Should you really be concerned about the books marketed to your teens?
As a former bookseller and mother of five children, I have long been concerned about the young adult book market. My several years in the stacks, shelving hundreds of these books and thumbing through many of them, left me wary when my oldest daughter entered her teen years. "I don't like old-fashioned books," she said in response to my safe historical fiction and classic suggestions. "I want to read about kids like me who live now."
I couldn't blame her for that, of course, but I was stymied. Time and inclination prevented me from screening all the books that might interest her, yet I knew that much of what was available contained mature or offensive material that I wanted her to avoid at her impressionable age. I also knew that the review resources I'd found, such as The Horn Book Magazine, were helpful but not detailed enough. I did want to know whether the book was a quality read, to be sure, but I also wanted to know about the sex, violence, language, and other such content. I found several resources about family-friendly books, too, but they were not quite what I wanted either.
What I was looking for was a primarily objective resource focused on young adult literature that addressed common parental concerns, just as some movie-review websites did. Since I couldn't find one and since I was certain I wasn't the only frustrated parent, I decided to create my own website resource. In doing so I would not only learn more about the entertainment available to my own teens, I could help other parents do so, too.
Within a year of launching What's In It? (2012) I began discovering some sites that offer reviews that address parental concerns on books for all juvenile age groups, including teens. Unlike these helpful resources, What's In It? reviews only YA and middle grade literature with teen protagonists in order to maximize its usefulness for parents of teens. If you are seeking information about books outside of this age group or about YA books I haven't yet covered, you may find a helpful resource on my page, "Other Review Resources."
Thank you for your interest in What's In It?: The Concerned Parent's Guide to Young Adult Literature!
I couldn't blame her for that, of course, but I was stymied. Time and inclination prevented me from screening all the books that might interest her, yet I knew that much of what was available contained mature or offensive material that I wanted her to avoid at her impressionable age. I also knew that the review resources I'd found, such as The Horn Book Magazine, were helpful but not detailed enough. I did want to know whether the book was a quality read, to be sure, but I also wanted to know about the sex, violence, language, and other such content. I found several resources about family-friendly books, too, but they were not quite what I wanted either.
What I was looking for was a primarily objective resource focused on young adult literature that addressed common parental concerns, just as some movie-review websites did. Since I couldn't find one and since I was certain I wasn't the only frustrated parent, I decided to create my own website resource. In doing so I would not only learn more about the entertainment available to my own teens, I could help other parents do so, too.
Within a year of launching What's In It? (2012) I began discovering some sites that offer reviews that address parental concerns on books for all juvenile age groups, including teens. Unlike these helpful resources, What's In It? reviews only YA and middle grade literature with teen protagonists in order to maximize its usefulness for parents of teens. If you are seeking information about books outside of this age group or about YA books I haven't yet covered, you may find a helpful resource on my page, "Other Review Resources."
Thank you for your interest in What's In It?: The Concerned Parent's Guide to Young Adult Literature!