Dark Teen Novels, Are They a Problem?
This photo was taken on a camera phone at a Barnes and Noble the the photographer couldn't beleive his eyes that there were actually two shelve devoted to "Teen Paranormal Romance".
Personally i feel that this photo answers the question of weather or not dark books are a problem in the affirmative.
This is the link to the original location of the photo. You may have to scroll down a lot in order to see this particular image.
Thesis Statement: To break the cycle of passive reading we must not only provide young adults with more books but also teach children who a learning to read to enjoy all varieties of books. To accomplish this I will try to set up a book display in libraries as well as help but donating books to younger readers in schools.
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Books: |
Magazine Articles: "Living Through Lit: Why Dark Young-Adult Novels Shouldn't be Banned" |
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Newspaper Article: |
Web Site Articles: Teen Reading Trends: 2008-2009 An Interview With the YALSA President |
The first time I saw this as a real issue was over the 2010 Thanksgiving break. I was in Anchorage visiting family and while there I went to a Borders book store. Out of curiosity I visited the young adult section of the store. Looking at it all I could see was dark book covers. An entire book case was filled with nothing but the works of a single author. I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture resolving then to try and do something. In order to help improve the situation in my community I plan on creating several book displays to be set up in school libraries. My hope is that these displays will encourage students to read a wider variety of books rather than simply choosing from what is open provided on shelves. This process will likely take several weeks as my hope is to have a display in every high school as well as many of the middle schools.
Today I went down to the library during lunch to talk with Mrs. Madsen. She showed me a place, currently dedicated to Stephen King horrors, for me to set up a book display. I had several questions like, What books can I use? Is there a certain number of books that I need to display? What materials can I use? Do I need to get my own materials or can I use the schools? She told me that I could use any book in the library and that if I wanted I could even have books from the Nole Wien Library brought over. I learned that I can use the materials that school already has and that I could also bring my own. And thankfully there isn't a set number of books that must be displayed though she advised me that I would probably want from five to fifteen books. At home I have been working on a list of possible books for the display. Tomorrow I will take that that list in to compare with what books that are in the school's library.
Now that I'm here in the third week of January I realize that I won't get to do all that I hoped before the month is out. So far my biggest problem has been finding time. Because of my transportation limits the only times that I can work in the West Valley Library, to say none the least about other schools, is Wednesday mornings and during lunch. Currently my plan is to resolve the issue by working Monday and Tuesday of next week during lunch to construct most of what I need. Then Wednesday I can come in early and put it all together. My other problem is finding a wide range of books to put on display. Unfortunately, for this instance at least, most of my reading has been confined to only one genera. Personally I don't want to recommend a book that I have read. As of yet I don't have a solution for this problem except to simply counter the "Dark Fantasy" with other, lighter(better word pending), fantasy.