Censorship

Over at Murderati, Pari was talking about censorship regarding what books children should be reading. She mentioned an article where a mother tore pages out of a library book that she didn't think was appropriate for her child to read. To me, this is gross censorship and shouldn't be allowed. To deny the rest of the population the story because you didn't approve of it is WRONG. Do not foist your beliefs or opinions on me or mine.

One of my daughter's classmates is reading TWILIGHT. This child has always been a voracious reader, reading far above her grade level. Her mother is the one who gave her the book. Do I think this is appropriate reading material for a second grader? Heck, no! But that was the parent's choice, not mine. My choice is not to let my daughter read that book until she reaches a greater level of maturity to digest the information in the book.

As a parent, I DO feel you need to guide young readers to age and maturity-appropriate material, but don't take that choice away from everyone. This is simply responsible parenting.

Would I let my daughter read the romances that I read? No way! She isn't mature enough to understand or handle the sex scenes.

Would I let her read Jim Butcher's Dresden? No, I feel the story is too complicated and there's enough blood and gore that it isn't appropriate for an 8-year old.

Would I let her read Anne McCaffrey's dragon books? You bet, I would. They might touch on death, blood, war, sex, but they don't go into detail about it, unlike the above examples.

I guess I would censor, or steer her to appropriate reading material, but only until I thought she was mature enough to make her own choices.

Write on!