Posted on 04/04/2006 6:29:59 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback
When writer Marcia Segelstein headed to the bookstore to scout out books for her 12-year-old, she wasn’t sure what to expect. But she certainly didn’t expect rampant drinking, drug use, profanity, and explicit descriptions of sex and nudity.
Nevertheless, that’s exactly what she found.
Segelstein’s daughter had been clamoring to read the Gossip Girl series, which “‘all’ of her friends were reading,” she said. After seeing what was in the books, Segelstein was floored. But a school librarian confirmed, “They’re very popular among sixth and seventh graders.” Even worse, the librarian added, “Some parents are so happy that their kids are reading anything, they don’t care what it is.”
The series, described by Teen People magazine as “Sex and the City for the younger set,” is set among a group of wealthy, spoiled students at an elite New York high school. And the drugs, drinking, and various kinds of sexual encounters aren’t their only problem behavior. Both teen and adult characters engage in binging and purging. Also of concern is the unfettered materialism. With the constant name-dropping of expensive stores, clothing designers, cosmetics, and other pricey name brands, some of the pages in these books read like advertisements.
Perhaps the worst part is that no moral judgments are made at all. As Segelstein put it in an article on our BreakPoint website, “The fact that the Gossip Girl books are nowhere close to being well written pales in comparison to the fact that they are utterly amoral. . . . They smoke, they drink, they have sex, they do drugs—yet they never have problems like getting AIDS or becoming pregnant or getting arrested or flunking out of school. Consequences don’t exist in the lives of these ‘chosen ones,’ as they’re called. The fictional world of the Gossip Girl books is a dangerous one, yet it is never portrayed as such.”
Gossip Girl author Cecily von Ziegesar admits that she wrote the books that way for a reason. She told Colby magazine, “It’s completely unrealistic to have a group of kids who are constantly reforming or who are being punished because they’re ‘naughty.’ And I always resented that quality in books I’d read.” She goes on, “I don’t know what it is that redeems the characters, exactly, but deep down, they’re still good kids.”
I can answer the author’s question—there’s very little redemptive about her characters. And that’s why parents of preteen girls need to do their job and keep these corrosive books out of their homes and out of their daughters’ lives. Von Ziegesar herself tipped her hand when she wrote in one of the books, “Luckily Blair and her friends came from the kind of families for whom drinking was as commonplace as blowing your nose. Their parents believed . . . that the more access kids have to alcohol, the less likely they are to abuse it. . . . The same thing went for everything else, like sex or drugs—as long as you kept up appearances, you were all right.”
There’s no justification for that kind of parenting, in fiction or in life. And there’s no excuse for putting this kind of literature into the hands of young girls who need to learn better.
so Gossip Girl books are basicall written pornography for girls who have not reach puberty.
Are there not already laws with regards to selling sexual materials to minors?
At the very least should they not be behind the register and only sold to adults?
You're added!
There is the occasional witch, but always shown to be a bad guy right away. Lots of creatures out of classical mythology, because Lewis was a classical fellow, but in Narnia it is classicism tamed and subject to Christ. Only once, IIRC, does a good character attempt a "spell". It is immediately shown to be a Bad Thing, and she repents very sincerely within a page or two.
They are relatively short novels, entertaining and well written. I think it would be worth your time to read them yourself to make sure if you think they're appropriate for your children. It has magic, but it's definitely not a Harry Potter type of DIY "if only you had the secret" type of magic. Lewis always portrays any attempt at the supernatural without going through God as evil and not to be done.
Carolyn
Narnia is not bad, just the opposite.
It is an alligory of christianity.
It has been around for decades.
The magic is no big deal...in the books, the source of all supernatural power used for good is Aslan (the Christ figure), and only those who are definitely evil use any other "magic." In fact, IIRC, I don't think that the supernatural things Aslan does for his allies are ever called magic, but simply are in effect because he has the power to do them.
C.S. Lewis did a very good job.
Graham Greene's children's books are out of print, as far as I can tell. Pearl S. Buck's children's classic The Chinese Children Next Door is out of print.
Their primary sources for the paper were Titus Livius (whom they found absolutely enthralling to read), Tacitus, Juvenal, Plutarch, Cicero, and Julius Caesar.
The secondary sources were A History of the Romans, by Frank Bourne, Chronicle of the Roman Republic, by Philip Matyszak, Roman Homosexuality, by Craig A. Williams (a scholarly work not in the least a perjorative, but nevertheless it was more than graphic), and Roman Religions, by Mary Beard, John North, and Simon Price. Finally, they did include an abridged version of Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Needless to say, there is also a collection of online sources.
I would call this paper probably equivalent in quality and extent to an upper division undergraduate humanities thesis (although it took them nearly a year to assemble). Sadly, IMO it's what we should be expecting out of high schools.
you are not suggesting we ban these books are you??? parents need to be the parent and keep their kids away from this stuff, government should not get involved.
We'll get there. Thanks for the recommendation.
Thank you for this head's up. As the mother of three daughters, one being almost 11, I will keep a lookout for these "Gossip Girls" series. Luckily I live in a prudish, conservative country bumpkin county and the schools don't even allow Goosebumps in the public school library, so doubtful this will make it. However times are a changin...
History Channel has some good stuff (particularly Modern Marvels), but you have to be there to interpret the spin.
Abebooks.com (http://www.abebooks.com) is a great resource for OOP books. For example:
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Maud+Hart+Lovelace&y=11&sortby=5&x=60
My thirteen year old is working her way through Nancy Drew. Such innocence. I had not heard of this puke and thank you Mr Silverback for bringing it to our attention.
.... but it'd be nice if some clueless parents could walk into a bookstore and see these books on a big display and catch on that they must be good.
Mine too!! She is all about Narnia and I have been asked at LEAST 18 times today if I am going to go get it on DVD since it is released today. She's been asking since we left the movie theatres door after seeing it the third time, LOL.
She just finished Prince Caspian too. Has she read that yet? Tell her my daughter LOVED it as much as The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe.
Bump.
"Although I will admit I read every single "Little House" book, even though most kids considered them girl books."
Both of my boys read "Little House."
Ping - you might have some insight/thoughts/comments?
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