Follow us:
DR. BICKMORE'S YA WEDNESDAY
  • Blog
  • Contributors
  • Weekend Picks 2021
  • 2021 UNLV online Summit
  • Weekend Picks 2020
  • UNLV online Summit 2020
  • YA Course Fall 2019
  • Bickmore's Posts
  • Weekend Picks 2019
  • Weekend Picks old
  • English Education, CIL 642 Resources
  • Contact
  • Music and YA
  • Zeiter LDC
  • YA Research
  • About
  • National Book Award for Young People's Literature
  • Books I Just Happen to Like
  • Writers as a Positive Influence
  • 2018 Summit
    • 2019 Summit on Teaching YA
    • YA Course Fall 17
  • Untitled

Cursing, Sex, and Censorship in YA Books by Jennifer Bardsley

5/17/2017

4 Comments

 
Hi all. This week's blog post has been provided by a connection through Georgia McBride. Georgia works tirelessly for the benefit of the reading lives of children and adolescents She is the operator of Georgia McBride Media Group (GMMG). This is the home of Month9Books, Tantrum Books, Swoon Romance, and Tantrum Jr.  This post is written by Jennifer Bardsley, one of authors in the Month9Books.
Sex, drugs, violence, and curse-words; visit any bookstore and you’ll see young adult fiction shelves packed with juicy books. From the gritty realism of Crank by Ellen Hopkins to the raunchy dialogue in Paper Towns by John Green, there are plenty of YA books that would earn a PG-13 or R rating if/when they were made into movies. There are also books that feature purity and innocence. Authors like Jenny Han have built a reputation on “good girl” characters, like Lara Jean in To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. There is even a small company called Clean Teen Publishing which promotes books that please the most conservative of readers.
How much is too much, or not enough, when it comes to mature content in YA fiction?

Before we can answer this question, we need to ask a bigger question. Who are YA books for? Is the intended audience teens, or is it the flocks of adults who whip out their credit cards whenever Sarah J. Maas publishes a new book? Some research suggests that as many as 55% of all young adult fiction readers are adults. Teens are busy and loaded down with required reading from their teachers. It makes sense that so much of the YA market is built by adults with fewer restrictions on their lives.

When I look back at my teen years, I rarely had the opportunity to read for fun. There was always a book in my hand, but it was usually on the syllabus for an AP class. The one book I remember reading for pleasure was “Say Goodnight Gracie” by Julie Reece Deaver. I enjoyed it so muchthat it is no wonder I sought out YA fiction as soon as I was the master of my own free time.
Picture
Realistic fiction is called realistic fiction for a reason. The fact many adults are resistant to facing is that teens use the f-bomb every day. Some of them have sex, do drugs, grapple with suicidal ideation or pregnancy. There are hordes of teenagers living lives straight out of the pages of an Ellen Hopkins novel. But there are also teenagers like Lara Jean, living Jenny Han lives. They listen to their parents, hang out with their families, and spend truckloads of babysitting money at the craft store.

My hope is that the so-called “gatekeepers” of KidLit, teachers, librarians, parents, and publishers, remember that YA fiction should offer books for every reader. There needs to be diversity in content, just like there is diversity in humanity.

Who knows? Maybe a sixteen-year-old struggling with an addiction to meth could find inspiration in clean fiction. Perhaps the grittiness of dark fiction helps everyone gain empathy. The important thing is to encourage reading. So go ahead and explore the YA fiction section with abandon. There is something there for everyone.   
Jennifer Bardsley's novel Genesis Girl debuted in 2016 from Month9Books, and the sequel, Damaged Goods, released in 2017. Genesis Girl is about a teenager who has never been on the Internet. Jennifer, however, is on the web all the time as “The YA Gal." On Facebook, she hosts the weekly instant book club called #TakeALookTuesday where YA Gal friends geek out, share pictures of what they are reading, and chat about books. An alumna of Stanford University, Jennifer lives near Seattle, WA where she enjoys spending time with her family and her poodle, Merlin.
4 Comments
Andrew Buckley link
5/17/2017 11:52:37 am

Excellent thoughts on the subject. I struggled with removing even light curse words from my Upper MG series, though I certainly understand the need. Spending a lot of time in schools, I hear how kids speak, and I don't think the use of curse words or mature content would shock them in the slightest. I think it's more likely to shock parents of the children :)

Reply
Nicole Cvetnich
9/28/2017 06:43:28 am

I appreciate your thoughts on this issue. As a future teacher, I can see the importance of making available a whole range of YA literature for my students. I do struggle with how to deal with the grittier language and topics when it comes to books that are assigned by me, and your thoughts will help me when crafting a rationale for parents and administrators.

Reply
exercises to make my penis bigger link
10/29/2019 03:36:26 am

I haven't any word to welcome this post.....Really i am inspired from this post....the individual who make this post it was an awesome human..thanks for imparted this to us.

Reply
penis streching exercises link
10/29/2019 04:04:39 am

I just looooove the cover! 😍😍

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Dr. Bickmore is an associate professor of English Education at UNLV. He is a scholar of Young Adult Literature and past editor of The ALAN Review and the current president elect of ALAN. He is a available for speaking engagements at schools, conferences, book festivals, and parent organizations. More information can be found on the Contact page and the About page.

    Co-Edited Books

    Archives

    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    June 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    Categories

    All
    Chris-lynch

    Blogs to Follow

    nerdybookclub
    http://blogs.ncte.org/  
    yalsa.ala.org/blog/

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly