Comments on: Truth And The Intentional Mistake

By: Emma

Emma — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:24:48 +0000

My Mum always raised me with the opinion. “If you’re old enough to ask, you’re old enough to have the answer”. I was allowes to read anything I wanted…any question I needed answering, I was never afraid to ask. We’ve always had that kind of relationship.

My father was as useful in that situation as a Chocolate tea-pot, he’s never had the ability to answer a question straight…thank goodness my Mum was terrific at it.

By: Jess

Jess — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:04:54 +0000

Agree, agree…. but mostly, curious: what’s the OTHER writing book you’d recommend?

By: Marie

Marie — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:16:48 +0000

When I was in middle school, I was a voracious reader. Librarians knew me well and we became such friends that they’d hold new books for me to read and give my opinion one. One book in particular set my imagination on fire- I fell in love with this book, no one could tear it out of my hands. That night, I got in trouble b/c instead of doing my chores, I was too busy re-reading this book. Angry with me, my mother ripped the book out of my hands, demanded to read it and upon finishing it, tried to have it banned from the library.
Why? B/c there happened to be a suggestion of sex at the end of the book. Or the whole idea of werewolves.
And wouldn’t you know it? “Blood and Chocolate” is still one of my favorite books to this day- in fact, I have a copy hidden away in my stacks. Owning it is a simple act of defiance on my part.
And it was that moment in my life that I realized that censoring what others can read, think or experiance is just *wrong*. That no one really has a right to impose their ideas or anything else on another person without their consent. Taking away someone elses rights? Again, it’s just wrong….
I work in a bookstore (irony there) and I’ve watched the reactions of various mothers in the YA section (it also happens to be one of my favorite sections). I worry about the mothers who freak out over the littlest things, but there are a couple mothers who come in specifically to talk to me about what’s new and what the content is- I love these women, b/c they treat their kids as actual people. They encourage their love of reading. Those are the moments that make my job bearable.

By: Angela

Angela — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:24:40 +0000

Thank you for this! You are very wise. I think this is the right approach.

When I was young, I had a high reading level and went through books very quickly. Soon I started trying to branch out of the very young section of our school library, and wanted to check out books for older kids, including books about science.

The librarian at my very small school absolutely forbid me from checking out any book outside of a very small area – and made it a point to punish and publicly humiliate me in front of the class if I tried. It was so frustrating to me as a kid!

Luckily I had access to the public library, where I was allowed to check out things like the Earthsea series and nonfiction books on birds and dinosaurs, but looking back on those experiences, I really have to wonder what that lady was thinking.

By: Tania

Tania — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:01:49 +0000

Thank you for sensible parenting. Your kids will be so much more ready for the adult world, armed with information and no fear of asking questions. My cousins are some of those too sheltered as kids adults, and sometimes the ignorance of what comes out of their mouths just frightens me.

By: Uppity

Uppity — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:52:39 +0000

When I was a kid, I was offended when an adult tried to censor what I could read. If there was a book on a shelf and I could reach it with or without a step-stool, then dammit, I was entitled to read it. I was equally annoyed when they tried to remove it from the shelf altogether. If they really didn’t want me to read it, why did they leave it there in the first place?

Luckily most of the time my elders (who were all voracious readers with big libraries) never bothered to do either of these things. The only effects I ever suffered were a healthy outrage after reading The Women’s Room when I was 12, and a sort of foggy confusion after reading Siddhartha at 14.

By: Susan Simko

Susan Simko — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:48:36 +0000

Great post! Though my son is now 24 (as of Tuesday), this is the same path path I followed with him. I never dumbed down my language either. Don’t know what a word means, well ask! *s* Upshot, when he was 4, he was telling everyone he wanted to be an entomologist when he grew up and he knew what it meant. He also got a big kick out of explaining what it meant to “big people” who did not know.

In addition, I also made it a policy to try to explain why I made the decisions I made especially when they involved him. Sometimes, “because I said so” is all they *can* get at the moment but I believe that children learn deductive reasoning by seeing and understanding the process of deductive reasoning. Besides that, I *hate* not understanding process now and in my past. Why should I have thought my child was any different? (He wasn’t.)

By: Jessa Slade

Jessa Slade — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:23:59 +0000

> telling the truth in the straightest, most age-appropriate,
> and simplest way possible

When my very young nephew asked my sister where babies came from, she said, “From mommies.” He was satisfied because that’s all he needed at the time. Yeah, the answers got harder later

Obviously we all make mistakes, whatever our age. Having information is what allows us to recover as quickly and gracefully as possible.

By: Kirsten

Kirsten — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:15:12 +0000

I agree. Kids need to be told the truth. If they ask and are told some quick line, they are being taught not to ask or just not to believe what they are told. If they can’t ask and rely on those answers, they try to find out for themselves. This is when they could get into serious trouble.

By: Kerry Allen

Kerry Allen — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:14:14 +0000

I haven’t noticed YA going out of its way to shelter the poor innocents. The last two I tried to read included a drunken 17-year-old and oral sex in a school hallway, and the last one I could actually bring myself to finish reading was brutally violent.

I believe you can write about YA issues meaningfully and honestly, and if it’s banned by libraries, you’ll know you wrote something powerful enough to scare people who shy away from reality.

Plus, being banned is the surest way to sell a bazillion copies of a book, so it’s good all around!