult novel. If you're 15 years old and someone tells you that they have a book that's written just for people your age, it's insulting. I would never have wanted to read such a book. It doesn't seem like it's even a real book. There's nothing wrong with having books that are centered in teen interests, but I say mix them up with all the other books and let kids find them, or show them where to find them if you need to, but don't make them think that they need a slightly more remedial form of reading material, when there's a good chance that their parents don't really read books that are written above a high school level either. In an age where every kid has already (unfortunately) watched porn on their phones, do you really think reading about characters in a book who occasionally have adult thoughts or occasionally do adult things is going to be a problem? I don't.
More background:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.kuer.org/education/2024-08-02/these-are-the-13-books-now-banned-statewide-from-utah-schools%3f_amp=true