Not about politics, but equally as disturbing
Last week, I had dinner with four other librarians, one of whom is a school librarian. The five of us had just come from a panel discussion on which the school librarian participated. One of the subjects that the panel didn't get around to talking about (they ran out of time), was the perception of YA lit by teachers and school librarians vs. the perception by public librarians.
"I did a survey among my kids," said the school librarian over dinner, "and a lot of them feel that because modern YA literature is so graphic and gritty and real that they feel like they now have license to go out and do the same things the character did in the book because it was described in so much detail."
I am still open-mouthed over this. I didn't know how to respond without sounding like a huge bitch. I wanted to say, "Do teens today really have such a difficult time separating fiction from reality? Do they think it's all right to do everything they see in an episode of The O.C.? If not, why is TV different from books?" I wanted to say, "Please tell me I misunderstand what you just told me, because if I'm not, either your students live in Bizarro World or I do."
I can't be interpreting her words correctly. I can't. I can't believe that teens would think it's all right to go out and run away to Mexico to help an abused friend just because they saw it in a book, or shoplift, or take a friend's Ritalin. Do teens do these things? Yes. But I have to believe that they do it for reasons other than "I read it in a book, so I thought it was okay." Teens are smarter than that. Most PEOPLE are smarter than that, regardless of age.
Related to this, the results of the YALSA Teens Top Ten are in, and only one of them is modern realistic fiction. Five of the remaining nine are grounded in reality but have fantastic elements. The other four include three "regular" (non-urban, not set in modern times, etc.) fantasy and one historical fiction. Since the Teens Top Ten is actually picked by teens, I'm throwing my hands up. Who's reading the realistic fiction? Or maybe it's just that a higher percentage of fantasy readers are inclined to vote. I don't know.
Editing to add: Over lunch, I read the books chapter of Packaging Girlhood by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown, and it turns out that I am wrong. I am disillusioned in thinking that teens, especially teen girls, can separate fact from fiction. I am not in the know about the marketing that goes into messages of femininity and popularity in books. Woe is I, for I suck at my job.
Posts on this book will follow. It's...interesting, I guess, but I have some serious problems with the chapter on books, starting with the fact that the only fun, interesting, smart, brave girls they name in YA lit are all in fantasy novels. NOT ALL TEENS READ FANTASY, YO.
In happy news, my former boss, Violet, just got a New York Times Librarian of the Year 2006 award. She rocks. Oh, and also I am reading Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb and that rocks, too.
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merry_smutmas fic well on its way toward done. YAY.
"I did a survey among my kids," said the school librarian over dinner, "and a lot of them feel that because modern YA literature is so graphic and gritty and real that they feel like they now have license to go out and do the same things the character did in the book because it was described in so much detail."
I am still open-mouthed over this. I didn't know how to respond without sounding like a huge bitch. I wanted to say, "Do teens today really have such a difficult time separating fiction from reality? Do they think it's all right to do everything they see in an episode of The O.C.? If not, why is TV different from books?" I wanted to say, "Please tell me I misunderstand what you just told me, because if I'm not, either your students live in Bizarro World or I do."
I can't be interpreting her words correctly. I can't. I can't believe that teens would think it's all right to go out and run away to Mexico to help an abused friend just because they saw it in a book, or shoplift, or take a friend's Ritalin. Do teens do these things? Yes. But I have to believe that they do it for reasons other than "I read it in a book, so I thought it was okay." Teens are smarter than that. Most PEOPLE are smarter than that, regardless of age.
Related to this, the results of the YALSA Teens Top Ten are in, and only one of them is modern realistic fiction. Five of the remaining nine are grounded in reality but have fantastic elements. The other four include three "regular" (non-urban, not set in modern times, etc.) fantasy and one historical fiction. Since the Teens Top Ten is actually picked by teens, I'm throwing my hands up. Who's reading the realistic fiction? Or maybe it's just that a higher percentage of fantasy readers are inclined to vote. I don't know.
Editing to add: Over lunch, I read the books chapter of Packaging Girlhood by Sharon Lamb and Lyn Mikel Brown, and it turns out that I am wrong. I am disillusioned in thinking that teens, especially teen girls, can separate fact from fiction. I am not in the know about the marketing that goes into messages of femininity and popularity in books. Woe is I, for I suck at my job.
Posts on this book will follow. It's...interesting, I guess, but I have some serious problems with the chapter on books, starting with the fact that the only fun, interesting, smart, brave girls they name in YA lit are all in fantasy novels. NOT ALL TEENS READ FANTASY, YO.
In happy news, my former boss, Violet, just got a New York Times Librarian of the Year 2006 award. She rocks. Oh, and also I am reading Cures for Heartbreak by Margo Rabb and that rocks, too.
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merry_smutmas fic well on its way toward done. YAY.