tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32085591.post7995316490959207464..comments2023-11-07T21:12:19.852-06:00Comments on Wyrdsmiths: Young Adult Taboostate hallawayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06631759014508937940noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32085591.post-46905928562777858102009-09-24T12:35:00.908-05:002009-09-24T12:35:00.908-05:00I remember the HUGE furor over Judy Blume's bo...I remember the HUGE furor over Judy Blume's book, Forever. Can you believe that my high school libabry wouldn't carry it? It seems so tame right now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32085591.post-74071496164344618922009-09-24T12:00:56.636-05:002009-09-24T12:00:56.636-05:00You had teen books (I know this because I had teen...You had teen books (I know this because I had teen books, and while you're older than me, a bunch of my teen books had been around for YEARS) ... but they were easy to miss. My library had a small section of cheap paperbacks on revolving racks; probably 25% were crappy teen romance, a bunch were horror-lite, and the remainder were "problem books," books that were written by grownups to speak to the concerns of Today's Teen. I think they were edgy by the standards of 1982 -- a typical book involved a girl going through a pregnancy scare. Chapter one starts with her period being late, and she spends chapter upon chapter anguishing about what on EARTH she's going to do if she's pregnant (abort? adopt? keep the baby?) but not actually, you know, getting a goddamn pregnancy test and using it. The book ends with her period showing up (a full month late, which meant this idiot spent A MONTH freaking out but NOT TAKING A PREGNANCY TEST) (this annoyed me horribly even as a teen).<br /><br />Also, eating disorders. Eating disorder books were so hot my school library kept them behind the counter because people kept stealing them.<br /><br />I do not remember there being a single teen novel around that mentioned AIDS as something anyone needed to worry about, even though by the time I was a teen (I turned 13 in 1986), it was well embedded in the public consciousness as a BIG DEAL. <br /><br />I do actually remember ONE teen novel about lesbians -- "Annie on my Mind." It was a SERIOUSLY transgressive book at the time and is still on the Most Frequently Banned list. I think I found it at Room of One's Own but it is within the realm of possibility I got it at the library.<br /><br />Anyway, YA has come a loooooooong way.Naomihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16235581646855322094noreply@blogger.com