Prudence

Why, is it so difficult to find current young adult fiction that is G-rated?

I love to read YA because...with this genre I get to momentarily feel young again! As readers we get to live vicariously through the eyes of these wonderful young characters. YA books can truly be great escapism. The main reason I read YA is that I need to screen for content as I have three daughters; ages 13, 14 and 16.

And…I’ve officially become a prude.

I move that the young adult label actually be restated to say “18 to 25.” That’s a young adult, right? Or would that make it actually just for plain adults. I sort of doubt that 18 year olds want to read about 16 year olds though, as they are undoubtedly now dreaming of 21 year olds? It seems that our 13 year olds want to read about 16 year olds. Hmmm…complicated. Might need to work the kinks out of that relabeling idea a bit.

Now it’s one thing for me to read about teens sneaking out, or worse, sneaking boys into their rooms (cough…”Twilight.”) I’m old and married, and way beyond that phase. But my girls cannot read of such things. I don’t want them getting any ideas. Many books and movies seem to almost give our kids a playbook for doing such things. It scares me. Maybe these YA novels should go in the horror section for parents.

I pulled up Goodreads and asked for G-rated books. I wasn’t very impressed. If we are actually going to judge a book by its cover, some of the suggested top ones listed, look very romantic indeed. Maybe we need some really good mystery writers for our teens to come back in style. Of course having a love interest in a novel is, well, interesting. I like romance as much as the next guy. I love love. Maybe I just need to vent today because I am tired of naughty female characters. They really need to behave! (Can you tell I've been screening?)

It also seems that when a book becomes popular among the school kids, everyone else has to read it, too. Not good. Peer pressure of the bookworm variety. For some reason John Greene books have been big for the past few years. More sneaking out and more naughty kids. Ugh. My oldest child read his stuff and the younger ones will not!

This book sharing has been going on since I was in high school and that was ages ago. My first YA experience was “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” and I can tell you that that book was a lot more graphic and detailed than the movie. None of you should EVER read it. My mother didn’t ever ask or care about what I was reading. She probably didn't feel the need to worry. But, boy did I sure got an education on some subjects no classes would ever cover. The funny thing looking back is that the girl sharing the book was our class president, and well respected by everyone. Her parents coached our sports and they were about as top notch a family as you could meet. Yet her parents bought her this book. I think 30 of us read that book before the movie came out. Thirty sweet innocent 14 year old girls had their minds blown that year.

I’d like to shelter my kids as long as possible.

Okay. I’m done venting. Thanks for listening.

If anyone knows of any really fun reads I’d love to hear suggestions.