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I entered an exclusive club recently... A friend, who’s a teacher, had been very excited at the prospect of my first novel coming out and immediately suggested I did an author visit at her school.
In November, I got an email from her telling me how much she’d loved reading my book... but that in fact she and the head of English didn’t feel it had ‘appropriate content to promote to our students.’
Her reasons were that the issues touched upon - single parent families in inner city London, a little on teen pregnancy, drug abuse (but these aren’t the main themes of the story, which is more about forgiveness and belonging) were beyond the realms of the experience of their students at this small independent school.
So, what to make of it?
Recently I’ve seen some slightly Shocked and Appalled responses to such instances - cries of book banning and the stifling of pupils. But I just wanted to give a shout out in defense of teachers and librarians who have to make this call.
Saying an author’s book might not be right for the demographic of students represented at a particular school is not the same as banning that book.
Teachers have a responsibility of care for all their students, and while some might be ready to discuss certain issues or explore realities beyond their own experience, maybe some are not. Isn’t this the very reason teen fiction isn’t put into age categories? So whilst I've been to some schools where the librarians have got Year 7s reading my novel, I've been to others where I've met with the Sixth Form.
Is discussing issues raised in a book the same as 'promoting' its content? Are teachers too conservative?
The key for all writers of young adult fiction is the story you want to tell. You cannot begin to think about who it will affect. We do not write for secondary school English teachers we write for teenagers. If you story is good then teenagers will get hold of it. There are many great teachers who use some of our books but that's a by product. We write so that, in the end, one young adult will sit somewhere, curled up with our book and not want to put it down.
Yes, teachers are too conservative.
Unfortunately, teachers do not work within a system that trusts their judgement and experience. Management often fears parents' reactions and is too cautious.
I agree with all of the above. I think often adults forget the sort of fiction they liked to read as a teenager (whereas we YA writers remember that stage of life all too vividly!) And I agree that teachers probably feel the need to play it safe...
"beyond the realms of the experience of their students at this small independent school."
Sounds like a damn good reason to give them the book.
I'm with Farah on this. I can see that teachers might feel that they need to be careful introducing difficult material with teens, but surely they need to know that there are such things as single parents, and poverty, and drug taking.
(Besides, does she really think that none of them watch Eastenders?)
Surely it's better to read work like this in schools and talk about it, than leave it to the television to educate them about some of the more difficult issues of life.
Ooh, I'm definitely with Farah and Jo too. I think it's the perfect reason to give it to the teenagers in this school - or at least make sure it's in the school library so they have access to it if they want to read it.
And I am with Savita and Jo and Farah too. It seems to me that a well-written book that covers these areas as part of its story, is a perfect way to introduce these subjects to high school children. I think it would make a great syllabus book for study and discussion.