Coe Booth author of Tyrel and Kendra writes for the teens she knows. She doesn't shy away from stories with swear words, sex, drugs, gangs or violence. She knows that teens encounter those topics on a daily basis. To not write about them would be an injustice for her readers.
Julie Anne Peters has been both praised and banned for her controversial books about gay teens. While parents and teachers judge her for the issues that she brings up she is always receiving letters from grateful teens who appreciate the delicate topics that she talks about in her books. The teens she writes for are hurt and looking for someone to look up to and Peters is a great person to find.
Barry Lyga is an author who's work is quietly controversial. When you start reading his books you aren't sure if some people will find them offensive but when you uncover the themes beneath the story you begin to realize what he is truly writing about. His books about misfits and the misunderstood are insightful about the life of the not-so-perfect and the not-so-popular.Out of all of this there are two things that I took away:
- The best place for controversial books is in the classroom where they can be discussed under a teachers guidance. Books are taken off the shelves because teachers or librarians or parents or anyone find something offensive about them and they don't think children should be reading them. But that is the exact opposite of what we should do. Teens will find a way to get to the books the want/need. The best we can do is offer them a place to understand what is happening in the book and express how it makes them feel.
- There are two types of censorship; banning a book and removing it from a collection or classroom, and "selection" or not keeping the books on your shelf because it is controversial. Make sure that you aren't doing either of these forms of censorship.
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