Nothing is more appealing to a curious child than a cupboard with a lock. More appealing still is knowing that the key to that cupboard is always kept in the lock, ready to be turned at any time when no-one else is looking. To a book lover, even more amazing than that is finding a pristine-looking book tucked in amongst all the important household documents. This was how I discovered, at age 9 or 10, 'Lady Chatterley's Lover'. When my mother found out that I was reading it, she wasn't particularly happy about it. She didn't want me to read it, but she didn't stop me. This is a very important lesson. Had she taken that book from me with no explanation given, I would have found ways to find it and not because I was an especially disobedient child, but because I would have been curious to know what was in the book to garner such a response from my mother. As it turned out, and perhaps just as my mother was hoping, I was far too young to understand any of the sexual content so I found it to be a very underwhelming book. In fact, I wondered what all the fuss was about.
Let's give our children more credit where policing books is concerned. To jump the gun with our responses to what we perceive will be damaging to them is to do a disservice to their intelligence. Over the past week, a young adult fiction book freely available to the public was banned from sale or supply in New Zealand after a complaint from conservative lobby group, Family First. 'Into the River' won Book of the Year and the Young Adult Fiction category in the 2013 NZ Post Children's Book Awards. It contains sex, drugs and obscene language. It also contains issues relating to racism and bullying. Aren't these topics that we should be talking to our pre-teens and teens about? I have not read the book, but now I really want to. I am not even the target demographic. This book was written for male teenagers, which is by and large, a difficult audience to reach. Surely something that encourages this demographic to pick up a book can only be a good thing?
Many of us may remember reading 'Clan of the Cavebear', 'Go Ask Alice' and the 'Flowers in the Attic' series, to name just a few. All of them contain confronting subject matter yet the overriding memory from these novels is not that they contained adult content but that they were powerful stories. The very fact that 'Into the River' is an award-winning novel demonstrates that Dawe's work has been judged by his peers to be a story deemed worthy of being told, shared and discussed.
The best way to get even the most reluctant reader to pick up a book is to ban it. With all the attention surrounding 'Into the River' over the past few days, Family First may have just done the complete opposite to what it had intended and actually promoted sales, given that it can still be bought from overseas websites.
What 'controversial' books did you enjoy reading as a teen?
It struck me as odd hearing on the news that a modern country like NZ would ban a book. A book that has won a 'book of the year' award no less. Absolutely the best way to push it into the bestseller list. My children are allowed to read what takes their fancy but I have a friend who pre-reads books for her children to decide if they are 'ready' for it. Thankfully I've got better things to do with my life! It is available on Amazon UK (Kindle and paperback). xx
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Christina. It seems this country of ours isn't as progressive as we'd like to think it is. Fortunately, this ban is just an interim measure, so I hope to get my hands on a copy soon enough.
DeleteI work in a library and this issue has caused much debate among fellow staff. A lot of the erotic romance that comes in has more graphic content in than this book,they should probably warrant banning than this book has. I too remember reading the books you have mentioned, they certainly didn't harm me, and I feel that children/teens can access so much more via the internet that we should be concerned about.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie, I quite agree that there are many other works that have little substance that aren't worth the paper they are written on, but I can recognise that there are audiences out there with completely different tastes to our own who are entitled to read whatever they like, as long as it harms no-one else. Your point about the internet is very valid and certainly warrants a blog post in its own right - the amount of objectionable material readily available on there, even without actively searching for it, is actually quite disturbing. Perhaps this is where Family First might do better in lobbying for protecting children's interests.
DeleteMine was Drum by Kyle Onstott. I borrowed it from someone at school, my dad discovered it in my room, told me off and threw it in the scrap bucket. I was horrified because it was a borrowed book, waited until no one was about and rescued it. I read all books I knew would 'not be approved of' at school during my lunch breaks from then on....
ReplyDeleteIt seems that youths will always be quick to circumvent the wishes of their parents! I have not heard of that book before, do you remember it being very scandalous?
DeleteYup it was pretty raunchy I seem to remember, just checking on Goodreads, there were other books in the series that I remember now, Mandingo, Master of Falconhurst - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/898683.Drum?from_search=true&search_version=service It would be interesting to read them now and compare it with a modern raunchy novel, like 50 Shades of Gray, which incidentally I haven't read, though my 87 year old mother has. I find that quite hilarious because she is quite a prude..... I'll have to remind her about my experience with dad, next time I talk to her.
DeletePS on that one, I've just had a look on Amazon, and a new copy of Drum is worth $130.25 used is $31.95. Mandingo used is $63.36. Does anyone out there have a copy I could borrow and re-read, lol???
DeleteHow funny that your mum read 50 Shades! I'll keep an eye out for those other titles for you so you can relive your misspent youth.
DeleteI would say you are absolutely right. No better way to promote a book (or film or whatever) than to ban it.
ReplyDelete