Dont Criticize what you don't or can't understand, Folks!

Young adult fiction in all its complexities, from its beauty, and pain, to it’s themes, it’s villains, it’s hero’s and all the lessons hidden in their pages, there is always something new, either a new understanding, a new insight, or just simply enjoyment to be gained from reading them. None of this is shameful, none of this is “depraved” or “dirt.” We must keep an open mind to what can be gained from reading. YA books before we, in self-righteous indignation and selfish anger try to censure a literature of which many of us do not understand. There is plenty of truth to the old saying “Don’t criticize what you can’t or don’t understand.”

I think the article from the Wall Street Journal titled: “Darkness Too Visible” by Meghan Cox Gurdon is a massive exaggeration of what some consider the “moral depravity” and “dirtying” of the youth of the United States through literature. No one is, as Gurdon claims some publishers “try to bulldoze coarseness or misery into” the lives of children. In my experience, most children much less youth these days are quite well aware of the suffering and misery of others especially those around them before they get into new adulthood. Compassion and understanding of others life circumstances including all degrees of suffering and misery is actually a crucial aspect of many peoples definitions of maturity. This full and manifest maturity is, some argue, the goal of effectively making it through adolescence into young adulthood.  I don’t think it is the role of a parent or any other gatekeeper to inhibit the intellectual, personal, creative, or any other type of healthy and effective growth and development of any child or youth.

On top of this Gurdon chooses a few of the most troubling books in the YA literature genre, while ignoring many of the less extreme books not to mention avoiding the lessons that are to be learned from even the most “depraved” books. I hasten to admit that there might be something to be learned from the kids killing kids in the Hunger Games, I just haven’t figured it out even with my interactions with a number of Hunger Game fans.

I agree entirely with Laurie Halse Anderson in her blog post “Stuck between rage and compassion”, that young adult literature saves lives ever single day. I also agree when she writes that “Kids and teens need their parents to be brave and honest to prepare them for the real world.”  

There is a world of difference between exposure and advocating. Creating an understanding and promoting an illicit or sinister act are not at the same thing.

I am reminded of my own limitations, and narrow views about the Hunger Games especially when I read Linda Holmes’s blog entry “Seeing Teenagers AS we wish they were: The Debate over YA fiction “of the similarities between Hunger Games and Lord of the Flies. I appreciated Holmes’s statement about how Shakespeare himself was quite full of controversial and potentially “depraved” themes, characters and events. 

The comfort level of the parents in terms of the newly darker and grimmer fiction of this current generation is not always going to be the same level of the teenager in terms of accepting the diversity of life experiences. This discretion discrepancy is not a viable excuse for censorship, but is in fact an indicator  of not a warning sign for increase parental involvement and care, not parental  suppression.  I would bet a lot of books that these YA books of today save and improve more lives daily then they could ever “ruin”. In terms of younger people wanting to read material which is potentially unsuitable for them I would only give advice through discussing themes, characters, subject matter and plots in book talks as I would to any person in my library. 

To respond to challenges to the dark materials I would point to the first amendment, and to the intellectual and creative freedoms for which librarians stand for.

Sources:
Anderson, L. H. (June 5, 2011). Stuck between rage and compassion (WEB). Laurie Halse Anderson.
Retrieved January 19, 2012 from http://madwomanintheforest.com/stuck-between-rage-
and-compassion/.

Gurdon, M. C. (June 4, 2011). A darkness too visible (WEB). Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 16, 2012 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038.html.

Holmes, L. (2011, June 6). Seeing teenagers as we wish they were:  The debate over YA fiction (WEB).   Money See, National Public Radio. Retrieved June 22, 2013 from             http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/06/06/137005354/seeing-teenagers-as-we-wish-they-were-the-debate-over-ya-fiction.

Nel, P. (June 5, 2011). Why Meghan can't read (WEB). Nine Kinds of Pie. Retrieved January 19, 2012 from
http://www.philnel.com/2011/06/05/cantread/.

Ivy: Homeless in San Francisco

The book I chose to talk about for Family Life Example post 1900 is:  Ivy: Homeless in San Francisco by Summer Brenner which is masterfully illustrated by Brian Bowes published in 2011 by PM Press and distributed by Reach and Teach. This book is a sometimes funny, often delightful, sometimes painful but most of the time it is a moving story with a crucial lesson about the energy, vitality, strength and pivotal role of family in the lives of young children. This children’s novel is about Ivy and her father Poppy. More importantly Summer Brenner’s marvelous work is a book is about an average eleven year old girl named Ivy who has some extraordinary experiences and adventures which include living in a loft, to being homeless in San Francisco (everything form living in a car, living in a park, to living in a shelter) to finding and in effect adopting dog before they are taken in by an elderly couple.  Ivy sometimes misses school for extended periods of time through out her experiences as homeless because she is so often on the move. Ivy slowly gets her new life together in more effective and heartfelt ways through her relationship to her dad and the humor, hope, resilience and love they share. She learns that life itself, and lessons from her dad, can have lessons that are more practical, impactful and lasting than any lessons from school.

Homelessness, particularly for youth, children and single parent families is steadily rising every year across the United States.  The publishers of the book are trying to do something about it through Project IVY.  

Reach and Teach has also successfully integrated the book with California state standards so it can be taught in schools around the bay area with this study guide.

To relate this to the assignment, Poppy and Ivy have a phenomenal father-daughter relationship that is carefully crafted through out the book. The missing mother is explained and Poppy’s relationship to his own dad (Ivy’s paternal grandpa) is explained in bits and pieces as well.  Ivy: Homeless in San Francisco examines the role of family in single parent (in Ivy’s case single father) homeless families, which is an overlooked but tragically growing population in the Bar Area and across the United States. I for one am incredibly impressed by the resilience, strength, integrity, humor, and love through out this book, especially the unique but somehow universal father daughter bond Poppy and Ivy share.

Freak the mighty, Max the Mighty and the power of friendships!

Picking just one gift, just one message for future generations, is quite a daunting task, so I just have to pick one gift based on what I currently want the next generation to focus on and that is improving self esteem, while growing in love and inner peace through cultivating happiness in lasting friendships.

My favorite fictional character in a children’s book right now, is Maxwell “Max” Kane from the “Freak the Mighty” series by Rodman Philbrick. In the first book in the series titled Freak the Mighty (1993) Max is a big kid, who has major struggles in school is really slow, and considers himself really dumb and has basically no self-esteem. Max also does not know his own strengths, power of will, and courage, potential, intellect, or depth of character until it is revealed in time though his actions and words and through his relationship with Kevin Avery who is nicknamed "Freak" because of his disability a disease called Morquio Syndrome that causes Kevin to walk with crutches and leg braces and eventually to die, but not before many adventures create a bond that changes Max forever. “Freak’s” friendship legacy lives on inside of Max. This is evident in the other book in the series Max the Mghty (1998) Max becomes a much better, more complete, and more loving person as a result of his relationship to Kevin and his blossoming confidence is evident in his adventures with Worm. Freak the Mighty became a movie titled “The Mighty” in 1998.

I would say that friendships are crucial not just for healthy social development but also for healthy personal wellbeing especially while growing up. Particularly these days as we live in such an individualistic society full of ways to isolate people with their online friends and technological, digital games and toys, (all the insulating gizmos and gadgets) I think loving friends are close to being the most priceless thing this life has to offer. So why not get the next generation in on enjoying two powerful and indelible books about the lasting impact of friendships!

The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall review from the archives

from the archives: The Storytelling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall Review

This fascinating and exceptionally well written book discusses all aspects of storytelling in humans and its implications on both individual and societies.  According to From the role of story telling in hunter gather tribes like the !Kung people of Saharan Africa to the night stories that take over human minds during our nightly sleep cycles.

As Gottschall explains, Mirror neurons could play a part because often times it is difficult to not mirror back and feel the emotions of the main characters of a book, fiction or not, or any story.  Humans tend to reflect back what they observe, and with respect to stories, it is no different.

The reason for the evolutionary need for stories is complex and mysterious, but Gottshall muses that the combination of many reasons are evident in the constant use of and proliferation, and increasing in popularity of story telling despite the constant invention of new and ever more tempting distractions with all the new technology.

The book is charming and cleverly written and organized.  A must read for anyone excited about the future or the history of stories, as well as anyone perplexed by the need for or fascination with fiction in the real world, and those who are curious about why we observe, experience and express stories the way we humans do.  Gottschall states clearly and compellingly that fiction as well as our daily living realities are entwined into a fascinating vine with its own pattern, that reveals a hidden truth to all human life.  If only we would listen more carefully, observe more thoroughly and share more openly our stories could lead to peace, unity and strengthen our relationships.