Where is the Trouble?
I have heard some people say that children should play violent games on the computer and the internet rather than try the real thing, but I have to wonder if so many violent things would be happening today without the assistance of these games? Where is the glory of fighting a battle with no clear objective? Today’s games are not even proper battles over things like land or food. In many cases, these fights seem to have no apparent goal other than physically beating the life out of other characters. The bookstore I work in has divided the teen department into three categories, regular teen fiction, fantasy and adventure, and romance. I would like to discuss just a few of the problems associated with each category, however, please do not think that I am dismissing the classes as a whole, it is simply that there is an over abundance of the wrong kind of book populating these categories.
Generic teen fiction:
This section deals with those teen books not necessarily based in an alternate universe, high octane adventure, or overly romantic. Of the three categories being discussed, this one is the tamest because there is less violence than in the adventure category, and less in the way of physical relationships than found in the romance section. The faults I find with these books are no less damaging however; there is often graphic language, no limit to the vulgarity used in daily conversation between characters, and often limited or no control displayed between the characters when making decisions. The average hero or heroine of this genre is almost always a misunderstood teen living in a location that often becomes part of their story to a large extent, big city, a small town, high school, etc.... What often starts as a simple story about one individual (either with their posse of friends or all alone) often becomes about some struggle that only a teen can fix, no matter how small or big. These books almost always focus on the issues the teen is facing, these are stories made for the sole purpose of making teens feel as they alone are responsible for the saving of mankind, but if they fail, they can always blame someone else! My main problem with this kind of story is that it is not truly realistic, and it gives teens all the wrong ideas about things like drugs, smoking, obeying their authorities etc…!
Teen Fantasy and Adventure:
This type of story is for people who want escapism, worlds where good always wins against astonishing odds. Good defeating evil is not wrong, but a new theme is emerging in the field of teen fantasy that I find disturbing, the misunderstood hero. Twenty or so years ago, this type of character would simply be called villain, with good reason. These are the characters that have done wrong things, from petty thievery to large scale destruction. In these stories, the authors use clever wordplay and the readers forgive even the most violent crimes! Can you imagine if our society today worked like that, letting a man who murdered six or seven people go simply because he “didn’t realize” how wrong his actions were? So why do such books bother me? Because these characters often comes under no set of guidelines other than their own, making it possible for teens reading them to build their own conceptions about things that should never come into question such as being courteous, or thinking about the needs of others. These books make daemons the hero, and evil the right side, simply by cleverly changing the perspective. With this genre, I always beg the parents to proceed with caution, making sure that they are fully aware of what content their young reader is going to be exposed to, because once an idea is in their mind, it is almost impossible to remove.
Teen Romance:
This genre is similar to both of the above genres, where it compiles both the fantasy element and reality depending on the story. The focus of every one of these stories is the relationship. I am most certainly an advocate for the romantic relationship, however, I believe what this genre can offer does not always have the same goal in mind. In almost every one of these novels, you find young people willing to, and often doing, anything to be together. These stories always find their focus on the relationship, no matter who gets hurt in the process. What I find so unsettling about these relationship stories, is that they are not realistic, even in the beginning, and I worry about the effects such perfect, even during the traditional misunderstanding in the middle, stories will have in the mindset of the teen reader. The targeted audience for this genre is the teenage female, at this stage of development; the teen girl mind already focuses on the opposite gender. Thus, I do not see how adding to her confusion, or making her wonder if she will always be single (when only 15 or 16!), rather than reading books that she will enjoy, and find encouraging!
I am sorry if readers find this post to be darker than my general one, but I honestly worry about the teen years, have so recently emerged from them myself. I admit that I often read the wrong material, material that moved my thoughts in directions that it should not have moved for several years, and possibly made my transition into a young adult a bit harder than it needed to be. If readers get anything out of this post, please let it be this, read the best books now, develop your mind, and enjoy books. Not all books are bad for a young readers mind, but a steady stream of bad books is like a steady diet of junk food. Parents, please read all books before giving them to your teens, make sure that you are ready to answer and questions they might have about the content or some of the words or phrases used.
