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Common Sense and Censorship
Thoughts About Young Adult Literature
By Kelly Burgess
One of the first "big" stories I did as a fledgling newspaper journalist was about censorship – or was it about common sense? Point of view is everything.
The book in question was Lily: A Love Story (Onyx Books, 1994) by Cindy Bonner. It chronicled four weeks in the life of a sheltered 15-year-old girl in 1883 Texas. In that four-week span, she meets and begins an affair with a young outlaw. Eventually she marries him while he's on the run, but prior to their marriage, their first sexual encounter was a disturbingly graphic sexual scene that in our era would definitely classify as date rape. The book ends with her pregnant and him in jail.
As a journalist, my job was to cover the story in a completely objective manner, writing articles featuring both a mother who was trying to have the book removed from a library and the librarian for the newly-formed young adult section who was fighting tooth and nail to keep it in. The former claimed it was common sense, the latter cried censorship.
As a mother, I can now admit that I would have been appalled if my daughter, who was only 7 at the time, was reading that kind of explicit sexual material at age 13. In other words, I was on the common sense side.
Since then, I have "been there, done that." Now 16, my daughter and I often read the same books. And yes, at age 13 she was reading books that just six years prior, I could not have imagined allowing her to read.
The censorship vs. common sense incident that I covered in 1994 was merely the beginning of what was becoming a national debate about the content of young adult books. After being considered a dead market in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the young adult market began to come back in a big way in the mid-1990s with edgy, realistic themes.
According to acclaimed young adult author Cynthia Leitich Smith, this writing connects with today's teens in an important way. "Young adult literature has its earliest roots in contemporary stories," says Smith. "Think back to Cormier's early work or S.E. Hinton. But yes, young adult authors have expanded their reach into today's world, a trend that notably includes publishing acclaimed work from authors of color such as Rita Williams-Garcia, Alex Sanchez, Lori Aurelia Williams and An Na. In addition, few themes – from first love to school shootings – are considered off-limits. I don't know if that's what draws kids in, but I do think that, to them, may be what legitimizes the body of fiction."
Smith also points out that there are more choices for teen readers than ever before. "Not every teen reader is a fan of contemporary realism," says Smith. "Fantasy authors such as Franny Billingsley and Donna Jo Napoli, horror writers like Annette Curtis Klause and Vivian Vande Velde, have brought in young adult fans. National Book Award winner Kimberly Willis Holt has done a great job of crafting heroes of the mid 20th century – though some grown-ups may cringe as I refer to her work as 'historical' fiction. But whatever the venue, every effort is made to make the story resonate, connect and inspire."