One of the things I was thinking about the other day was censorship in YA. As some of you know, I’ve just started taking classes to obtain my library science degree, and I wrote about this in a recent essay. Because in all honesty, people have a lot of opinions about what teens should read. Like, a lot of opinions. But really, censoring books just makes teens want to read them more. I’d want to see why it was censored, wouldn’t you?
Quite often, the argument made for banning or censoring young adult books is “to protect teenagers from tales of sex, drugs, and suicide,” as the American Library Association says. In the age of the internet, though, many teenagers have ready access to this information, and/or have already had to deal with it in their lives. So why shouldn’t they be able to also read about it? How else are they supposed to learn?? Maybe I’d change my mind if I had children, but I don’t think so. Books can become jumping off points for further discussion, and I’m a firm believer in you should be able to read whatever you want to read.
Censorship and Me
From a personal standpoint, I’ve never had much of an issue with censorship in my own reading life. My parents let me be the judge of what I could and couldn’t read. I read pretty much without abandon throughout my childhood and teenage years. Growing up in a conservative area when the Harry Potter was coming out, a few of my friends weren’t allowed to read Harry Potter. There were schools/libraries around me that tried to have them banned. But none of this affected me and my reading habits as I was growing up.
I would almost say censorship affects me more as a bookseller than it affected me as a teenager. As someone who reads pretty much exclusively YA stuff, I get asked for suggestions a lot at work. And when these suggestions come from parents, this is almost followed by “books without sex and violence.” Or something along those lines. Depending on the age of the teen, I get it. However, I think many parents become skeptical of the term “young adult” and are afraid of what it includes. Sex! Drugs! Language! Which, they do. To an extent. But if it’s done in a tasteful way, this can be a point where you talk to your children about these things. More on this later!
Censorship in YA: An Overview
Young adult books are often some of the most banned books; I outlined some last year for Banned Books Week! In general, though, YA gets a lot of flack from the media. Here, here, and here are just a few examples. And it’s not as though I’m saying “don’t critique YA ever!” I’m definitely not. Teens, especially teen girls, are quite often criticized for what they love. Why can’t they just love what they love?? And we just let them be happy??? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Anywho, back to censorship in YA. Books are often challenged or censored because an adult is afraid of the content that’s included in the book. It’s “too mature” for the target audience. See my above response. If we’re making kids read books like The Great Gatsby orĀ To Kill a Mockingbird in high school English, then the subject matter is not the issue. Both of those books have mature themes, yet they’re considered classics. If we give teachers the funds and resources to update their reading lists, then maybe so many kids wouldn’t be turned away from reading.
A small note: teachers, if you want to teach banned or challenged books, Laurie Halse Anderson put together some great resources!
So What?
This post maybe got a bit rambly because I have so much to say on the topic. My apologies! But you’re probably wondering: why should I care? Censorship doesn’t have an effect on me.
Perhaps it doesn’t affect you, but it could affect future generations. As a society, especially in the US, we need to focus more on having difficult conversations with our kids. Instead of just glossing over things you don’t want to talk about, use books as discussion points for the hard stuff. It can be really effective! If a teen read a book they enjoyed that had these issues in them, they’re going to be more likely to want to talk about it anyway.
As a (hopefully) future teen librarian, I will ardently defend teens’ rights to read whatever they want. The main point is to make them readers, because after all, reading can make you a better person. There have been scientific studies on it.
Moral of the story: let your kids read. Just be ready for discussions afterward.