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Who's to Choose?

February 23, 2009 //  by Etta Wilson//  12 Comments

Blogger: Etta Wilson

Location: Colorado Springs

Weather: Hot and cold–we’re in Colorado

I am incensed by an article in School Library Journal in early February entitled “A Dirty Little Secret.” The author Debra Whelan is trying to make the case that librarians who do not purchase and make available to their K-12 readers books with sexual content, gay themes, unrestricted language and violence are “self-censoring” their collections. The term is apparently taken from remarks made by Pat Scales, president of the Association of Library Services to Children. She is quoted as saying, “Censorship takes place anytime a book is removed from its intended audience.”

Ah, there’s the issue. Who is the intended audience for books with sexual content, gay themes and violence? Does the 9-year-old child growing up in rural Nebraska have the same background and life experiences as the 9-year-old living in south Chicago? I doubt it. Should librarians in schools those students attend choose the same books for their students? I doubt that even more. Of course, we could equalize these situations by giving every 6-year-old who enters first grade pornographic words for a first vocabulary lesson. We wouldn’t want to “censor” their material, would we? We could even throw in a condom and a switchblade. I mean, we want our children to be prepared, don’t we?

It’s in the young adult books area that we have the most difficulty with this question of the “intended audience.” How does the librarian in a junior high school for grades 7 – 9 put books with graphic content out for the more mature ninth graders and keep the immature seventh graders from picking them up? And all the time editors, who can become jaded, and marketers, who of course press for better sales, push the envelope in sexual content and shock value. It’s so easy to forget that discovering the unique but not salacious qualities of life is new to each generation of kids. When even bookstores don’t know whether a book should be shelved in the YA or the adult section, as Ms. Whelan mentions, that should tell publishers something. If we continue as we are headed, we’ll kill off YA literature, which is what happened in the late 1970s.

When I was in library school, we learned how to evaluate books and the intended readers. We called that book selection, not “self-censorship.”

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Category: Children's booksTag: censorship, Reading, young adult books

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  1. Bill Giovannetti

    February 23, 2009 at 9:59 am

    Preach it!
    Let kids be kids… preserve their innocence.

    Reply
  2. Michelle Ule

    February 23, 2009 at 10:23 am

    I sat on a school board committee in Washington State that examined all the “controversial” books requested by teachers; we met periodically to go through the list and discuss the pros and cons. My questions made it clear that I frequently was the only one who read everything.

    We had a list of criterion to appraise the suggested books and it was very handy–as well as politically correct. I got accused several times of being a censor–in part because I asked such provocative questions as, “I have a degree in English Literature from UCLA. Can any of you explain to me the literary merit of putting in an oral sex scene four pages from then end of this 350 page novel? I don’t understand why it’s here.”

    The book got voted down very quickly. No one answered my question.

    Each community has their own standards; surely the librarians on the scene understand their clientele better than “experts” or marketers elsewhere who are interested in making money.

    As writers, our goal should be to tell a good story in an engrossing way. We can include provocative scenes–think of the attempted murder and the rape trial in “To Kill a Mockingbird”–but it should have literary value–not solely gratuitous.

    Some of it should include parental involvement, however. I’ve been at the library more than once when someone I knew approached me with a school reading list and asked my opinion. I’ll never forget the look on one woman’s face when I explained why I detested “I know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

    “But she goes to a Catholic school? Why would they suggest a book with a theme like that?” the mother asked.

    I didn’t know. I just suggested some of the other books on the list I thought her daughter–whom I knew–might better like.

    I guess I could get away with it because I wasn’t the librarian. 🙁

    Reply
  3. Barry DeLozier

    February 23, 2009 at 10:25 am

    Etta,
    Thank you for blogging on such an important subject. As the father of boys in this age category (11 and 13), I want an opportunity to introduce mature themes in two-way conversations. My kids prefer this, too (they understand limits enough to self-impose them).
    We’re fortunate to send our kids to a public school where librarians consider the intended audience before making book selections. Your post reminded me that I should never take this level of professionalism for granted.
    Barry DeLozier

    Reply
  4. Stephanie Reed

    February 23, 2009 at 10:43 am

    Excellent, Etta. I didn’t go to library school, but I did work in a major library system for nine years in the 70’s and 80’s. Once a mom asked me whether her young daughter should read popular kid’s author Judy Blume’s adult book, Wifey. I wasn’t allowed to say yea or nay–that would be censorship (I learned this at an Ohio Library Assoc seminar–my library director disagreed, though). I developed a system of telling the parent to thumb 3/4 of the way through the book, read a page, and then make the call. However, I did give a vehement head shake “No” to the Wifey question.

    I asked a question over on Rachelle Gardner’s blog a couple of weeks ago–my author friend and I have heard that there is not much use for CBA children’s fiction because there is so much good mainstream children’s fiction. Rachelle’s response and the comments made for interesting reading, especially toward the end, where a teacher responded. Here’s the link:

    http://cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/02/ya-middle-grade-fiction.html

    Thanks for stating the problem and responding so eloquently.

    Reply
  5. deb cleveland

    February 23, 2009 at 12:57 pm

    Thank you, Etta, for your thoughts. Well said.

    Reply
  6. Rachel Zurakowski

    February 23, 2009 at 4:33 pm

    Great post!

    Reply
  7. Diane Stortz

    February 24, 2009 at 9:44 am

    Etta,
    Yay you! Such wisdom. And I didn’t know that you trained as a librarian. You are more even more multidimensioned than I knew!
    Diane

    Reply
  8. Etta Wilson

    February 25, 2009 at 11:56 am

    Thanks, Michelle, for sharing that episode from your days in a library role. Even more you point out the importance of parental involvement.

    Etta

    Reply
  9. Alexandra

    March 5, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    You are so right. For pity’s sake, let kids be kids. They’re going to have to deal with all that stuff for the rest of their lives. Let them have their innocence!

    Reply
  10. Etta Wilson

    March 5, 2009 at 3:54 pm

    A good point, Alexamdra. While children and YAs are reading more adult content, we’ve also seen adults reading at a lower reading level. Sort of making a homogenous reading culture across the board in both content and reading level or a flattening out of material rather than vertical steps from literature for children to that for adults. It seems to me that we are now circulating in a web with individual choice being the prime motivator.

    Reply
  11. Val C.

    March 6, 2009 at 2:08 pm

    Thank you, Etta, for addressing this issue.

    It seems that censorship has become the “big C” word that is supposed to stop discussion in its tracks. It’s like “discrimination.” But every single choice we make involves some selection process.

    Should we stop children from exploring new ideas and concepts? Of course not. But do we do our best to present them in an age-appropriate manner that opens discussion? I think that’s the key. They are children. Let them save some of those more graphic realities of life until they have the knowledge, experience and perspective to properly evaluate the things they read.

    Unfortunately, I think many authors and publishers do intend younger and younger children to be their audience for sexual content and those hot button issues. God isn’t the only one who understands “train them young…and when they are older, they will not depart from it.”

    Reply
  12. Etta Wilson

    March 9, 2009 at 11:07 am

    Thanks, Val. Who knows? We may resurrect some acceptable meaning for words like “selection” and “censorship”, both of which have their place in helping children find just the right book for their pleasure and learning.

    Reply

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