Hooray For Suicidal Vampire Books
June 9, 2011 No Comments
Conservative parents have found something to complain about for every generation. First it was Elvis and his corrupting hip swings, then it was Marilyn Manson, and when I was a kid it was Harry Potter books with all their black magic and paganism. The current panic that conservative parents are trying to raise is that teen books are too dark, and they are turning our youth into miserable, angsty adolescents.
I have a secret to share with these parents: most teenagers are already miserable and angsty!
High school and middle school suck for a lot of people. Things like puberty, bullying and plain old hormones make adolescents unhappy, not Twilight books.
It is true that teen books these days have way more dark romance and vampires than in other generations, but there is nothing wrong with that. It is important that teens can read about characters who are going through the same emotional struggles that they are. If every protagonist were happy and perfect teens would have nothing to relate to and they would feel abnormal for feeling anything but happy.
This article complains that events in teen books are too profane or violent. Unfortunately, the real world is just as dark as the things that go on in these books. Reading about murder or criminals does not corrupt teens, it helps them to become more aware. Besides, if kids don’t learn about violence from books, they’ll just learn it from movies or video games. At least this way they’re actually reading something.
So if you don’t like them then don’t buy those books for your kids, that’s fine. What isn’t fine is trying to stop other people from buying them.
Contact the author here: jennY@morningquickie.com
