There's been "age-appropriate" literature for a long time - AA Milne, Roald Dahl, Lord of the Flies, The Babysitter Club books, Sweet Valley High, etc.
While I agree that a lot of children are capable of reading "real" literature from the age of 13 or so, it doesn't mean that they should only read older literature, and that there isn't value in reading books written for their age group.
Books that have more relevance for them because they present ideas in ways that adolescent brains are better able to understand. Books like Marsden's Tomorrow When the War Began, like To Kill A Mockingbird, like the one by Michael Morpurgo that my sister read.
I've given her "real" literature to read, but for all that she's an exceptionally clever little girl, she doesn't respond to it in the way that she does to books written specifically for her age group. There's definitely value in those books.
While I agree that a lot of children are capable of reading "real" literature from the age of 13 or so, it doesn't mean that they should only read older literature, and that there isn't value in reading books written for their age group.
Books that have more relevance for them because they present ideas in ways that adolescent brains are better able to understand. Books like Marsden's Tomorrow When the War Began, like To Kill A Mockingbird, like the one by Michael Morpurgo that my sister read.
I've given her "real" literature to read, but for all that she's an exceptionally clever little girl, she doesn't respond to it in the way that she does to books written specifically for her age group. There's definitely value in those books.
*MySmiley*
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read. - Groucho Marx
This WSJ article has kicked up a huge fuss on the internet - YA is "too dark".
- 05/06/2011 03:46:50 PM
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There's only one thing about this literature that disturbs me
- 05/06/2011 05:39:35 PM
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This is a thought out, finely articulated response.
- 05/06/2011 06:47:13 PM
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If it were just vampires that would be just fine
- 05/06/2011 08:03:02 PM
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People have been complaining about this since the novel was invented
- 05/06/2011 11:02:58 PM
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Apparently the article did paint far too bleak a picture,
- 06/06/2011 12:39:46 PM
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Why waste time with "YA literature" at all?
- 06/06/2011 02:14:03 PM
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Re: Why waste time with "YA literature" at all?
- 06/06/2011 02:28:42 PM
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I think that's a post factum justification, not a reason.
- 06/06/2011 05:08:09 PM
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Maybe. It's hard to separate, I think.
- 07/06/2011 01:06:29 PM
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One certainly has to choose the real literature to present, certainly.
- 07/06/2011 02:27:00 PM
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Very good post.
- 06/06/2011 08:52:22 PM
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You seem to be the only one who thinks so. 
*NM*
- 07/06/2011 01:17:18 AM
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*NM*
- 07/06/2011 01:17:18 AM
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I don't think it's a bad post... I just think that the "despair" is a teen fad, and not as bad as
- 07/06/2011 03:19:03 AM
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Suicide rates have gone up significantly
- 07/06/2011 02:42:55 PM
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Heh.
- 08/06/2011 07:24:44 PM
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you are having trouble finding cultural ideas that turned bad?
- 08/06/2011 11:56:23 PM
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The classic problem of the overprotective parent- underestimating your kids
- 09/06/2011 05:33:54 AM
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the classic problem of people who have no idea what they are talking about
- 09/06/2011 04:16:25 PM
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Are you really equating reading about trauma with trauma? They are not the same. *NM*
- 09/06/2011 07:10:34 PM
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I'm sure the percentage of good books must be higher than they make it sound,
- 05/06/2011 05:53:21 PM
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I'd say books offer a fundamentally different experience than movies
- 05/06/2011 06:53:55 PM
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I'm not sure that makes a difference here.
- 06/06/2011 04:47:05 AM
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Because thinking makes you LESS susceptible to these things you're afraid of
- 06/06/2011 05:27:26 PM
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I don't completely agree with that.
- 06/06/2011 07:26:21 PM
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I feel like I just can't relate to parents determined to shelter their kids from everything
- 06/06/2011 10:21:44 PM
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To think the content described is acceptable, when they ban "Huck Finn" for using 'nigger'. 
*NM*
- 05/06/2011 09:45:15 PM
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*NM*
- 05/06/2011 09:45:15 PM
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CNN: "On a website, a person named 'Macharius' used the 'N-word'".
- 06/06/2011 01:58:35 AM
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Parents have the right and resonsibility to know what their children are reading
- 06/06/2011 03:41:22 AM
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Re: Parents have the right and resonsibility to know what their children are reading
- 06/06/2011 12:40:24 PM
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I'd argue if you're old enough to be interested in the subject matter, you're old enough to read it
- 06/06/2011 05:32:33 PM
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Depends on the subject matter.
- 07/06/2011 01:07:57 PM
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Basically? Yes.
- 07/06/2011 06:42:04 PM
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why do think there is value in letting them read whatever they want?
- 07/06/2011 06:52:20 PM
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Don't be an idiot.
- 09/06/2011 05:25:26 AM
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Well, I wrote a long piece related to this
- 06/06/2011 05:21:06 AM
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Great post. She really tries to muddy the waters relating to censorship and parenting.
- 06/06/2011 08:05:21 AM
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She kind of conflates some issues that are quite different, if you ask me.
- 06/06/2011 08:47:33 PM
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Wait wait wait wait wait... NYT reviewed Game of Thrones? I must read this
- 07/06/2011 03:20:08 AM
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Having now read one of the books mentioned, Cheryl Rainfield's Scars...
- 08/06/2011 02:18:23 AM
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