A Rambling Raconteur

Books are such trouble-makers. Parents get into such an uproar about what their children read. In the past several years there has been multiple series of books come out marketed to the teen/young adult age group. They're mostly fantasy novels with a touch of magic or somesuch. It seems that many parents hear whispers of "unnatural" things in the books and they flip out, banning their children from reading them. Banning a book that you've never read is a good way to anger me.
I thoroughly support a parent's decision to monitor what their child reads. But banning books? Will you burn them next? First try turning off their TV and sorting through their DVD collection. In a book, an author can describe a fight scene but it's up to the reader to provide the pictures. TV and movies remove that step and shove blood and guts on the screen. It doesn't have to be that way with a book.
These people are banning books they've never read! They're judging them by their covers and their critics. I was under the impression that we were supposed to be teaching kids to think for themselves. Apparently not. It bothers me greatly that parents get so wound up about a book with magic or vampires in it and yet they haven't taken a look at the lyrics to their kids favorite emo bands - most of which are thinly veiled metaphors for self-harming, self-hate and suicide.
We are living in a society of instant gratification. We have our 3 minute songs that whine about our lives. We have our 2 hour movies where the hero almost always gets the girl and the bad guy gets his just desserts. Am I saying that books are lands of peace and rainbows? Heck, no! Books are filled with everything imaginable. Love, hate, peace, war, sex, drugs, foul language and morbidly depressed robots.
But books nurture imagination and creative thinking. They expand your vocabulary. Ask any professional teacher and they'll tell you: good readers make good learners. If someone is worried about the influence reaching their children's generation, books aren't the first place to look. Heard some mixed reviews about a book they want to read? Read it and decide for yourself. Don't have time to read a whole novel? Skim it. It doesn't take long. Please monitor what your children listen to, watch and read, but I beg of you to make up your own mind about a book. Don't listen to what "they" say about it. It might even be wise to talk to your kid!
And remember this: there's a lot of teen/young adult fiction out there that I don't like. Some of it I do, but most of it isn't my style. There are even some that I just can't stand. That being said, I may not personally like what they read but I will defend to the death their right to read it.

- standing on my soapbox