Ask the Author: Kate Brauning
Answered Questions (3)
Kate Brauning
Well, my debut is a first cousins romance, so a lot of people ask me that! I go in-depth on why I wrote a book about kissing cousins here: http://katebrauning.com/2014/06/10/so...
Kate Brauning
That's a great question. The thing is, many of those situations ARE young adult situations. Teenagers are dealing with sex and drugs and authority issues and violence and swearing. Those things are part of their lives already, even if parents wish they weren't. If a particular student isn't dealing with those things, in most cases one or more of their friends are. In the classroom, books present a place for dealing a little more objectively with those issues, for processing and evaluating them. It also helps hone critical thinking skills and helps them find response mechanisms. There is a lot of solid work behind teaching books with those elements as a positive way to help students deal with these issues. You can find some methods and responses to parents in Banned Books materials here, for example: http://bannedbooksweek.org/resources/... and also here: http://www.ascd.org/publications/news...
Even though what you're talking about aren't necessarily banned books, many banned books contain the kind of material you're talking about, and the rationale and methods can hold true for teaching similar books.
Engaging parents in this process can be helpful. There are suggestions in those links for how to do that, too.
It's definitely an issue teachers run into, and one worth researching and having response materials in place. I dealt with it myself, actually-- I was a high school English teacher before I started writing. I will say, though, that I find high value in YA books where the more mature issues are dealt with honestly and openly, because it gives readers a place to process and relate to those struggles. And many teens may not have a place to do that elsewhere.
Even though what you're talking about aren't necessarily banned books, many banned books contain the kind of material you're talking about, and the rationale and methods can hold true for teaching similar books.
Engaging parents in this process can be helpful. There are suggestions in those links for how to do that, too.
It's definitely an issue teachers run into, and one worth researching and having response materials in place. I dealt with it myself, actually-- I was a high school English teacher before I started writing. I will say, though, that I find high value in YA books where the more mature issues are dealt with honestly and openly, because it gives readers a place to process and relate to those struggles. And many teens may not have a place to do that elsewhere.
Kate Brauning
I've got an upper YA thriller set in the Ozarks that I'm revising, and a NA non-college manuscript that I'm drafting right now. They're so very different, but I love them both so much that I'm constantly jotting notes and telling my husband about a new idea and adding songs to playlists for them.
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