Blogger: Etta Wilson
Location: Flying cross country
Weather: Breezy
We may be fairly agreed on what constitutes appropriate reading for children of various age levels, but the whole business of what we adults find offensive is another matter. It probably depends on our education and exposure to books (some books we love for the writing craft more than the content). It depends on our faith stance, our life experience, our friends and our needs. What have I forgotten???
Are there certain kinds of books that you will not pick up? Anybody read a comic book lately? I often urge people, especially clients, to go to the bookstore or library to browse. Even as we go, we may be “selecting” to some extent as we make our way to a Barnes & Noble or a Lifeway store.
Do you keep a list of the books you’ve read? Even more, do you know where you got the book? Was it a purchase, a loan or a gift, in which case it was not really your selection unless you had requested it. And can you list the year in which you read those books and what you were living through at that point?
I was looking back at my lists recently. From my childhood, I particularly remember reading the Pollyanna series and crying over an episode. Later it was Gene Stratton Porter’s Girl of the Limberlost. Ten years ago in 1998 I was reading David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars and Piano Lessons by Noah Adams. (I decided not to sell my piano after that one.)
I’m still trying to piece together the interaction of what we absorb into ourselves as we read and its effects on our everyday lives. For example, how can The Shack draw such varied responses from people with pretty much the same faith stance? Interesting to think about. Let me know what you’ve read that had a memorable impact. I’m still retracing my history.
I still avoid racy books and skip over the racy scenes in books where they are not central. I don’t get within a mile of erotica. It’s a direct violation of Jesus’ command about lust. Comic books have become horrendous.
I find I have less personal tolerance for books about hard things, like child rape or genocide or whatever. I’m not saying these things should not be addressed, but I no longer have the emotional resilience to see them depicted too vividly.
I am perhaps more tolerant of “unedifying” things, because the world is full of them and they are fair game in fiction. But I have my limits. I’m not interested in seeing them glorified and I won’t take them in concentrated form. If there’s one character with a foul mouth, it can be bearable. If they’re all like that… Next book please.
On the other hand, in the hands of a master, it can be different. Toni Morrison’s Beloved can get pretty rough, but it’s bearable because she manages to give her characters such a profound dignity even in their brokenness. And to pass on that book because of the objectionable behaviour of the characters is to miss the whole point. But I’d certainly not give it to a child to read, especially not one from a sheltered background.
Etta and Janet,
I appreciated your comments about being selective in what we read. Apostle Paul gave good guidelines: “Whatever is….lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8 NIV) Some of my favorite children’s books have been biographies of honorable and productive individuals. Charlotte Adelsperger
Charlotte, I certainly agree with everything you’ve written above. Writing biographies for kids poses special problems. Children in the age bracket that like bios usually want to read about people still living, but the problem comes in picking someone from sports or entertainment (the most interesting) who exemplify qualities we can feel confident of. They may be okay this year, but what happens next?
I wrote a book on Excellence several years ago and used individual stories to exemplify the components. Of the living examples, only one was a disappointment later, but it taught me the risks–not that I’m sorry.
Etta