(no subject)

[sofiaviolet]

The Writer's Block prompt over at LJ made me lol. What (if any) books would you ban from a high school library? Are there certain subjects that you feel are inappropriate for teenagers regardless of literary merit?

The answer to that question is 'fuck that noise,' by the way. No hate speech (hate text(s)?). Other than that, I would rather teenagers read about sex than violence - but if I ruled the world, people wouldn't love/glorify/eroticize violence.

Related: my mom is a high school librarian right now (before that, she was retired, and before that, she was an elementary/middle school librarian, and before that, she was retired, and before that, she was a cataloger at a university). In particular, at a sports-oriented Catholic boys' school.

As I was such a voracious reader as a kid, she often turns to me for suggestions re: how to get these kids to read shit. We have come up with several solutions:
* books about sports! Biographies of athletes are relatively popular.
* the most mainstream-ly popular YA series of the moment! Teenage boys will apparently read Twilight and its sequels because their girlfriends do.
* graphic novels! This is fairly untested, as we are having trouble coming up with any graphic novels which will pass muster with the principal and interest the boys. Mom is not up on this stuff and pretty much everything I read would make the principal faint.

So your suggestions of graphic novels would be most appreciated, and remember that they must be read over and deemed appropriate by a rather conservative old Catholic [priest/friar/something].

Comments

[sasha_feather]

I rec Shaun Tan's graphic novels, The Arrival and Tales from Outer Suburbia. They are AWESOME and iMO appropriate for kids/young adults/most ages.

[fleurdeliser]

Uhhh... all my favorite graphic novels would be wildly inappropriate for a conservative Catholic school. But I believe that many classic novels have been written in graphic novel form, and I imagine if the text version has already been approved, it'd be easier to get a graphic novel version approved.

[pinesandmaples]

My father-in-law was the librarian at a conservative Anglican boy's secondary school in Trinidad (which is a contradictory yet conservative society itself) for many years. To that end, I linked my wife (rooibos) here to see if she can help. (Chances are low; her father is a fuckwit. To put it mildly.)

[rooibos]

I remember having this same conversation with my dad when the library he worked at had a sudden windfall and they could buy a whole bunch of books at once. I think they were considering graphic novels, but experience had taught them that the boys would steal them.

For some reason, the Guinness Book of World Records was inordinately popular (to the point where it was also stolen.) The younger boys (the kids were aged 10-18, more or less) also seemed to like books about how things work, or the DK Eyewitness books and such things.

[blnchflr]

What (if any) books would you ban from a high school library? Are there certain subjects that you feel are inappropriate for teenagers regardless of literary merit?
*Facepalms* O_O

knee-jerk reaction

[pinesandmaples]

Are there certain subjects that you feel are inappropriate for teenagers regardless of literary merit?

Fandom: because they ruin it for the rest of us.

[sofiaviolet]

Thanks!

[sofiaviolet]

Ooh. Ooh.

Fuck, that might even be good for me - there are a lot of classics I haven't read because I don't care for the wall-o-text descriptions.

[sofiaviolet]

Thank you. Also, :( fuckwits.

[sofiaviolet]

Mom doesn't report much of an issue with theft, fortunately - lots of 'forgot to return the book,' but they do get them back to her if she asks.

We had a huge number of 'how things work' books, but they were all flooded. Otherwise she probably would have brought them in already.

[sofiaviolet]

I just... yeah.

Re: knee-jerk reaction

[sofiaviolet]

Oh, fandom.

I entered fandom when I was 14, by way of Harry Potter on fanfiction.net. And this was before the nc17 ban.

I've turned out pretty well - although the kinds of people who would prevent teenagers from reading about certain topics would probably disagree with me on that.

[zarhooie]

Fables, maybe? Oh, and NextWAVE by Warren Ellis. Um... Maybe Transmetropolitan would be able to sneak through (also by Ellis).

ETA: I should mention that just about anything else by Ellis is going to be wildly inappropriate. Transmet is on the border but I think it's important. Your mom should DEFINITELY preview these before she orders them; maybe ILL or something?

[zarhooie]

The Hobbit has a graphic novel version, ferex.

[sofiaviolet]

:D

I managed to read that one - my main problem is with 19th century stuff - but the students and the principal would probably both go for it. And Mom is a huge LotR fan.

[sofiaviolet]

That's all stuff on my (very long) to-read list. If I get copies before winter break, she can preview them when she comes to visit. If they're acceptable, then merry Christmas from me to her students, and if not, I'll keep 'em.

[turlough]

Societies that look very similar on the surface can be so very different. This entry reminded me of how different the US and Sweden is. We're much more likely to react to things being full of violence, and the idea that teenagers should be kept away from sex was pretty much done away with completely back in the 70s. And the idea that people would want to ban books from the library makes me really, really uncomfortable. (And probably makes a lot of Europeans uncomfortable too I think. It's far too reminiscent of what happened in Germany.)

[bookofcalm]

Take a look through the First Second collection? I've only read a few (I think American Born Chinese would probably be appropriate) but it looks like there are a bunch of adventure-type stories. There are probably some sports manga that would do the trick (Slam Dunk for example), but I don't know enough about appropriateness levels. I'd consider Tim Eldred's Grease Monkey and Paul Sizer's Little White Mouse (both in space!), though I haven't read either of them yet. I'd say probably 95% of stuff from Warren Ellis would not be deemed appropriate.

Runaways (Marvel) might actually be fine. It was hugely popular in our comic book club. Oh, except there's a lesbian. RIGHT. I'd say current (now canceled) Blue Beetle should be okay, and probably Image's Invincible. Some of the Marvel Ultimate line should be okay, especially Ultimate Spiderman and Ultimate X-Men, although that's really just earlier on and also there is that bit where actually Ultimate X-Men has two gay characters. Or did when I stopped reading it. I am pretty sure the ALA has a list of teen-appropriate graphic novels somewhere.

Sadly, definitely not Battle Pope. :(

[(Anonymous)]

Seconding Ultimate Spidey and Invincible. Maybe Life Sucks by Jessica Abel, but maybe not. Bone starts out kinda kiddie-level but doesn't stay there. Spyboy? The Geoff Johns Teen Titans run? Loeb's Batman titles got me back into comics, and who doesn't like X-Men? Kurt Busiek's Superman origin story Secret Identity.

[hatman]

Here via zarhooie. As far as graphic novels go...

I highly recommend Astro City, starting with Life in the Big City. That's a collection of single-issue stories, but they're some of the best super hero stories out there. The second book, Confession, is one longer story (the groundwork for which is laid in the first book). One of the main characters is a superhero priest version of Batman, and the story also deals with a group of biblically themed superheroes who believe their powers come from God.

Invincible is also a good read, with some nice twists. Not necessarily as thought-provoking, but a lot of fun. It's an ongoing series, but it's been collected into both trade paperbacks and larger hardcover archives.

I should mention that Marvel Comics recently started a line of graphic novels based on classic literature. For example, there's The Odyssey. An Amazon search for Marvel Illustrated Classics turns up a wider selection.

Neil Gaiman has a number of graphic novels out. Dark and thought-provoking, often with ties to classical mythology, but I don't think there's anything that should really cause it to fail to pass muster. Look for Sandman (series of collected novels), Stardust (also a novel and a very cool movie), and Neverwhere.

[sonneta]

I was thinking The Hobbit, but I see I was beaten on that one.

There are a few Manga Bibles / Bible Stories- This one seems to have received the best reviews on Amazon, at least. (And, unlike some of the others, it isn't described as "irreverent").

[desperance]

Bryan Talbot's The Tale of One Bad Rat - it should be essential reading for teenagers.

Aaaand then everything else that Bryan has ever done. (I'm prejudiced, but even so, it's true.)

[zarhooie]

here babe: http://diamondbookshelf.com/public/

the main comic book distributor, diamond, has this special section for librarians.

If she wants specific suggestions tell her to email me. I can giver a better list. And let her know that I can also buy her stock at a good discount. I supply our city's library with all their manga and GN's.

anna@illusivecomics.com

---That's from fuzzy_queen.
__________________________________

Anna is good people.

[watersword]

Check out Henry Jenkin's rec list of graphic novels.

[sofiaviolet]

I remember the elementary/middle school library at my school (my mom took over from a librarian who was the stereotype of mean and 'shhhh!!!' and all of that) had little heart stickers on some of the books, which meant that they were 'mature' and you weren't supposed to read them until 8th grade. Because somebody kissed, or something. *facepalm*

[turlough]

Oooh, it almost sounds like the way it was in my local library when I was a kid in the early 70s. You were not allowed to borrow books from the adult section until you were I think 14 or 15 but I got a dispensation because I'd read everything in the kids and teenagers departments by the time I was 12. I remember when I stumbled over the Swedish translation of McCaffrey's Dragonflight, quite an eyeopener :-)

[thesilentpoet.livejournal.com]

Hi, we met at the Wyrding Studio's party today, although also here by way of shadesong.

Think some of these recs have been given, but...

Sandman, Neverwhere, and Stardust, all by Neil Gaiman. I think : The High Cost of Living might be one? Also, Gaiman's Eternals.

Know Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis was recced, would second that. Say also his Freakangels. Volumes 1, 2 & 3 are all out in deadtree format. Still continuing online.

Fables, definitely. Also, there's some recent ones based on the new Star Trek cannon. Saw one featuring Next Gen cast, where among other things, Q is captain. Sadly, cannot remember title or name.

Also, if manga counts... Black Cat, Trigun, Wolf's Rain, Hikaru No Go, Full Metal Alchemist and Bleach might be worth looking into?

Good luck!