You know, I don’t object to them having their opinion. It’s quite probable that most graphic novels aren’t really meant for kids. By all means bring it up to the library, or the parents, or whoever, but did she *really* have to resort to just constantly checking it out? Hello, passive-aggressive? And way out of line?
Point is – it’s not their place to determine a book’s readability. If you want to set age limits on certain books (and given that some graphic novels really do fall into a Mature level), then I guess that might be okay – but where does it stop? I was reading adult books in 4th grade. Should the library limit my borrowing practices simply because I wasn’t into Sweet Valley High?
*shudders*
This is where parents should be stepping in to monitor what their kids read/watch or whatever**. Maybe limits could be put on the cards electronically – if the book falls under certain categories, the kid can’t check it out. I dunno.
The women might has well have just burned the thing for all that.
** And as an aside note here, sometimes that doesn’t even work. I used to read a lot of Piers Anthony growing up – the Xanth novels, Phaze, the Immortals, etc. When I was in 6th grade, my mother bought me a copy of Anthonology. She just saw the name, and figured it would be okay. Problem was, it was made up of short stories he had written in the earlier days, including several that were printed up in Playboy and the like. At least one story contained extremely explicit descriptions of a man being tortured – i.e. eyeball being blown out, finger getting the skin peeled back, etc. In the Barn was about a planet where some women were actually raised as…well, cows. Big boobs, living in stables, ran around naked, got milked, etc. And hapless hero had to bang one out in the barn before taking her to see the naked man stud with the mighty wang.
Ok. I was maybe eleven when I read that. Age appropriate? Um…no. Not really. Did it scar me? Eh. Maybe. I remember lending it to my aunt later, since we used to read a lot of the same sorts of books. She was mildly scandalized, but in the end didn’t bother telling my mom. After all, the damage had been done and there wasn’t any point in making my mom feel like crap about it. (And this is what good aunts do, btw. LOL)
Point? Read/watch the stuff your kids are reading and watching and then at least you can make an informed decision.
Second point: I get the feeling that Piers Anthony is a really dirty old man.
