Are there any taboos about subject matter in books for teens today?
Everything that you find on the Internet, in the movies, on the nightly news, or in books for adults can be found today in books for teens. Basically, the taboos have all been broken. Is anything missing from this rich landscape? We lack books that show teens taking political and social action. If Martians read our books, they would believe that American teenagers hang out only in shopping malls and never participate in society. I was able to select some books that showed political and social activism on the part of teenagers, but I wish more good books existed in this area. What if your teenager reads books you don’t like? Remember to be grateful that your teenager is reading and that conversation is always preferable to censorship. Then use 500 Great Books for Teens to locate books that you want to share. What were your criteria for selecting the 500 books? I looked at the quality of the writing. I wanted to find writers who had a story to tell and could do so. I also evaluated voice
