Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Stretching the boundaries

How do you feel about Street Lit? For many of us it is hard to accept books for young teens that paint a bleak picture of life. We try to shove it off as applying to "other kids" usually the minority children growing up in cities. Not true--young people can have bleak, difficult lives in suburbs and rural areas too and family problems and unhappy endings aren't reserved for minority children. For those of us who were not at the recent YALSA Lit Symposium, SLJ offers a blog that gives some of the highlights of presentations by authors and librarians. These speakers know the material and they know the readers. They point out that as librarians we are committed to giving our patrons the materials they want. Reading improves skills and helps a child move toward a happier and more successful future even if the reading is about other kids who have tried drinking, drugs and sex in ways unacceptable to many parents. One of the most important points made is that Street Lit or Urban Lit or whatever you call it is not just for underprivileged youth. Our society is more and more polarized between the have's and have-not's and books are one of the most important ways to bridge that gap. Reading widely helps kids understand their lives and the lives of others. Whatever we can do to encourage that is good, and reading this blog with the un-urban title "A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy" is a good way to start.

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