What are our kids reading?

I came across this amazing blog post written by Robin Weeks in response to an article that she felt very strongly about. This article is titled Darkness Too Visible against the darker themed young adult literature, of which my daughter enjoys so I have strong feelings about it too. Ms. Weeks then felt she was too harsh so she wrote a second post, YA Saves - Counterpoint. I found this entire topic to be very interesting and I even became a bit emotional as I was writing my comment to Ms. Weeks' first post. It got to be pretty long so I thought I would turn my comment into its own blog post. Before you go on,  you should read the 3 articles by clicking on the links. It's a bit of reading, but very interesting reading, especially if you are interested in YA fiction, censorship or just plain good writing.

I grew up in the 80's when parents were blaming music for our behavior. Even as a teenager I saw a flaw in this so called reasoning. I listened to Ozzy and Metallica and was a well adjusted smart kid who respected her elders. I felt that if a kid killed himself while listening to a certain kind of music there was something else going on. Was I the only one paying attention here?

Well, I would never be caught reading any books containing vampires, warewolves, or the like. Not my thing, but my daughter is a different story. I HONESTLY feel she would not be in college now if it weren't for RL Stine, JK Rowling, and Stephenie Meyer. 


My daughter would not read anything. School sucked. Friends sucked. She was losing her interest in dance. I didn't know what to do. One day I brought home a Goosebumps book... that's where it all started. SHE WAS READING! She was grades behind in her reading level and from reading these books she started to improve in school. 

She worked her way through these books through the years. Now at 19 she's got a bookshelf FULL of books from a variety of authors who write this dark type of YA literature. She now also enjoys the American classics and is a well rounded responsible young woman. She's dabbling at writing her own book, and she's an English major - in secondary education. I'm so proud of her. 

Not only did these books improve her reading skills and widen her interests in reading, but they were an emotional outlet. Being a teen gets harder and harder through the years and while kids were sitting in front of their computer games, or talking to weirdos on the internet mine had her head in a book. When things sucked at school she would read her books. 


I got emotional while writing this. I can't believe how far she has come and how much she has grown. Her interest in books thrills me. Right now we have Passion by Lauren Kate sitting on our table waiting for Heidi to come home from a short trip she is on. The second she walks through the door, she will sit down and start reading. I will forever be a defender in all things literary.


I think I owe my love for books and literature to my mom. She brought me up to treat books with the utmost respect. I could never damage one, destroy one, or throw one away. Books are valuable and we should cherish them. They have always been important to me and at times have sentimental value, especially if the book was a gift.


I haven't read anything outside of magazines or blogs in a while. I should follow in my daughter's footsteps and pick up a book, even if I only manage to read a few pages a day.