Picky Readers

Photo credit:  San Jose Public Library  (under  this license ) This week is Banned Books Week , a week to celebrate the freedom to express and share ideas, even unorthodox or unpopular ideas like those present in the frequently-challenged young adult (YA) books of today. There are many reasons for a book to be banned from the shelves: content considered unsuited to the audience for whom the book is intended, sexual or graphic content, offensive language, or even characters within the LGBTQ+ community. The banning or challenging (attempting to ban) of books mostly stems from parents who don't believe the topic matter is suited for the age group. Perhaps the need to keep children from reading books with content that we believe to be inappropriate lives in all of us, but the truth is, we as Americans do not have the right to control limit another person's access to information under the First Amendment. While parents have the right and responsibility to decide what books th

Photo credit: Emma K. Howdy, YA'll! I'm Emma, an avid reader and writer, as well as a journalism student at Columbia College of Chicago, and I love  YA (young adult) books. I often frequent my local library and peruse the teen section for the best reads. One thing I've been noticing lately, though, is that many readers shy away from YA books for fear of encountering their most hated tropes: she doesn't like dystopias, he can't stand love triangles-- the list goes on and on. So, I've developed a solution: book reviews that include all the important information you need to know about a book before you pick it up. That includes, but is not limited to, the level of magic, the danger of imminent death to a beloved character, the tear-jerking factor, and the cheesiness of the romance. I know how important these things are to readers, so I will do my best to provide quality ratings. A book rating might look something like this: (Note: this is entirely