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Stephen King gives blunt three-word response after discovering Florida banned 23 of his books in schools
(www.independent.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024
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I turned out mostly ok and was reading King well before 12. There were quite a few things I didn't understand yet but it didn't make me want to go out and assault people or something
I’m more concerned about the unrestricted access. Kids often have the emotional and logical understanding to read these works, but the point of the library is to have easy and unblocked access to the material, which topics featured in King’s books are heavy and it should be up to the parents to guide and help them read. Over 12/13 the kids should be able to pick for themselves bar pornographic material like that one book everyone always argues over.
I'm on the other end of the fence on this one. Knowledge shouldn't be withheld due to arbitrary lines. If the parents aren't tuned into what their children are reading or if the kid feels they must hide away what they're reading, it's indicative of more serious issues than books.
I say this with a kid who's just starting to learn their letters and not at a point of reading on their own yet. If they want to pick up Ulysses or the silmarillion, I'm not stopping them. I will warn them they've chosen books that are very advanced and they will have more questions than answers while reading.
The problem here is you chose two non-controverisal books that have harder themes but are still mostly pg. I would argue most parents editor give their 10yo the silmarillion, but i highly doubt many would give them Game of Thrones.
I chose notoriously difficult books to get through. I'd have the same opinion for 'the joy of sects' and 'the joy of sex'
Difficult to get through does not equal appropriate for children. A kid can read a hard book, plenty do.
'Appropriate for children' is what I have an issue with.
Withholding knowledge because of an arbitrary line is the antithesis of learning. Who gets to determine what is appropriate and for whom?
If my kid wants to read something with content that's more mature, I'm ok with that. If I've read it, I'll warn them of the more shaky bits that they'll come across and what is and isn't ok especially relative to their age and mentality.
If they bring home fifty shades, I'll have a discussion about it with them and the concepts of consent as well as body autonomy and let them know that what happens in that book are not that.
The parents at that age. Also, let’s not kid ourselves, if you had a kid at that age you wouldn’t let them read fifty shades, you would take it and explain it had adult themes and they can read it when they’re an adult.
If they bring home fifty shades, I'll treat it just as if they brought in Dean Koontz or a copy of Grendel. I'd have a frank discussion about how not all books and writers are good. They can read it as examples of either what not to do or as warning signs to look out for, either in literature in general or in people's actions. I'd also recommend better stories that they'll enjoy more. If they bring home books I do enjoy but have either problematic contents or authors, I'll treat it just the same. I love Asimov but the way he wrote women was gratuitously sexist. Lovecraft was xenophobic. Rowling is a terf and her house elves and goblins are definitely not good. Etc etc etc
And advise that they may get in trouble if they read it in front of some people because they have this weird hangup about preventing children from recognizing toxic relationships or the realities of the world.
If they're old enough to understand the words and concepts in the book, it doesn't do them any good to pretend like they don't exist.
Again, withholding knowledge and understanding because people think the children must be protected reduces their own agency and tools to understand the world.
Have you read Fifty Shades? There should be zero debate the book is soft core porn. Even if you want to have a discussion about toxic relationships or any of its other themes you can provide age appropriate books with those themes. You are not witholding information, you are stopping your fifth grader from reading smut. As the parent of a young kid you should be monitoring what they watch and consume.
It's not even very good softcore porn. Tell me, at what age is reading about people having sex where one of the two uses their power and money to trick the other into thinking that they're loved and not just some playboys breathing sex doll appropriate?
Edit: monitor? Yes. Actively discuss about? If they want to. If fifty shades interests them even after talking over what it's about, that's fine. They're allowed to make mistakes to learn from. Our jobs as parents are to teach them and to help them figure out who they are, not hide them away from society and keep them in ignorance as long as possible.
Exactly, it’s bad porn, give them a better, more age appropriate book.
Again when is that book appropriate? Restricting a book when they can easily get a copy online or find worse fanfiction is just silly to me.
If they want to read something I don't want them to for whatever reason, making it forbidden is a good way to make sure they read it, especially for teenagers.
Back to the main point of this thread, book banning is not doing the kids any favors and only serves to restrict thinking and learning. Even bad twilight fanfiction can serve as an example of what shouldn't happen.
Based on arrests, valid allegations and mountains of evidence...this is the party that spends an awful lot of time *thinking of children". And not in a safe way