One of my favorite things to do is to read and I believe it's a good idea to instill a love of reading in children. Although, how to go about doing that is not something I really know how to do. But, this is not the subject of this blog. Normally, before buying a book I do some research on it on Amazon. You know, read the ratings (the 1 star ratings as well as the 5) and occasionally I'll stumble on to their forum section, either before I buy, or after when I'm about to leave a review. I always get annoyed with the parents on there complaining that "OMG, there was a kissing scene and I can just not believe the author would put that in there! I am just beside myself with rage. The author had the AUDACITY to ALLUDE to *whispers* s-e-x!! My wonderfully perfect child is only 14 and should not be exposed to that kind of nonsense!!!!RAWRRR down with books!" Despite the fact, that if they were truthful with themselves, their children are exposed to a lot worse watching tv, getting on the internet, and in general, interacting with people.
Anyway, my point was suppose to be that I can't stand when adults freak out about what a book is teaching to their children and while I was reading today I found myself having an "adult" moment. I tend to read young adult fiction for the most part (although I do love all different kinds) and yes before you start bashing me, I know they are formulaic. Just like 95% of all books out there. I'm okay with formulaic and I'm okay with things being unrealistic. Because it's fiction. I need to stop now before I go off into another rant.
Back to the topic at hand, I found myself thinking about the message these books sends to young girls and if they could be partially to blame for some of the problems youth find themselves in. Yes, I just died a little bit inside for even having that thought.
In young adult books, the love interest is almost always the first boyfriend the girl has ever had and he is always her soul mate. Combined this with all the other media outlets and it gives off the impression that if a girl doesn't get a boyfriend by the time she's 16 or 17 she's weird and if she does get one then he should be the one. And if he isn't, then there is something wrong with her. I just wonder if we portrayed relationships a little bit more realistically if it would have an effect on how girls feel about themselves and what to expect out of relationships.
This doesn't mean I am now completely against teen books. I still enjoy them and I will probably encourage my children to read them if it something he/she enjoys. But, I will be sure to point out that people rarely marry their first boy/girlfriend. I had more things I wanted to talk about when I was thinking about writing this blog earlier, but they've evaporated from my mind. If they return to me, I'll edit this.
P.S. If you like the picture I used for this blog you should visit www.bookshelfporn.com Don't worry, I promise it isn't dirty...unless you get aroused looking at awesome pictures of libraries and books. It's okay if you do, no judgement here *shifty eyes*
