Once Upon a Bookshelf

It's Monday! What are You Reading?

2009-09-07T12:17:00.003+01:00

So as Ink and Paper Specials has become a permanent YA blog - with a brand new name, Once Upon a Bookshelf (and url http://onceuponabookshelf.blogspot.com/), I thought I should get a few memes up on here!

So for the first one, I'm taking part in It's Monday! What are You Reading?, a meme run by J. Kaye's Book Blog which discusses which books will be read this week, and the ones that were read last week.

Last week I read an urban fantasy for Ink and Paper - I've been pretty busy lately, so it's taken me a while to read.

This week I hope to be read:
Split by a Kiss by Luisa Plaja.

As I'm running two blogs that deal with different genres - with some crossovers - I'm aiming for a book for each blog, and because I'm pretty busy, I don't want to commit to too many.

What are you reading this week?

Review: Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast

2009-09-01T20:05:00.003+01:00

Marked by P.C. and Kristin Cast - Life changes for sixteen-year-old Zoey when a Tracker arrives at her school and marks her with a tattoo-like sapphire blue crescent moon outline on her forehead. Zoey is now a fledgling vampyre, and must move away from home to go to the vampyre school, House of Night. If it’s not bad enough that her friends now think she’s a freak and she has to leave, vampire queen be Aphrodite, high priestess in training and leader of the Dark Daughters, has made it her mission to cause hell for Zoey. On the plus side side, the gorgeous Erik Night seems to take an interest...

I liked Marked, it was a great start to a series, but it read very much like a first book. Most of the book is setting up this new world that Zoey has to live in; along with her, we’re finding out about the vampyre mythology is this novel, the lessons of the school and the rules. Nothing huge happens for just over half of the book, as Zoey adjusts to her new life and the changes that are happening to her.

But then things start picking up when things start happening to Zoey that aren’t supposed to happen to vampyres for several years, some students die due to their body rejecting the Change that happens as human becomes vampyre, and the rituals held by the House of Night and those by the Dark Daughters have some weird effects.

Unfortunatley, I can’t go into much more detail without spoiling the story, as the main action happens in the later part of the book. Marked has a resolution of sorts, but there are more questions unanswered, the really interesting ones, which makes me think that the series will pick up a bit more in the next few books. I have a few suspicions about the next books, but I don’t think I can talk about them without spoiling Marked.

Stevie Rae and Damien, some of Zoey’s friends, are awesome. Stevie Rae is just so cute and lovely, and such a great friend, and Damien makes me laugh with his jokey references to him being gay and the only guy in the group, and his wide vocabulary. Shaunee and Erin, another two friends, are cool enough, but the whole “twin” thing – they’re very alike – annoys the hell out of me. I guess that’s just something I’ll have to deal with. Erik Night, Zoey’s love interest, seemed a little forced to me, too. Some of the things he said didn’t seem believable, in my opinion.

There were some things I didn’t like about this book, though. I cannot count the amount of times the words “hateful”, “ho” and “hag/s” were mentioned, and it really did my head in, “hateful” especially, as it’s not a common word with teens. Also, fairly often it feels like the authors are trying to force their own opinions on things on to the readers. The issues that I noticed were:

People of Faith are obsessive and mean – I myself am an atheist, but I found this badgering of faith a bit much. It was constant and unnecessary, and kind of disgusting.
Only sluts perform oral sex on guys – this I felt was totally wrong. I don’t think people should be prejudiced for what goes on in their personal life. If a person chooses to do so, then I don’t see how it’s anyone else’s business.
Homophobia is wrong – I agree with this, but the idea was forced a little too much. Damien is gay, and it was mentioned that he gets a little harassed about it, but we don’t actually see it happen, so it felt a bit much.

I just didn’t like the feeling that I was being bashed over the head with the authors’ own opinions.

Overall, the book was pretty good, and I’ll definitely be picking up the next novel, Betrayed, to find out what happens next!

Published: 2009
Publisher: Atom
Buy on Amazon UK
Buy on Amazon US
House of Night Series Website
PC Cast’s Website

Now a Permanent Book Blog!

2009-09-01T18:22:00.004+01:00

I mentioned in my last post for Sex in Teen Lit Month that I was thinking about making Ink and Paper Specials a permanent YA book blog. Well, I have now decided I will.

Things will be slow at first, as I don't have a huge amount of YA books. I have some that are under the fantasy genre which I bought to read for Ink and Paper, but they will be posted here, and x-posted over onto Ink and Paper. As my TBR pile is still pretty big, and money is scarce, I'll be making my way through those books before getting many new ones - that includes both adult and YA fantasy. I have won a few contests lately, so I have a few other YA novels on the way, but there will be a fantasy theme for a while. Please bare with me!

There will be a blog name change eventually, but as Ink and Paper Specials has been nominated for an award, I think it best to leave the name as it is for now.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy my future reviews! :)

Book News: Cover of Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

2009-08-31T13:52:00.005+01:00

Tera Lynn Childs has just released the cover for her upcoming book, Forgive My Fins.

Lily Sanderson has a secret, and it’s not that she has a huge crush on gorgeous swimming god Brody Bennett, who makes her heart beat flipper-fast. Unrequited love is hard enough when you’re a normal teenage girl, but when you’re half human, half mermaid like Lily, there’s no such thing as a simple crush.

Lily’s mermaid identity is a secret that can’t get out, since she’s not just any mermaid – she’s a Thalassinian princess. When Lily found out three years ago that her mother was actually a human, she finally realized why she didn’t feel quite at home in Thalassinia, and she’s been living on land and going to Seaview high school ever since, hoping to find where she truly belongs. Sure, land has its problems – like her obnoxious, biker boy neighbor Quince Fletcher – but it has that one major perk – Brody. The problem is, mermaids aren’t really the casual dating type – when they “bond,” it’s for life.

When Lily’s attempt to win Brody’s love leads to a tsunami-sized case of mistaken identity, she is in for a tidal wave of relationship drama, and she finds out, quick as a tailfin flick, that happily-ever-after never sails quite as smoothly as you planned.

What do you think? I think the cover is beautiful, but I think the book itself sounds awesome! I can't wait until it comes out sometime next year!

BBAW Nominations: Thank You!

2009-08-20T20:02:00.003+01:00

X-Posted from Ink and Paper:

I'm a happy bunny! Why? Because Ink and Paper have been nominated for Best Speculative Fiction Blog (i.e. Fantasy/Horror/Sci-Fi/Spec-Fic) for the Book Blogger Appreciation Week Awards!

Thank you so much to everyone who nominated me, I'm over the moon! I never thought I would be nominated, and it's just so awesome that you think me worthy of the chance to be short listed! There are so many awesome speculative fiction blogs out there, so many (!), and it's just awesome to have been considered. I'm afraid I don't know who else has been nominated for this award apart from Memory's blog, Stella Matutina. Congrats to you, Memory, and everyone else who was nominated - please let me know! And good luck to you all.

Also, I am chuffed to say, Ink and Paper Specials has been nominated for Best YA Blog, which is just phenominal. The blog has been around for what, two and a half months? And it's been nominated for Best YA Blog? What's going on?! That's unreal, thank you so SO much! That's just so... I don't even know. How many YA blogs are out there that are just amazing? And Ink and Paper Specials gets nominated. Seriously, that's just fantastic, and I can't thank you enough. Really.

ETA: I've just found out I've also been nominated for Best Series or Feature for Belle's Library on Ink and Paper! I am so stoked, you have NO idea! Thank you, a thousand times, thank you!

Did you get nominated for any awards? Let me know which! Congrats to you all!

And it Ends: Thank You!

2009-07-31T00:01:00.001+01:00

Phew! So this is the last post for Sex in Teen Lit Month, and then we're done. It's gone by pretty quickly! I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have! I have some thank you's to make - please bare with me, this may take a while.

Firstly, a big, huge, massive, ginourmous thank you to Luisa Plaja. This lady has gone so far beyond helpful and supportive, I'd say this was partly her baby too. Luisa helped me come up with the idea originally, supplied me with a list of titles as possibilities I could use for this month, supplied me with a copy of Extreme Kissing to review, agreed to be interviewed about it, sent me her thoughts on each of the books as a reader/mother/author to include with the reviews, supplied SiTL Month with a contest, has been available for me to ask opinion on various aspects of the month as I was working things out, helped me to get my hands on some of the books, and has been generally pro everything SiTL Month! Luisa, thank you so, so much for all your help with this month, you have been amazingly awesome, and I'm very sorry for clogging up your inbox! You are a STAR!

Thanks to all the wonderful authors who agreed to be interviewed! Your answers were just so fascinating to read! It was just so fantastic of you all for taking the time to answer some questions for us all, and for your support of SiTL Month too! So thank you to Tanya Lee Stone, Luisa Plaja (again), Joanna Kenrick, Sara Hantz, Laura Ruby, Mary Hooper, Serena Robar, and Melvin Burgess! You're awesome!

Cheers to all the wonderful ladies who contributed guestposts, author Jane Eagland, Ana of Things Mean a Lot, Kay of Infinite Shelf, and Kate of Another Book Blog-Whore. You're all fantastic, and your posts just so interesting!

Thank you to all the authors who wrote the books I covered for this month, which includes Nick Hornby and Julie Burchill.

And thank you to everyone who commented! It wouldn't have worked without you guys commenting, so thank you for taking an interest and for popping over to read it all and comment! You're all amazing!

I really did enjoy this month. It opened my eyes quite a bit. I hadn't read non-fantasy YA in a long time, and I didn't think it was for me, but decided to do this anyway because it was a subject I was interested in and because it's something I feel is important. I was completely wrong, YA is for me! I love it, and will be continuing to read it. You may just find that Ink and Paper Specials becomes my own YA book review blog :) We'll see.

My eyes were also opened by the books I read themselves, and how they dealt with the subject. They effected my way of thinking, and I'm no longer a teen! Each book made an impression in it's own way, but there were some that had quite a big impact, and made me look at things differently. I was going to list the ways, but it would just be far too long. When I have children of my own, I'll be sure to recommend all these books. Perhaps handing over any copies I own - as long as they don't damage them!

So, SiTL Month is now over. There's a possibility I may do something similar in the future, so as corny as this is, would you mind giving me your feedback on the month with this short survey, please? It's only 6 questions long, it shouldn't take you long to answer, and I'd really appreciate it! Cheers.

So thanks everyone for such an awesome month! It's been fun :)

The Different Covers

2009-07-29T00:01:00.000+01:00

As a bit of a fun post, I thought we could look at the different covers there are for some of the books covered for Sex in Teen Lit Month. Obviously, I will only cover the ones that have more than one cover. As I may not be entirely sure what cover is for where, so we'll just say first, second, third, etc.

A Bad Boy Can be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone:

I prefer the first cover myself. What about you?

Screwed by Joanna Kenrick:

Not much difference here, but I prefer the second one.

Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill:

I'm not sure which one I prefer, here.

Good Girls by Laura Ruby:

I much prefer the first cover!

Megan by Mary Hooper:

There is another cover, the original one, but I can't find it anywhere. I prefer the new, second cover.

Doing it by Melvin Burgess:

I'm not sure which one I prefer, I think they're all quite effective.

How about you, what do you think of the covers?

Guest Post: Katie of Another Book Blog-Whore - A Teenager's View of Sex in YA

2009-07-28T00:01:00.000+01:00

Today we have a guest post from Katie, who runs Another Book Blog-Whore.

Hi everyone. I’m Katie and 16, so pretty much the intended audience for YA. Jo has kindly let me do a guest post for Sex in Teen Lit Month, which has been superb so far. So I’m going to share my views with you today which you are all free to agree/disagree with. I’m going to apologise in advance because I think this post is going to be looooong. You’ve seen my comments. I’m going to start off with a topic that I feel strongly about:

How Stereotypes of Teenagers affects Attitude

This isn’t strictly book related but it does have a connection. There is quite a common stereotype of teenagers nowadays. A lot of us are seen as yobs that binge drink, smoke, swear, have sex with random people and then skip school. Of course most people don’t stereotype us that badly. But when I get on a bus with other teenage friends I can see myself being eyed warily by various people and instant dislike on some people’s faces. So what does this have to do with books? I feel that because the papers represent teenagers in a bad light, a lot of the people try to assess why teenagers are the way they are. Their solution? Books, TV, films, magazines and the papers. It couldn’t be that some teenagers need support and aren’t receiving the right care? It couldn’t be that schools aren’t up to satisfactory levels? It couldn’t be that most teenagers feel as though they are being looked down upon and are living up to the expectations that society has of them? It couldn’t be a lack of decent role models?

There are various reasons why Britain’s children are among the unhappiest in the Western world (according to UNICEF), but to try and pinpoint one reason isn’t logical. I don’t know any statistics for the USA or other countries but if you are interested about the articles referring to Britain’s children, there are a few: here, here and here.

I feel books are easier to target because you can blame one person, the author. But to blame the problems of teenage sex/pregnancy/spread of STIs and STDs on a book? It’s ludicrous. Most books provide the facts, pure and simple. This is what happens if you have sex and these are the consequences you will have to deal with. However, they do something that Sex Ed lessons don’t, they provide realistic situations and address the pressure some people feel to lose their virginity. In response to the affect of TV, films and magazines, I think their affect is minimal. I don’t feel influenced by things I’ve seen on TV, watched at the cinema or read in a magazine. The reflection of teenagers in most tabloids is the only thing that really evokes any emotion in me. It makes me angry that teenagers as a whole are portrayed negatively. I’m not a fan of papers in general as I think they only see fit to report mainly negative stories which enrage and upset the general public about certain events.

But I’m straying from the point again. I have trouble staying on topic so I had better move on to my next topic:

Censorship: When Have you Gone too Far?

To be honest with you, I’ve never really thought much about censorship but it’s an interesting idea. Films are given labels at the cinema so children can’t see adult material. Some programmes are only aired after a certain time or on a certain channel. CDs contain warnings about explicit lyrics. Magazines are pretty honest about their content. Books are separated in to sections. If you walk in to a bookshop or library you will find an adult section and erotica section. But where do we cross the line from young adult to adult? I think the boundaries are pretty wide. We can’t wrap teenagers up in bubble wrap. I think the censorship isn’t as effective as we’d all like to believe. You can watch the 18 year old movies on the internet, you can even look at porn on the internet. So I think a lot of censorship is all in vain. If you restrict someone from seeing something, they’ll just try harder to find it, even if it means seeing it/learning it from someone untrustworthy.

I don’t think that if a book has sex in it then it should instantly be in the adult section. Adult means 18 but you can have sex in the UK at 16. Teenagers need to learn about sex in realistic circumstances without any danger to themselves. Books provide this safe environment. Take away the book and you actually take away the protection. Sex is a taboo subject and it shouldn’t be. It’s natural and a way of bringing life in to the world. I believe that banning books from certain people is only a few steps away from book banning in general. If I read a book about sex, it doesn’t make me want to go out and have sex. It has a positive impact, it makes me more aware of what is happening around me. Everyone seems to be worried about impressionable young people reading this material, but I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. If the books were encouraging you to go out, have unprotected sex with a guy, get STIs/STDs/have an unwanted pregnancy, then I would worry about these impressionable people. As it is, I think that authors tend to tackle some taboo issues and do a good job of raising awareness.

And my last topic, if you’re still awake:

Authors Frowned Upon For Their Creativity

I don’t know if this happens but if there are any authors reading, I would be interested by your input. With all the pressure about books being suitable for young adults, are authors being forced to get rid of material or change their age range? I think that although authors tend to be quite insistent about their books, by criticising their choices, we run the risk of repressing their creativity. Imagine if Harry Potter hadn’t been published because of its links to witchcraft. There are many books that help people. If you tell an author they can’t print a book, not only are you doing them an injustice, you are also taking away a book that someone could need. There are many delicate topics: eating disorders, self-harming, sexual struggles, mental problems, disabilities and many more.

Who has the right to take away a book someone needs? By taking away a book that someone needs, you are just helping them sink deeper in to their issues and a negative state. They rebel, either by harming themselves or others. If you want to know why some of our teenagers are behaving the way they do, remember that when they needed support in the form of a book, you took it away. I don’t believe that trying to take away a book is a form of protection. I believe that it’s because parents don’t want to discuss issues with their children.

A few terms:

STIs-Sexually Transmitted Infections

STDs-Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Comment, you know you want to. Agree with me? Disagree with me? I love hearing your opinions. And feel free to email me if you want to talk about anything but don’t want to comment.

Thank you, Katie, for such an awesome guest post! Very thought provoking! You heard her, get commenting with your thoughts!

Guest Post: Kay of The Infinite Shelf - My Experience with Sex in YA

2009-07-27T00:01:00.000+01:00

Today we have a guest post from Kay, who run's The Infinite Shelf.

Hey everyone!

For those who don’t know me, a brief introduction : I’m Kay from The Infinite Shelf. I’m a twenty-something book addict with a strong love for YA fiction – and this is why when Jo offered me the chance to guest post for the SITL month, I jumped on the chance!

I don’t know how it was for you, but when I was a teen, a little less than 10 years ago, there wasn’t that much sex in teen lit – and when there was, it was only that obscure thing not really described and that lead to very obvious Bad Consequences (pregnancy, STDs, etc.) Maybe it was specific to where I lived (being a French Canadian, we had to rely on a smaller lot of teen lit, or on some translations that were not really promoted) – or maybe things just changed?

I’m not a mother, so my point of view on sex in teen literature is solely based on my own reading experience. I remember how it was when I was 14, 15, when all the boy talk became more serious and all you could find were either very technical books on reproduction or very graphic romance novels. Yikes! Now, that was something to scar and scare you for life!

At that age, we pretty much knew how things worked. We weren’t interested in books about the “How”, and the adult novels certainly went too far for our understanding of life. The thing is, sexuality in an adult’s life isn’t the same as sexuality in a teen’s life. They cannot be portrayed the same way. The thing to remember though, is that sexuality is part of our daily life in various ways : if they don’t read it, they’ll watch it on tv; if they don’t watch it on tv, they’ll talk about it. Well they’ll talk about it anyway, but you get what I mean, don’t you!

The subject of “age” isn’t something we can look at with an objective eye, either; some teens are ready to read more explicit literature sooner than others. But to say that sex doesn’t have its place in their literature is going a little too far – and underestimating the teen’s mind. If you hide something, they’ll probably just be more curious about it, and they’ll look elsewhere to get answers – and maybe not the right place. If you give them honest literature that confronts them with their possible choices, you will most likely open their mind to the reality of it; something that is not scary, but that is not to be taken lightly, either.

That’s just my opinion, though : all I wanted was to take this opportunity to voice my thoughts and concerns on the subject – which will echo some of yours, I’m sure. Some of you might disagree, too : either way, I’d love you hear your thoughts on the subject!

Thank you, Kay, for a great guest post! Do you agree with Kay? As she said, she'd like to hear your thoughts, so what do you think?

Guest Post: Ana of Things Mean a Lot - Why I Think Teens Should Read About Sex

2009-07-26T00:01:00.000+01:00

I asked a few fellow book bloggers who were interested in SiTL Month if they were interested in contributing a guest post for the month, and some agreed! Today we have a guest post from Ana of the awesome book blog Things Mean a Lot.

Why I Think Teens Should Read About Sex

Let me start by getting this out of the way: I’m not opposed to teenagers having sex. I think having sex as a teen is not a decision that should be made without deliberation, information, and of course contraception. I think it can be, and sometimes is, the wrong decision. But I also think that’s not always the case.

I’m not a person or faith, so before or after marriage is a non-issue for me. I’m also someone who questions the association between sexuality and morality. I don’t think that having sex or abstaining from it says very much at all about who you are as a person. What I mostly care about is if someone treats others with consideration and respect, if they’re empathic and caring. I realize that the association between sexual abstinence and moral worth is a strong one, especially when it comes to girls. And I know that people with different worldviews will disagree with me, which is perfectly fine. But I thought it’d be only fair to start by telling you where I’m coming from.

I grew up in a country where there was no sex ed whatsoever. We studied puberty and human reproduction briefly in science classes in middle school, but no adult sat down with us to talk openly about sex – and it’s now, almost a decade later, that this is finally starting to change. What this meant was that kids who didn’t have an open enough relationship with their families couldn’t bring up the subject. Kids like the kid I was ran the risk of being left in the dark. Or worse, they might get all their information from hearsay, and we all know how reliable school rumours are.

This is where reading comes in. My family was an odd mixture of progressive and conservative, so while they didn’t want to sit down with us kids and talk about the birds and the bees, they wanted us to know. I was given books and teen magazines, and that’s how I learned the facts of puberty and sexuality. I also had access to a school library where books on these topics were widely available. This was important to me and to several of my schoolmates.

Those books and magazines covered the facts, but of course there’s a lot more to sexuality than the facts. And that’s the beauty of novels – they go far beyond mere facts. Teenagers, as adults, often want to know what things feel like, and literature gives us a safe space in which to rehearse experiences. It gives us a peek into private lives – imaginary private lives, yes, but that doesn’t mean they don’t give us real answers. I don’t think reading about sex in YA will make teens either more or less likely to have sex themselves. But I think it will give them something to think about, and perhaps address questions they couldn’t bring themselves to ask. I think stories can help them decide whether or not they’re emotionally ready for sex themselves, can show them what intimacy is like, can help them make better decisions.

Sometimes I see parents and other educators complain if a YA novel doesn’t show the consequences of sex. I think it’s important that teens understand that sex can and does have serious consequences, both physical and emotional. But as I said above, it also can have positive consequences. And books that portray sex positively don’t exist in a vacuum. They’re none of them trying to be the ultimate book about teen sex. They exist alongside books that represent pregnancy, sexual abuse, virginity, emotional scars, social pressure to have sex, sad sex, lonely sex, you name it.

These books are of course important, but my point is that not every book about teen sex needs to be a cautionary tale. There’s room for many voices, many stories, including ones that are simply about the enjoyment of sexual intimacy. I see nothing wrong with books about happy and rewarding teen sexual experiences. These are important too, especially for teen girls who grow up exposed to contradictory messages about sexuality – they are supposed to be desirable, but they’re labelled sluts for showing any sexual feelings of their own. We need to sever the tie between female sexuality and shame. We need to get rid of the sexual double-standard. And YA literature can help us do that.

Thank you, Ana, for such a wonderful guest post! Anyone want to comment on what Ana has to say?

Interview with Melvin Burgess

2009-07-25T00:01:00.000+01:00

Melvin Burgess, author of YA novel Doing It, was kind enough to spend some time answering some questions on his novel and the topic of sex in YA.

How did you come up with the idea for Doing It?

After writing Junk (Smack) it seemed to me that sex was another one of those subjects that people find it very hard to speak honestly about to young adults. Love, yes, relationships, yes, but desire and lust, and the culture around these things – no. After that I spent a while asking my friends – everyone I met, really – to tell me their teenage knobby stories. Everyone has one, at least. It might be rude, or sweet or embarrassing or funny – but everyone has one. I used that as the basic research for the book.

Doing It can be quite explicit and crude. Did you ever think you might be going too far?

I know some people think that. I actually feel that teenagers are in some ways often quite extreme people, when compared to adults. They like loud music, rude jokes, scary stories at least as much and often very much more. Adults tend to shy away from actual teen culture – they want it kept strictly private, out of sight, so they don’t have to think about it, but if you write for teenagers, I think you should address them directly, not through a lens imposed by teachers or parents. The language and themes of Doing It reflect the culture I was in when I was that age, and that other people reported back to me.

I found the book quite surprising in how sympathetic I felt towards Dino, Ben and Jonathan. Was it your purpose to step away from stereotypical views of boys with this book?

There is a generally unsympathetic view of teenage boys. Lots of people find them difficult to cope with, sometimes from the point of view of “good taste”, sometimes from a feminist view point. Male sexuality is less touchy-feely, more in your face than female sexuality and when it begins to arise in young men, a lot of adults are deeply suspicious. It’s my feeling that if you make dirty jokes with your mates, that’s your business and no one else has the right to make it a problem. It doesn’t mean you’re a bully, or that you’re sexist – just that you have a sense of humour. I remember Woody Allen’s line – “Is sex dirty?” And the answer – “Only if you’re doing it right …”

I hope the book shows, just because you can see the funny, ungainly, ridiculous side of sex, and just because you're fascinated by it and thinking about it all the time… doesn’t mean to say you don’t treat girls with respect. Dino, Ben and Jonathon are dirty minded, yes, find the whole thing half ridiculous and half fascinating – but by and large (with the possible exception of Dino) they want to be honest, open and respectful …

I like how Doing It was written in both first and third person, and the conversational style when it was in first person. Why did you chose to write in this stlyle?

I enjoy writing in multiple first person voices. I find it moves the story along quickly and helps get inside the heads of the various characters better than a third person narrative, or a simple first person voice. It’s a way of writing that comes very naturally to me. I try to give an effect that you know these people, that they’re your friends who are chatting away to you about what they’re up to. But sometimes, in multiple first person novels, I find I want that third person over view as well. Why not?

Although light hearted, you covered some serious topics in this novel, such as physical relationships between teachers and students. Did you feel it was important to cover serious topics as well as having an amusing story?

Yes, I did. Sex is such a wonderful thing – it’s rude and ridiculous, yet it forms the basis for the most important relationships of your life. Sexual bonds are so strong they can change our lives – for the better, or the worse. The teacher-pupil thing was really about abusive relationships, of the kind where an older person is using a younger person – something very many of us experience at some time in our lives. There was also Jonathon and his various neuroses … I wanted the book to represent various sides of sexual culture – the rudeness, the seriousness, the anxiety ….

Why do you choose to write on controversial topics?

I feel that society in general has a real problem with teenagers. We find them difficult to talk to, they scare us, we feel that we don’t understand them. At the same time, when most adults look back on their own teenage years they feel they had a bad time, and they are anxious about people who they know are not enjoying life as a group. School is so busy educating teenagers and preparing them for the workplace, that it hardly ever even begins to consider how to make themselves teenager friendly. As a result, the bad way we treat teengers continues down the generations and I can’t see even a small chance of it changing.

All this means that there are huge gaps in media for teenagers. Movie censorship means that it’s almost impossible to try to get inside the skin of anyone about the age of about twelve – mostly we don’t even try. For some reason, publishers have allowed me to explore many of the areas we have the most problem talking to young people about, so I think it’s only right to take it at face value.

What’s your opinion of how YA novels are dealing with the topic of sex?

Very patchy indeed. But getting better all the time.

Do you think there is a limit on what should be covered in YA novels?

Well, grand parenting would seem to be a bit of a waste of time, or re-marrying, or perhaps coming to terms with your old age. That sort of thing.

What books did you read as a teenager, and how well do you think they dealt with talking about sex?

I can’t think of any books that dealt with sex, really. When I was about eleven or twelve, my mum gave me a little book about the facts of life, but it said nothing at all about relationships, lust or anything that I was personally interested in. I remember attitudes to sex back then were such that I didn’t really understand that girls liked it too – it sort of seemed that they just went along with it because they were expected to. The only books I really remember were the porn ones that got handed round at school. They weren’t dreadfully sordid, most of them, and at least they gave me some idea of what people actually did …

What do you think about parents not allowing their teenagers to read novels with a certain sexual content?

I think you’d have a job stopping them. Someone was telling me just today about a librarian who cuts the pictures of nude ladies out of art books to keep them away from the students.

I think the attitude we should take is that sex is actually a wonderful thing. Whether you decide to save it for one special person or to do with a lots of people is your decision alone, and no one else should even have a say about it. Of course we should know about safe sex, but we should know about enjoying it too. When teenagers reach puberty, we should celebrate that such a fantastic gift is now theirs. There should be fireworks, cakes and dancing until late into the night …

Thank you, Melvin, for such a fantastic interview! It was fascinating!

Going on Holiday, but SiTL Month will Continue!

2009-07-24T11:55:00.002+01:00

Just a quick post to let you all know I'll be going on holiday for a week tomorrow, and so I won't be around. However, Sex in Teen Lit Month will still continue. There are a number of posts scheduled for every day in July that I am away, so you won't be missing anything with me away.

There will be an interview, some guest posts from fellow book bloggers, and a few other fun posts. I've also got several tweets scheduled to let my twitter followers know when they're up (Tweet Later - awesome site, if anyone is interested!).

Hope you enjoy the rest of SiTL Month! I look forward to reading all the comments when I come back :) Have a great week!

Review: Doing It by Melvin Burgess

2009-07-24T00:01:00.006+01:00

Doing It by Melvin Burgess - Dino really fancies fit, sexy Jackie, but she just won't give him what he wants; Jonathan likes Deborah, but she's a bit fat – what will his mates say? Ben's been secretly shagging his teacher for ages. He used to love it, but what if he wants to stop? Three lads discovering sex for the first time. But do any of them really know what they're doing?

This was such an awesome book! I can’t recommend it enough! All teenage girls should read it, it’s the book all girls are looking for, because we get to understand what’s going on inside blokes’ heads! It’s also seriously funny, too!

The book is written in both third person and first person, with first person being from each of the three 16-17-year-old boys' point of view in a pretty conversational type way, with their personality shining through. They’re my favourite parts of the book, because they are just so funny; the insights into these boys minds, exactly what they’re thinking, it’s enlightening!

It’s quite an explicit book during the sex scenes, and the language the boys use isn’t dumbed down, so anyone choosing to read should know they won’t be protected. Saying this, it’s so very life like; the boys are crude and may seem somewhat disrespectful, but all three of them are likable in their own way. They all have problems they need to deal with, and as you learn more about them and what’s going on in their lives, you come to like them.

As you’re in the heads of these boys, you understand them. Meaning you understand their behaviour. Sometimes, the boys can be right gits who need a slap, but in some of these cases, it doesn’t seem all that bad what they do, it seems to make sense – at least it did to me.

I liked all three of the boys in the story, but mainly Jonathon. He is perhaps the most childish out of them all, and gets quite scared and confused in the novel, and it’s just so funny. I apologise in advance for the long quote, but it’s just perfect for giving you an idea of who Jonathon is. And for anyone from the US, in the UK "fanny" means vagina rather than bottom.

"That’s why girl’s are so lucky. Doctors are always examining fannies. It’s the first thing you do when you get a fanny, you take it down the doctor and get it looked at. If you’re a girl and you go down to the doctor even with a sore foot or something, the doctor looks at your foot and says, Fine, OK, ointment, bandages, whatever-- Oh, and while you’re here would you like me to look at your fanny? And the girl, says, Yeah, sure, might as well, and off they go. It happens all the time. Girls are used to it. But willies are different. No one ever shows the doctor their willy. Name me one person. I bet you know loads of people who’ve had their fannies examined. You know, smear tests and things, they happen almost once a week. But name one single person who’s shown their knob to the doctor. You can’t, can you? There’s even a profession dedicated entirely to looking at fannies, gynaecologists. Have you ever heard of a single doctor who specialises in knobs? A knobologist? Doesn’t exist. Now, see, if a man goes down to the doctor’s and says, I want you to check my knob out, you’d get thrown out just like that. What do you mean, you pervert, you want to show me your knob? Right, nurse, ring the police."

That boy is hilarious! His chapters are like that all the way through the book, he’s so funny! What I did love most about this book is that it showed boys are as much confused by and scared of relationships and sex as girls, and worry too. It was awesome to see these teenage boys, who normally seem so alien, being, well, normal.

Such an awesome book, really! If you’re not a fan of bad language or crude terminology, I implore to forget that you’re not and give this book a go. It really is just so awesome! I absolutely loved it. One, among many, I’ll be keeping hold of for my own children if I have any in the future.

Published: 2003
Publisher: Henry Holt
Buy on Amazon UK
The Book Depository – free shipping worldwide
Melvin Burgess’ website

Guest Post from Jane Eagland

2009-07-23T00:01:00.000+01:00

Author Jane Eagland has written a guest post on the subject of sex in her YA novel Wildthorne. Thank you, Jane, for taking the time to do this.

In my novel, Wildthorn, ( published by Macmillan in March this year) the heroine Louisa discovers that she has sexual feelings for another girl. This is only one thread of the story, which is mainly about the fact that Louisa finds herself locked in a lunatic asylum and has to find out who has betrayed her and why.

It wasn’t a conscious decision to make her unconventional in her personal life (I don’t like the label ‘lesbian’ and in any case the word wouldn’t have been used at the time the novel is set – 1876); I don’t want to sound ‘precious’, but as I explored her character, it just seemed to arise naturally – that was who she was. And it fitted in well with the rest of the novel as she is someone who refuses to conform to the then very narrow role that society expected of a middle class girl, ie that she should be a wife and mother. The novel is about Louisa discovering who she is and not feeling ashamed of it, which I hope resonates with readers today.

Once I realized this about her, I did wonder about making this the motive for her incarceration, but after some research, I discovered that at that time it was acceptable for girls to have passionate friendships, without necessarily having sexual feelings for one another - they would embrace and kiss and write and say extravagant things to each other. The notion that such intimacy was somehow abnormal or to be frowned on didn’t arise till a later bit later. So I had to think of something else.

There is a sex scene in the book, but it’s not explicit, partly because that’s what I felt comfortable writing and partly because I think leaving things to the reader’s imagination can be more powerful than spelling them out!

I was quite surprised but pleased that this aspect of my novel was accepted by my editor without comment. I’ve heard that some publishers are edgy about taboo subjects and for example some writers have had to change what seems like mild swearing. I did wonder if the fact that it was a historical novel somehow made it ‘safer’. At one point there was a discussion about putting ‘for older teens’ on the cover but then they decided not to which I was glad about because it avoids suggesting that the unconventional relationship is a big deal.
When asked, though, I do find myself suggesting that the book is suitable for readers of 14 +, because as an ex-teacher I’m aware that if it’s in a school library some parents might object to younger children reading it, but that’s as much because the asylum scenes are rather ‘dark’ as because of the love interest.

In reviewing the book, several people have commented on the love element, favourably and unfavourably. It doesn’t surprise me, but I did wonder if it would have received so much attention if it had been a boy-girl relationship. Some people have even written about it as if it were an add-on element that clouds the issue of Louisa’s struggle to have a career and one that could be dispensed with. This did surprise me since to me it was an essential part of who Louisa was and I wasn’t consciously writing an ‘issue’ novel. Enough people, teens and adults, have written positive comments about it to reassure me that for many readers it’s not a problem.

Having said that, with my next novel the editor has made it clear she would prefer a heterosexual romance. Possibly this is to broaden the book’s appeal and while I don’t feel strongly about it, a small part of me does feel that I’m selling out by giving in to the pressure to conform and reflect the ‘norm.’ I think Louisa would be disappointed in me!

Jane Eagland

Thank you Jane, for the wonderful post!

Buy Wildthorn from Amazon UK and The Book Depository.

Discussion: Can YA Novels Encourage Sexual Activity?

2009-07-22T00:01:00.001+01:00

I came across an article about a library in America that would start labelling teen books with sexual content after an organisation, Citizens Against Pornography, protested last year about teen books they felt were inappropriate. We've already discussed whether or not labelling is good or not, so that's not what this post is about. There was a paragraph in this article that caught my eye.

"Others protested that some titles in the teen section could contribute to an increase in sexually transmitted disease among teens."

I think my mouth literally fell open at that; the insinuation that books with a high level of sexual content will make teenagers have sex. I think this is pretty outrageous. Sex is everywhere; it's in magazines, it's in films and on TV, it's even in music! There is not really any escape from it. Yet it's the books that are going to cause teenagers to go and have sex. Let's, for the sake of argument, say there are no teenage/YA novels with sexual content in the world. Not one. In that world, would teenagers be having less sex? Of course not! They can still get their hands on adult novels, but even if they didn't exist either, I don't think books are the sole problem here! As I said, sex is everywhere.

I'm not a teenager, but I was only a few years ago. If I had read the books I have been reading for this month back then, they wouldn't have made me want to go out and have sex, they would have just strengthened the views I already had; to be careful, to make the right choices, to be responsible, to wait. I'm not saying that this is what all the books are saying, this is their message, or that this is what all teens should be doing, I'm just saying these were, and are, my views on sex. The books deal with sex so well, and so maturely, even when the situations the characters are in don't seem that great (e.g. Good Girls, Screwed), or are ones I'd never be in (e.g. The Second Virginity of Suzy Green), there's always something positive to take from them.

So to say books can cause an increase in pregnancy, abortion, STIs, or sexual activity in general I think is utter rubbish.

What do you think? Can YA books with sexual content encourage sexual activity? Could they lead to an increase in STIs, teenage pregnancy, and abortions for teens? Am I actually talking rubbish, or do you agree with me?

Interview with Serena Robar

2009-07-21T00:01:00.000+01:00

Serena Robar was kind enough to give us a few minutes of her time to talk about her YA novel Giving Up the V, and to talk about the subject of sex in YA. There are some spoilers in this interview! Do not read if you don't want the story spoiled for you!

How did you come up with the idea for Giving Up the V?

The inspiration for the story came when I was sitting in the doctor’s office for my yearly GYN visit. A harried, fifty-something male doctor was talking to the young female receptionist. He asked her what “Giving up the V” meant. It seemed his last patient was a teen girl who was there because her mother wanted her on the Pill, but she told the doctor she wasn’t ready to give up the V yet. I knew instantly I had to tell that story. I had to explore the reverse peer pressure of a girl who wasn’t obsessed with sex when her friends and perhaps even her mother seemed on the pro-sex bandwagon.

You started the book with Spencer’s first visit to the gynaecologist. Was it important to you to show readers what happens when someone visits one?

Oh, I remember my first visit. I was completely unprepared and remember wondering about where to put my underwear. Also, my doctor was all about showing me what he was doing and when he pulled out a mirror so I could look down yonder, it completely freaked me out, lol.

It was interesting to read the difference in attitudes towards sex from Spencer and Alyssa. Why did you choose to include Alyssa’s subplot?

It’s important to see a contrast in attitudes about sex in high school because everyone has their own idea of when it’s right and when it’s not. I tried to show how sex can complicate serious relationships such as with Morgan and Justin. It’s one thing to have sex in a monogamous relationship but what happens when you break up and he sleeps with someone else? That’s the real test if you were ready for sex or not.

There were no actual sex scenes in the book. Was this because of the decisions of the characters, or did you intentionally steer clear from writing them?

Oh no, spoiler alert! Lol. There is so much talk about sex that actually having sex seems to take away from the story. In high school, everyone talks about sex. A lot. But is everyone actually having it? That was sort of the point of all the conversations and none of the action.

It seems that all different types of guy were included in Giving Up the V; the nice guy, the bad boy, etc. Did you intentionally create characters that fitted these types, or was that just who the characters were?

It was intentional because these archetypes exist for a reason. There are people like them. Everyone knows a ‘Ryan’. The hot boy who can have anyone he wants and frequently does with little consequence. Sort of leaves a wake of broken hearts in his midst. At one point, my editor didn’t seem to believe that Spencer would ever consider dating Ben because she was too level headed. I told him that he would have to trust me to know how a sixteen year old girl thinks and that if a super hot new boy started noticing them, they would be flattered and sort of ignore the warning signs. Girls, at any age, want to be noticed and liked. Even the level headed ones.

I loved reading this book, and the characters in it. Will there be a sequel, or someone else’s story, like Ryan’s?

I originally planned for this to be a series, each book focusing on each character but the publisher saw it as a stand alone book. I wanted to write Alyssa’s story next. I thought it would be a great book if Ben sort of turned into a stalker ex because he’d never been rejected before and that happens sometimes. Sex is very intimate and you can get a little crazy. What a nice reversal if it was the girl who was doing the love ‘em and leave ‘em and the guy who breaks hearts is the one who gets clingy and needy. It would be a great book. Hmmm, I might have to work that out.

What’s your opinion of how YA novels are dealing with the topic of sex?

I can’t remember the last time I read a YA book that included sex and thought, wow, that was poorly done. I do think some writers make the mistake of talking down to teens and get preachy. I take the opposite approach. I give them a bunch of different scenarios and let them decide what to take away. Giving Up the V is a very candid look at sex and peer pressure today but it ends up being a very sweet story. A lot of talk, but not a lot of action. Sort of like teen boys in general .

Do you think there is a limit on what should be covered in YA novels?

That is a tough question. As a writer, no. As a parent, yes. How is that for ambiguous? My daughter read Giving Up the V when it was still in manuscript form. She has always read my books before they went to print so when she saw the manuscript laying out she assumed she could read it. She was thirteen at the time and if I had my choice, I would have waited for her to read it until she was older. However, that being said it was an amazing tool to open a dialogue about teen sexuality. She had questions and the candid conversations between Spencer and her friends made her realize that even though I was her mother, I understood what she was going through. I think teens look at their parents and think we couldn’t possibly know what it was like to have sexual urges or hormones because we appear so old to them. So in control. They forget we were a teaming mass of insecurities, just like them. I wish every parent would read Giving Up the V and give it to their teen to read so they can talk about sex in high school and cite the examples in the book to talk about consequences and personal beliefs.

What books did you read as a teenager, and how well do you think they dealt with talking about sex?

I read Judy Blume, of course. She was required reading and still is. The thing was, I read adult romances from Junior high upward. My neighbour was a hardcore reader and she belonged to tons of book clubs and when she was done reading the books she would simply throw them away. Egads! Can you imagine? My older sister discovered this travesty and offered to take them off her hands. She was thrilled she didn’t have to lug them to the dumpster anymore and my sister and I got a 2 paper bags filled with the latest category, historical and contempory romances released each month. It was heaven.

Now, my mother had no idea what was written about in those books or she might have wigged. I am sure if she’d known we were reading all about heaving alabaster globes and turgid man staff’s (the 80’s were all about euphemisms for body parts. Now writing is more direct. You call a spade a spade and a well, you know …) she would have put a halt to our free library. However, they answered a lot of my questions and it started a lifelong love of reading romance and because of that passion for reading, I am an author today. Though I will admit that I could never figure out why boys weren’t as romantic as the heroes in romance novels. That is why Zach is so romantic in Giving Up the V.

What do you think about parents not allowing their teenagers to read novels with a certain sexual content?

I think every parent has to make that choice for their own child. Some teens can handle books with a lot of sexual content and others can’t. That is the job of the parent. I wish parents were less afraid of reading the material themselves before judging a book by the cover. I think some parents might look at my book and think the title encourages teen sexuality and they would be so wrong. It’s a beautiful book that helps teens look at the issues in a candid and hilarious way. It opens dialogues. More parents should read the books their teens are reading. Take advantage of bridging the chasm that erupts between parent and teen during those difficult growing years.

Thank you Serena, for such a wonderful interview! If you have any questions for Serena, get cracking and ask them. Serena has been lovely enough to agree to pop over and ask any questions you guys may have.

Review: Giving Up the V by Serena Robar

2009-07-20T00:01:00.003+01:00

Giving Up the V by Serena Robar - 16-year-old Spencer is a virgin, and is happy to be. She is happy to wait until she’s with the right person to have sex, rather than get obsessed about it like all her friends in her crew. But then Benjamin Hopkins joins the school. Gorgeous, funny, athletic, Spencer can’t help but go weak at the knees when she’s around him, and Ben starts giving her the right kind of attention. How far will she go to get her guy?

I really like this book! It reads a lot like it could be part of an American TV teen programme; the teens were so lifelike and believable. I found myself literary crushing on pretty much all the guys in the book, even the guys who weren’t so great. Ryan, for example; he may use girls a lot, but he was hot and funny, so it was easy to see how he could get away with it.

I loved how Spencer wouldn’t give in to the jokey “peer pressure” from her friends over being a virgin, that she was determined to have sex when she wanted to , when things were right, and not when others felt she should – before Ben arrived. It kind of annoyed me she went a little crazy over him, as I was thinking “pull yourself together, he’s just a guy”, yet it was believable, we girls do get a little “oh my god!” when it comes to guys. I also admired how she was still able to pretty much be herself around him despite it all, it was cool. I identified with her a lot when she wasn’t sure what she should do when things started to happen between her and Ben; very true to life.

What was also interesting was the sub-plot in the story; Spencer’s best friend Alyssa was determined to lose her virginity, a one-night-stand so she could get it out of the way, and planned and organised for she was going to get it done. It was a little disturbing how tenacious she was, and how she made it seem like some school project, like no big deal, but something that had to be done – with no feelings. It was great to see these two different attitudes and stories running along each other.

There were no actual sex scenes in this book, but there were some almost-sex scenes that were really well written. It was a great depiction of how Spencer was feeling AND thinking towards what was happening, and keeping those two things clearly separate worked well.

This was an awesome book overall dealing with a sensitive subject with great characters and a lot of humour. I loved it!

Published: 2009
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Buy on Amazon UK
The Book Depository – free shipping worldwide
Serena Robar Website

Other Reviews on Giving Up the V:
Chicklish

Discussion: Censorship - What Way is Acceptable?

2009-07-19T00:01:00.003+01:00

Luisa informed me about an article, Censorship in Action, from the Nicki’s View column on Health News, where Nicki, a teenager, rants against banning or burning books. Please read the article before continuing, so you know what I’m going on about.

So you’ve now read that she talks about how some people want sexually explicit books removed from the YA section of the library, or segregated, or be labelled that they are sexually explicit to warn teens and parents.

Surely, if a book is YA, it should be in the YA section so the young adults can find it? Removing it from YA I feel is out of order; they are Young Adult novels, for young adults. Why can’t they, or their parents, decide what they should or shouldn’t read? There is something seriously wrong with taking away the choice of whether or not they want to read a novel.

As you would have read in my review of Screwed by Joanna Kenrick, some librarians are refusing to stock it in their libraries because of the cover. In an email to me, Joanna said:

"The problem with the jacket, as I understand it, is that although it appeals to the teenage market, the booksellers and other adults involved in actually getting the book to the kids are too conservative. I did a talk last week to some school librarians – half of them said they would refuse to stock ‘Screwed’ in their school library, even if it were age restricted."

Refusing to stock a book that is so highly important in getting through to teens about some serious issues!

There’s something else I want to talk about on this subject in the comments, but I’m not entirely sure if it fits in with what was said above as I haven’t yet read the books, so I can’t be certain. If I say it in the comments, maybe someone else can correct or confirm.

I think I’m ok with the books being labelled. When my copy of Screwed by Joanna Kenrick arrived, there was a sticker on the front saying “Not suitable for younger readers”, and on the back, near the barcode it had “Warning: Explicit Content”. The same warning is on the back of Good Girls by Laura Ruby, and on Sugar Rush by Julie Burchill, the warning is actually part of the front cover design. I think this is all pretty fair, I know there are some teenagers who don’t want to read sexually explicit books, so I think the warning is good for them. I know some people disagree with parents deciding what they’re children can and can’t read, but I do – they’re going to know what their children are ready to deal with – so again, for the parents, I think this is fair.

You’ll also have read about some people wanting Baby Be Bop by Francesca Lia Block to be burned. I haven’t read this book, but I have a Dangerous Angels omnibus book with all the stories in the series in, because the series was something I may have done an essay on a few years back, but I know roughly about the stories. They don’t appeal all that much to me, but burning them?! How unbelievably outrageous! You have no idea how mad it makes me that people will actually suggest destroying books in some way, that’s just sacrilege to me. But going to such extremes to stop people reading a book?

So what do you think about all of this? Is there an acceptable way of keeping certain books out of certain people’s hands? Even if you disagree with censorship in general, it happens, so what’s the best way to go about it?

Mid-Month Update

2009-07-18T14:06:00.003+01:00

Ever since I had decided on a list of books for SiTL Month, I have been trying to get hold of them. I managed to get hold of them all, bar one; The Kissing Club by Julia Clark. I have it reserved at the library, but whoever has it seems to keep renewing it. I very much doubt I would be able to get hold of it now and read and review it in time.

Why? Well, I'm going on holiday in a week, so I've got to start getting ready for that, packing etc. So I'll be kind of busy. This won't effect SiTL Month though; posts will be scheduled for the days in July that I'm away, so you will still have something to read. You'll just have to wait for any replies from me until I'm back :)

I will add The Kissing Club to the list in my Further Reading post, which you'll see later in the month. I'm sorry for any disappointment!

Anyone who knows they have to email me something for SiTL Month, could you please do so ASAP. I'd like to get the posts scheduled as soon as I can, so I don't have to worry about it. Thanks.

Who Says What? Links on the Topic

2009-07-18T00:01:00.007+01:00

I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what others have said on similar discussions across the internet.

SF Signal asks the question “Is Young Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy too Explicit?”, and several authors answer.

Sarah Ockler, author of Twenty Boy Summer, asks booksellers, librarians and teachers how they handle the YA novels with sexual content, and they answer in the comments.

Andrew Smith, author of Ghost Medicine, has two guest posts from a Random House editor and a writer and reader of YA for their opionion on Sex in YA.

R.J. Anderson, author of Faery Rebels, asks if there is a double standard when it comes to sex in YA and violence and gore in YA.

Chandra Rooney, author The Wild Hunt, talks about Sex in The YA novel.

BNet talks about Teen Pregnancy in Yound Adult Literature.

The DLA discusses abortion themes in YA.

Auto-Straddle talks about Lesbian YA novels.

Books Make Good Lovers also held a Teen Sex Month - check out her posts on the subject.

Sophie McKenzie, author of the All About Eve trilogy, talks about the sexual content in her novels.

YA Reads held a Gay and Lesbian Teen Reads event through June and July

ETA: Thanks to Nicole (tumble) for the heads up: A video of YA author Maureen Johnson discussing censorship and her novel The Bermudez Triangle.

Thanks to Lilibeth for the heads up about an article on CNN about people who want the extreme when it comes to books, including burning.

Thanks to Simmone Howell for letting me know about her own post, Why we Write About What we Write About, which discusses the topic.

If anyone knows of any other links, please share them! Thanks!

So, any thoughts on any of these articles? Any comments/points you want to make? Please share!

Interview with Mary Hooper

2009-07-17T00:01:00.000+01:00

Megan Hooper was king enough to take the time to answer some questions about her book Megan, and the topic of sex in YA.

How did you come up with the idea for Megan?

Teen pregnancy is a perenially popular topic, always in the newspapers. But my writer friend Jean Ure tells me that she suggested it to me in the first place!

What was your intention with writing Megan? Was it just to write a story about teenage pregnancy, or did you want to give out a message?

Story every time. There's an old adage about writing which says, "If you want to send a message, use Western Union" (or British Telecom).

Megan’s Mum reacts very badly to Megan’s pregnancy. Why did you decide to write Megan an unsupportive mother?

For more drama and conflict. To make things as difficult as possible for Megan.

Claire, Megan’s best friend, also leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to support. Why did you give Megan very few people to rely on?

See above! If everyone is supportive and everything jolly, then there's nothing much to write about.

The story focuses more on what Megan is thinking and feeling, rather than on things such as antenatal classes and doctor appointments. Why did you choose to do this?

Interesting question; I hadn't realised this - but I think the answer is that I am more interested in a person's emotional responses to things than the practical everyday matters.

Megan’s conversations with her social worker, Susie, are very informative. What research did you have to do for the book?

I spoke to a social worker friend for up-to-date information (it was then that I discovered how few babies these days are given up for adoption). Also I went to a mother and baby unit and spoke to all the girls and the workers there.

It has been ten years since Megan was first published. Do you think the story still applies today, or has changes over the past ten years dated it?

It's certainly dated as regards mobiles/texting/Facebook and the like - none of them had been invented! But I hope not dated as far as emotions are concerned.

There aren’t any actual sex scenes in Megan. Was this because you didn’t want to include them, or because it wasn’t right for the story?

At the time I wrote the book, my editor was dead against any graphic sex scenes (which was a relief!) Also, I didn't need any sex stuff because all that was over and done with by the time Megan found out that she was pregnant.

What’s your opinion of how today’s YA novels are dealing with the topic of sex and related issues?

I'm writing historical fiction now so I don't actually read many modern YA novels to know what's going on as regards sex. I do know they have a lot more freedom.

Do you think there is a limit on what should be covered in YA novels?

A difficult question. No one is for censorship, but good taste and artistic sensibility seem to dictate that literature should enrich rather than debase. That sounds a bit fancy, so let's just say that that awful/vulgar/vile things do go on, but one doesn't necessarily want to read about them. A "misery memoire" is not my idea of a good read.

What books did you read as a teenager, and how well do you think they dealt with talking about sex?

There weren't any books for teenagers when I was one! I went straight from JUST WILLIAM and Enid Blyton (no sex at all) to adult books (very little there, either).

What do you think about parents not allowing their teenagers to read novels with a certain sexual content?

I can understand a parent or librarian not wanting a vulnerable teenager to read anything they considered gross, but this would probably add to the book's attraction. I remember not wanting my then-11 year old daughter to read FOREVER, but I'm sure she read it anyway.

Anything else you wish to add/discuss?

The three MEGAN books have just been reissued in new jackets. The first cover (ten years back) was very bland: you could just make out a girl's face with a lot of scribbble over it. The second cover had a little more going on and showed a girl looking a bit forlorn. The new one is utterly uncompromising and shows a young girl, heavily pregnant. I think this shows how things have changed!

Thank you, Mary, for a great interview!

Review: Megan by Mary Hooper

2009-07-16T00:01:00.002+01:00

Megan by Mary Hooper - During a Personal Development lesson that was talks about female reproduction, periods, the pill, and how it all works out, the teacher says something that will change 15-year-old Megan’s life. Of course, it is possible be pregnant and still have periods.

From that point on, everything changes for Megan, because she finds out she’s five months pregnant. How did this happen? What is she going to do? What will the father say? What will her Mum say?

This book is pretty good! It focuses mainly on Megan and how she’s thinking and feeling, and what she’s going to do, and less so on what happens to her physically, but it was good! You have no idea how often I wanted to slap her Mum. She was so nasty, insulting and unsupportive, it was just so awful. Reading this book as a 22-year-old, I wanted to give Megan a hug and knock her Mum’s lights out, but if I had read this book at 15, or maybe younger, it would probably have scared me. It could work that young readers may decide to be extra careful because they wouldn’t want their mothers talking to and treating them like that. It was awful.

Claire, Megan’s best friend, also needs a slap. She enjoyed the drama of it all, and didn’t think enough about Megan’s feelings. It was because of her that everyone at school found out and treated her so horribly. She kept pestering Megan about what she was going to do, and had she told her Mum, she just wasn’t helping at all.

I liked how we got to read the conversations with the social worker, Susie. Through those conversations, everything was explained bout what Megan’s options were; keeping the baby or having it adopted, and what either choice would mean for her as she is 15. Not only does Megan get this information, but so does the young adult reader. I thought it was clever.

I think it would have been better if there was more on what happened at antenatal classes and doctors appointments. It would have been cool to see how Megan reacted on seeing her first scan, and all these other things. However, Megan’s feelings on being pregnant were brilliantly portrayed.

"I’d have given anything to have my own room. I really needed it now; I felt the need to pace about, to shout, rock backwards and forwards and generally cry, yell and make a fuss about what happened to me. And another part of me wanted to get right inside myself and be quiet, try and sort things out in my head."
P 29

There were no sex scenes in the book, as it happened before the book started, but it’s a pretty good story that deals with an outcome of unprotected sex. Over all, Megan is a pretty good book, and maybe good as an introduction to the topic for younger readers. I liked it.

Luisa's Thoughts:

As a reader: Mary Hooper always brings characters completely to life for me, and the gentle humour that comes from the believable relationships and situations her characters experience is a delight to read.
As a parent: I think this is a great series that really puts the reader in the shoes of a teenage mother. I don't think it reads as a cautionary tale, but I suppose that element is there as a side-effect of the subject matter. It's down-to-earth and realistic as well as being a good story that will interest a lot of girls.
As a writer: I am in awe of Mary Hooper's characterisation and storytelling skills.

Published: 1999
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Buy on Amazon UK
Buy on the Book Depository – free shipping worldwide
Mary Hooper’s Website

Discussion: Ideology in YA novels

2009-07-15T00:01:00.003+01:00

Another excerpt from Disturbing the Universe by Trites. This excerpt discusses Trites' views on YA ideology.

"...I can imagine many people -- especially parents -- asking me if I am actually proposing either divorcing sex from ideology or even worse, advocating that teenagers engage in promiscuous sex. I cannot say that I am, although I would prefer to live in a culture with entirely different values regarding sexuality. What I am proposing for the here and now, however, is that parents and teachers and librarians and literary critics take serious looks at the ideological intent behind most of the YA novels published with the seeming intent of validating teenagers' self-assurance about human sexuality. Most YA novels about teenage sexuality have at best conflicting ideology and at worse repressive ideology that both reflects and perpetuates Western culture's confused sexual mores. But the very existence of these repressive ideologies demonstrates that sexuality is a locus of power for adolescents. If it were not, adults would feel no need to regulate teenagers' sexuality."
(P 95-96, Trites, 2000)

Do you agree or disagree? What do you think?

Citation: Trites, R. S. 2000. Chapter 4 - "All of a sudden I came": Sex and Power in Adolescent Novels in Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.

Interview with Laura Ruby

2009-07-14T00:01:00.001+01:00

YA author Laura Ruby was kind enough to give us a few minutes of her time for an interview about her novel Good Girls, and the topic of sex in YA.

Where did you get the idea for Good Girls?

I was in between projects, reading a lot of books and magazines, watching a lot of bad TV, just letting my mind wander. At the time, the tabloids and the TV shows could not shut up about Paris Hilton and her sex tapes. (I’m probably the only one in the universe who thought this, and perhaps I was naïve, but when that story first hit the news I wondered if it really was a publicity stunt, or if Paris H. had been seriously and publicly ripped off by someone she trusted. She wouldn’t have been the first.)

Anyway, the media’s obsession with Paris’s love life got me thinking about cell phones, how so many of them had cameras. I thought that it was only a matter of time before teens – and a lot of other people – started using those cameras for all sorts of reasons, not all of them good. I tried to write about it immediately, but I had no voice, no characters, no story, until the day my stepdaughter came home from high school and told me that someone was spreading vicious rumours about her. It didn’t matter that they weren’t true; the more she protested the more people believed what was being said about her. It was terrible to see her struggle, to witness her pain, to feel helpless to stop it.

But her experience got me to thinking again cell phones and computers, how rumours could be transmitted so quickly and exponentially. And then I remembered the cameras on those phones. I wondered what a regular girl, a “good” girl would do if someone spread not just a rumour but a photograph using a cell phone, an explicit photo that seemed to say more about this girl than she could ever say about herself. I wondered how such a girl might retain her dignity and self-respect in the face of that kind of public humiliation, how she might fight, how she might grow. It’s Audrey’s story, but I also think it could be the story of any girl grappling with sexuality, privacy, bullying and sexism.

In regards to the sexual scenes in Good Girls, you didn’t leave anything out. Did you ever worry about whether or not you were going too far?

Hmmm. I’ve heard some readers say that they found the book quite frank, other readers claim that the book wasn’t explicit at all, and still others that come down somewhere in the middle. I wasn’t as worried about going too far as I was about being dishonest or irrelevant. In general, my teen readers are a lot less shocked with the content than adult readers.

Was it important to you to depict Audrey’s first time for the readers?

Yes, but I was more interested in the reasons she decided to have sex in the first place, especially since she wasn’t sure of her feelings for Luke. I think her own temperament, coupled with the fact that she truly believed that casual, no-strings-attached interactions were the only way she could get affection, really messed with her ability to relate to, to even talk to, a guy she liked. On the surface she was experiencing intimacy, but she wasn’t emotionally intimate. She didn’t know how to be; she didn’t feel safe enough. That’s a personal thing, but also a cultural, friends-with-benefits thing. I was fascinated by both.

There’s a fantastic scene where Audrey visits the gynaecologist, and every step of the consultation is down on paper. Why did you decide to include such a detailed scene, and how did you research for it?

I included the scene because I think that the response of many middle-class American parents, upon learning that their kids might be sexually active, is to cover up their own ambivalence and anxiety by medicalizing the issue. They pretend that their concern is solely about the child’s physical health and nothing else. And because the pelvic exam can be so invasive, embarrassing and uncomfortable, it can be experienced by a teen girl as a silent, powerful rebuke for being a sexual person. In GOOD GIRLS, Audrey understands the importance of caring for her health, but the exam still serves to further shame and humiliate her.

As for the research, well, I didn’t have to do any except go to my own regularly scheduled doctor visits. Yuck.

Good Girls talks a lot about how girls will have the finger pointed at them for promiscuity but not the boys, and what would actually make a girl a “slut”. What is your opinion on this sexism, and today’s “hook-up” culture in general?

Except for the technology, I don’t think there’s much difference between today’s hook-up culture and the hook-up culture that I grew up with. I was passionate about writing this book because I’ve been thinking about this stuff for a thousand years. I can’t believe that there’s still such a double-standard, that girls are still called sluts and ho’s while “boys will be boys,” and that so many adults who should know better still subscribe to such notions. It’s idiotic and infuriating.

What do you want your readers to get from this book?

I guess the adult and/or parent and/or feminist in me would love it if readers came away with the idea that sex is so complicated, and so personal. Our culture hits us over the head with the idea that sex is the sole purview of men, that it’s a woman’s job to please but not necessarily enjoy, that you have to do certain things to hold on to your guy or you risk losing him, that guys have no feelings. This, forgive my language, is crap. Girls can have powerful physical feelings and guys can have powerful emotional ones. Sex concerns women as much as men, love concerns men as much as women. As soon as young women understand that they count, that sex is not about service, it’s about reciprocity, they can make better, safer, more empowered decisions about their lives and sexuality, even if their decisions include not having sex at all, or delaying it.

That said, the writer in me wants the story to resonate with readers, to speak to them in some deep, meaningful way, even if they couldn't care less about the cultural issues I'm interested in. Yes, GOOD GIRLS is about double standards and friendship and empowerment and blah and blah and blah, but it's also the best story I could write at the time that I wrote it. So.

What’s your opinion of how YA novels are dealing with the topic of sex?

Depends on the novel. There are some amazing books out there, and there are some not so amazing ones. The fans that write to me mention all sorts of books as their favourites — the good, the bad, the ridiculous. Even a book that you find mind-numbingly stupid can help you figure out who you are and what you think.

Do you think there is a limit on what should be covered in YA novels?

I was on an author panel recently and a member of the audience asked us if we thought we introduced certain material into teen culture, or reflected back what was already in teen culture. I almost threw myself over the table to answer this one. Authors are observers. We write about what we observe, reflecting back what we see. If it seems that some teen novels are becoming more explicit in content, I think it’s because teen culture has become more publicly explicit. (See Myspace, Facebook, middle school, etc).

So when I’m asked about what kinds of topics are appropriate to cover in YA novels, I think, well, what’s going on in teen culture right now? Is it pervasive? Should we talk about this?

That’s not to say that an author can’t be considerate of the age of his/her readers, and be gentle with them. Language need not be blisteringly aggressive, scenes need not be eye-wateringly graphic, etc.

What books did you read as a teenager, and how well do you think they dealt with talking about sex?

I guess the most sexually frank book I read as a young, not-yet-teen – I was twelve – was Judy Blume’s FOREVER. I think JB did an excellent job of depicting the relationships and the sexuality. Everything seemed so real to me, so authentic. There’s a good reason that FOREVER is still read today. As a matter of fact, I consider GOOD GIRLS a sort of homage to FOREVER. (Uh, FOREVER with cell phones and a lot more questionable judgment).

What do you think about parents not allowing their teenagers to read novels with a certain sexual content?

It’s okay that individual parents tell their teenagers what they can and can’t read…as long as they don’t try to tell the rest of us what we can and can’t read. : ))))

I do worry, however, that some of these parents, especially the parents of teens older than 13 or 14, are not only fooling themselves, they are robbing their children of the safest way to explore sexual issues. Simply because their kids aren’t allowed to pick up the latest GOSSIP GIRL doesn’t mean they’re not thinking about sex, not hearing/seeing all sorts of horrifying crap at school every two seconds, not looking at porn on a friend’s computer or cell phone, not experiencing any sexual wishes/desires of their own. And I worry that some parents who censor their teen’s reading material are robbing their kids of a safe way to sort out confusing feelings without having to go out and try a bunch of stuff in the real world long before they’re ready.

Plus, these parents are also robbing themselves of a way to begin talking frankly about sex with their kids. What easier way to introduce the subject than to hand your teenager a book and then ask him/her about it afterward? Maybe have a real discussion?

I was at a dinner party not too long ago, talking to a smart, interesting woman who had a 19-year-old son. She mentioned that her son wasn’t all that focused on college, that he seemed distracted. One of the men at the table made a joke about the son being distracted by all the girls. “OH NO, HE’S NOT LIKE THAT! MY SON ISN’T LIKE THAT!” the woman practically shrieked, shaking her head over and over, hands gripping her wine glass, stricken with some deep, unnameable fear. I thought: “Uh…he’s not like what? Human?”

As a teen, I was allowed to read anything I wanted. Books made me think. Books made me feel less alone in the world. I think it’s sad that certain people are so terrified that they’d attempt to deny their kids something so amazing and so important.

Anything else you wish to add/discuss?

Just to say thanks so much for exploring this topic on your blog this month, and asking me to be a part of it!

Thank you, Laura, for such an insightful interview, it really was awesome! Do you have any questions for Laura? Well, Laura has kindly agreed to pop over today to answer any questions you guys might have, so get cracking!