Sex, Scrotums and Librarians

There is a new issue that’s floating around the news recently that I believe should be talked about here, right now…on this blog. I say this because many authors have become very defensive over this issue and I think it’s high time that the young adults of this world shed their view.

I read about this issue ages ago on Scott Westerfeld’s blog about books being banned or moved from the young adult section because of its bad content; whether it be talking about sex or even implying sexual connotations. The post is here http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/?s=scrotum

So, understandably these authors must get pretty damn frustrated. I mean, they write these beautiful stories that touch the lives of some particular groups of young adults, and librarians decide to destroy it by labelling it “racy” or in simple terms BAD and therefore ban it. Not to mention the fact that a lot of money goes into publishing the one story, and now it’s not allowed to sit – rightfully - on its shelf.

But, that post was written ages ago so let me update you.
If you haven’t already heard, Maureen Johnson has recently been accused of having “racy XXX rated content” in her book The Bermudez Triangle. Only this time it’s not the library staff that are complaining but two mothers.
The story in simple terms is:
The daughter of one of the mothers picked up two random books off the young adult section in their local library. One was Maureen’s book, another Gossip Girl (EW!) While flicking through the pages herself, the mother found some of the topics “racy” and decided to call the library and ask not for the books to be banned, but for them to simply be removed from the young adult section to the adult section.
Youtube video linkage for more info and also Maureen Johnson defending herself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8aLRBhNUmo

Ahem. Cue young adult point of view

We all know that the young adult section has often been confused with different people thinking it’s for different ages. As far as I’m concerned I try to keep the young adult section for ages 14 and UP! But, obviously the age is dropping and now young adult is aimed at 12 and up, which is where the problem has started. I think what we should be doing is not banning books just because they sit in a certain section that might be appropriate for one audience and not the other, but changing the sections age group completely. The reason why I think this is because young adult writing for certain ages is so specific with language for different ages it would be silly to move it to the adult section. While a 12 year old (or her mother for that matter) doesn’t want to learn about teenagers having underage sex and it being ok, adults don’t want to read about it either so why move it to the adult section?

I can see both sides to the story. Mothers don’t want to have to monitor what their child is reading, they already have to monitor what they’re doing on the internet! But to defend the authors for just a moment I should make the statement that I agree with Maureen Johnson. Someone who doesn’t read the section, should not be allowed to make such a big statement like “MOVE THIS BOOK TO THE ADULT SECTION.” Or “BAN IT!! DO IT NOOOW!!” It is exactly the reason why I am writing this blog because, as an 18 year old young adult reader, I think the opinion that needs to count the most is people like me who actually read the section and analyse it ourselves.

What kind of young adult book doesn’t talk about boys and sex and anything dirty that comes to your mind? The reason that those topics are written is because we (teenagers) find it interesting! We talk about it with our friends and authors know this and therefore like to capture our language because their characters are meant to be us, so they must mirror our behaviour.

My dad was saying before (while I was ranting to him about it) that when my sister was in the early stages of reading young adult, he was very worried about the content of the stories. My sister used to read books like Chain of Hearts by Maureen McCarthy and Peeling the Onion by Wendy Orr. Both contain content like suicide, accidental death and self harm. He stopped worrying, however, when he could see how happy she was reading these sorts of issues in novels. They opened up her eyes, kept her intrigued and plus, she was reading! So my dad wasn’t about to call a library and ask to ban the book when he finally found a way for her to read something!
Interesting, because my sister was 14 at the time and so had a fair idea what suicide meant, could handle issues with self harm etc.

I realised that while watching these youtube videos with library staff having their say, adults who host TV morning shows, mothers and authors also having a say, that not once did they ask the daughters point of view. Sure she’s 12 years old but how do you know she was even phased with the idea of sex being mentioned? I know I wasn’t when I read about suicide in Chain of Hearts when I read it at the age of 12 - my sister recommended the book to me.

To recap, the library staff and bookstore staff should rearrange the age group of young adult sections and perhaps bring in another section labelled “tweens” and then “teens” instead of young adult period. This will be so kids don’t get confused between a book like Twilight (friendly no sex before marriage book) and The Bermudez Triangle (lesbians and underage sex being the norm) while also keeping mothers happy because their daughter/son is reading material that is safe and appropriate for their age.

In the words of Scott Westerfeld:

SCROTUM

Ha. Destroyed your mind!

Jinx xx

The Serpents Kiss

This is the final edited piece of writing for my fantasy section. The original piece before editing is here: http://book-unfinished.blogspot.com/2009/03/writing-and-publishing-week-5.html
Tell me what you think!


I tried to sit up to check my surroundings but I realised that simple task was harder than expected. I was chained. I lifted my legs and pain forced a halt. Straining my eyes I could just see ahead of me. Bruises covered my whole body, blood spilled from my slashed skin and I guessed the obvious. I was defeated…
***
“Fucking hell” I yelled “that really hurts. Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to hit a woman?” feet walked towards me. The body attached to the feet was a man I once knew and even with all those years of knowing him, I still couldn’t tell whether he was really going to hurt me.
“But you’re not a woman are you Charlie?” the man laughed and kicked my bruised thigh. I jumped and both my ankles and wrists cried in protest.
“No but I resemble everything there is about women. The mind, the appearance, the strength… everything. Except— I replied with clenched teeth
“Except the fact that you are not a woman. You are a genetic fuck up of what is human. One element of woman…yet one element of something else. Oh, rather, you aren’t human at all now. Therefore you are neither man nor woman but merely the shell of a woman that once existed. I would like to negotiate with you now, my life is far too busy to keep you held for much longer.” The man swung his leg over me and sat down on my stomach. He was light for a man of his size, but then again, I remembered, he wasn’t as strong as he looked. His mind was his strong point, I always knew that and no doubt his loyal dogs gave me these bruises and scars, not him. No wonder I was defeated, I was out numbered.
“Fuck you! I will never negotiate with a man who lies! And who are you to say what’s human and what’s the shell of a human? You made me what I am today. You aren’t human yourself. What makes us human? At least I can admit to being a beast...at least I can remain stronger than you’ll ever be!” I stare straight at the sky too afraid to look at his face, not because of what his true form held, but because if I looked at his face I was afraid upon looking in his eyes, that I would cave in, just like last time when I first saw his face in my village. He sighed heavily and shifted his weight on me making me wince at the pressure on my bruised, slashed body.
“I never lied to you Charlie; I only protected you from the truth. Why don’t you look at me anymore?” he touched my face lightly catching a tear “protecting your village is like me protecting your heart” he unlocked one chain and let my hand slide out of the cuffs. I took the opportunity to lash at him, but his hand locked around my broken wrist and I cried out in pain
“Ah ah ah” he tutted at me “naughty girl, be gentle or the cuffs go back on” he laced his fingers through mine and leaned forward blocking my view from the sky so I was forced to look at him. His eyes, I thought I can see them again. My body froze up and my mind shattered, too afraid of the information held. I could see everything that happened when the destruction of my village began. The lives I killed, everything that I destroyed, it was all there. He stared unblinking at me until he was satisfied I saw enough. The man I once loved and whom I killed for was punishing me.
And now he must finally die…

The claws of the beast within me lashed at the ground. I undug the chain that were buried deep in the earth and swung them towards his face. I heard a crunch and scream as he fell back. My claws extended further the more anger and pain shot through my body, and slowly transformed me to my chimera form. Shattering the chain, I was able to stand once more. I looked upon his face one last time as my memories showed through his eyes
“My dear you’re looking more beautiful than ever,” he said, shedding his skin and revealing his snake shaped chimera form…



Jinx xx

Chasing Cubes

I am a very excited Green Gilly today! Walking around Smith St has made me remember why I love shopping in places where people don’t usually go. And ok, a lot of people go to Smith St for the factory outlets but if you walk a little further down you will come to my new favourite shop.

The place is called in.cube8r. (http://incube8r.com.au/) and it is an amazing place. I fell in love with the shop when I heard about it on Jodi Blokkeerus’ website about her book, post about Chasing Feathers here (http://book-unfinished.blogspot.com/2009/03/chasing-feathers.html) and was even more excited when I remembered about it driving in the car with Cedric.
While going nuts over the soundtrack playing in the background (Iron and Wines Our Endless Numbered Days) I found Jodi’s cabinet and quietly went nuts…quietly being me bouncing and going
“It’s the lady’s book that I’ve been talking about Tash!!”
I, of course, bought her book and one of her famous sculptures. I’m not sure what it’s made out of but it looks like very hard clay and wire. Anyway, I named him Yogi after the character in her book Chasing Feathers which I found even more beautiful looking at it in the flesh.

So this post is just to praise the shop that I bounced around in for like 20 minutes and to gloat about how I finally got my hands on that book. in.cube8r is full of beautiful jewellery, clothing and Helsinki, I really think you’ll fall in love with the paintings, Cedric and I did! We were like
“that’s for our new house…that too...OH MY GOD I LOVE THAT ONE!”

A very bouncy and excited

Jinx xx

P.S Thank you Jodi for commenting on my last post! I hope you make more creatures soon, my Yogi is looking very lonely on my shelf…I already want another one!

Good Omens

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve done this, but seeing as I finally finished the novel Good Omens I think it’s only fair that I write about how good it was.

And boy was it good!

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen collaborated this story by sending floppy disks in the mail to each other and talking about it for hours over the phone. They say that by the time they finished editing the piece you couldn’t tell who wrote what, pretty damn cool eh!

This story is about the events leading up to the end of the world. It begins with the birth of the devils son and then finishes with the last week leading up to the end of the world and the battle between heaven and hell. Only thing is Crowley (fallen angel) and Aziraphale (angel) kinda like it on earth and don’t want the big war to happen!

The language in the story was just amazing. It’s always so refreshing to read something new in a novel. I often make the mistake of reading a novel and if I like it even slightly I will raid that authors section to see whether it was a one off or whether this author has something to offer to young adult authors. I think it may come with the obsession I had when I was younger, when I dissected the young adult section in the library by author, because I couldn’t think of another way to choose a title!
Now every time I read something that’s from a different author I’m like OMGZZZ new style!
Which is always very fun to discover; I don’t think any fantasy writer can do this story as well as Pratchett and Gaimen did. Their dry humour and intelligence shone through the pages and made the whole story gothic in approach but also taking the piss out of Christianity. Now, I am very religious - especially compared to my group of girls where half of them are atheists – but I still highly enjoyed this book and I am recommending it to anyone who has a dry sense of humour and is ok with challenging their religion. Very funny, but very smart in their approach and I think it should be on the list for good reading material.

A very devilish

Jinx xx