I've been a very bad girl. I haven't blogged in a week. *slaps hands* Next week I'll be back to my regular Mon. Fri. blogging schedule. Sorry.
Have you seen this? Deeper Understanding: The Dark Is Rising It is in response to the Wall St Journal article from Jennifer M. Brown (she wrote the poem not the article). On Saturday (if you haven't heard), the Wall Street Journal posted an opinion piece about YA literature.
The article's opening statement was from a mom of a thirteen-year-old who is NOT happy with the graphic covers she is seeing on YA books these days. She is judging a book by its (forgive me) cover. :-)
Covers are made to grab you. To pull a reader in to look through the pages. Many times they have nothing to do with the real story that lives between the covers.
I am going to send you over to read the article. WSJ Then pop over to read the response. I think you'll find all this very interesting. This was on twitter with the #YA saves hashtag too. So pop over and read some of those tweets. :-)
Very interesting - makes me want to read all those books they mentioned.
ReplyDeleteThis is Patti Nielson by the way - I can't seem to comment on people's blog who have their comments at the end.
Hey Patti, girl! Maybe I should change my comments. BLASTED BLOGGER!
ReplyDeleteI am with you. I want to read every book it mentions too. How'd you like the poetry from Jennifer M. Brown? Pretty sweet, huh?! :-)
This article is very interesting. It is amazing to me that years ago, books had similar things that could have upset parents, but there never was any up roar. Everything just was just hush, hush and life went on!
ReplyDeleteIt was the same years ago. But it was all shushed up to avoid any public outcry, I guess. Nowadays, with the communication we have everything is at our fingertips with a click or two. :-) But a lot of these covers are just that. Covers. They really have nothing to do with the book. I think we have to trust our young people. I know some parents that monitor everything their young people do. I have never done that. I have faith that my kids will make the right decisions most of the time. And when they don't, they'll soon discover they should have. I always find out. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou said it all, my friend :) We do have to trust that young people can make sound morality judgments about how they will process the imagery and story lines in YA literature today.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, my thoughts are kinda scattered on this one.
ReplyDeleteI see a lot in general for the young adult market that concerns me- clothing, music, television.
It means more spiritual training at home:)
Young adult is such a heated topic today. Since I write both m/g and y/a I really think that the industry really needs to come up with a real age limit.
ReplyDeleteY/A is not for twelve-year-olds or young teens. Subject matter does change for the later teen books. Parents need to realize that.
M/g is for up to fifteen. OF course it does depend on the kid, but ... Many books cross over. My first novel is clearly m/g but I have twenty year olds loving it. SO it really does depend on the novel.
Thanks for the links Robyn.
Kel, I know a mother that makes all her kids emails come through her inbox. Even the high school aged kids. What's that telling them?
ReplyDeleteTamika, I agree that the spiritual training at home MUST be strong. Families today are so spread out most don't even eat dinner together, let alone pray at their family alter. So it does begin at home, but we can't blame the authors. We have to train our kids as to the path they should travel. :-)
ReplyDeleteMichael, you bring up a PERFECT point to all of this. The ages vary widely depending on the child. I just wish that mama could understand that some YA would work well for her thirteen-year-old, some not. :-)
ReplyDeleteI think your comment about "Judging a book by it's cover" says everything about this issue Robyn and regarding your friend Patti's problem with commenting it might be worth changing your comment form to a pop up window.
ReplyDeleteIf that doesn't work she might have to do what I did and change browser. Since I started to use Google Chrome I haven't had a problem:)
This is a "deep well" subject. Times have changed and author's have changed with the times. There are as many different ways to view this subject as a centipede has legs.
ReplyDeleteYoung adults have more freedom to purchase than youngers...(i just made up this word), if parent's supervise what a young adult reads, they can manage their choices.
I see this as a group effort: the author; the publisher; the YA; and the parent's. If all are not in agreement, the YA will find a wide assortment of questionable books to choose from.
The strong key resides with the author's choice of material and point of view. If it isn't written, it cannot be read. We have freedom of speech. Schools are facing problems choosing educational material from several different perspectives. Everyone who wants a say, seems to be given opportunity. It has muddied the waters.
Young adults are reaching the age of choice. Even with their educational and family influences the choice is theirs. Where their moral and character values are will probably determine their reading choices.
Hmm, hadn't heard about this so appreciate the info. Will check out the links, thanks.
ReplyDeleteYou know, amigo, you are totally allowed to take a break. We miss you but will live till you join us again. Donning cool shades to help pass the time till you are back...:D
Hugs,
Karen
I'll go read it next. I'm glad to hear that the response to racy and rude is getting a thumbs down from some people. When I've gotten critiques on my YA historical, I feel like all they want is contemporary and edgy.
ReplyDeleteMissed you, hope all is well! :O)
ReplyDelete