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When young I read a lot of stuff. Nobody watched what I read. Every once in a while I got a good recommendation, but usually it was tilting my head sideways between stacks in whatever library was serving as latchkey kid storage that year.
Took me a while to recover from Kafka's Metamorphosis, Anaïs Nin, and similar things without anyone with whom to discuss such things. Judy Blume's tweenerporn was rather odd to read at seven, too.
I bought the Virginia Edition of Heinlein's works and one reason is for young'uns. We squeak close to the move weight limit every PCS due to all the books. This observation of yours? Is a very good reason to keep them, yes.
This isn't a bad blog, but maybe at the upper end of the age scale for your'uns.
I'm with you on that. I didn't even like my kids reading Harry Potter. But that came about age 8 when they outgrew the American Girl series.
(I did not buy the HP books. They wheedled those from another house.)
Mrs. Salamander is smart to play censor librorum. Garbage in/garbage out, I always say.
Have they tried the Anne of Green Gables series, or Little House on the Prairie? Actually, Jane Austen should work for your oldest, and she'll almost surely come back to it again and again over the years.
Wow, wasn't expecting to find my name in the middle of that post. I have no idea where you were going with that sentence, but I appreciate that in addition to guarding your children's innocence, you spared a thought for mine. 
The writer must know some interesting guys. It may be because I always tried to only date nice men, but no one ever instructed me to open my mouth prior to a kiss. I think I would have gone off in fits of giggling if they had.
I'm really glad that you posted this. It's a subject that I'm passionate about. There's an ever-increasing number of people in our society who live to destroy innocence. They're offended by it and they want to eliminate it, even in young children. My mother was vigilant about books and movies and activities, and we complained about it when we were young, but I appreciate her so much now. My husband and I are planning to do exactly what you and Mrs. Salamander are doing.
My 10-year old is currently enjoying White Fang. He also very much enjoyed The Bridge at Dong-Ha when he read it in the fall...never much cared for Harry Potter.
Ahem... these days seems we are lucky to have children reading at all...
Sounds like your elder child is ready for Rand (serious business) and O'Brian (the best modern literature around).
Yet another argument for just sticking with the original Odyssey and Iliad...
Oh, I wish I could meet Mrs. Salamander, too! The two of us & you and PalmPilot -- what a fun dinner party that would be!
I'm re-reading The Dumbest Generation right now (I HIGHLY recommend it!), and there's a chapter on this very thing -- "The Failure of the Mentors". Bauerlein's thesis is that the folks who should know better -- the ones parents are trusting -- have really failed our kids. They're the ones in academia, etc., who say that kids don't really need to read, they don't need the classics or to know history, technology makes them smarter, and all that garbage. And I'd add your complaint about literature to that list.
I've long since given up browsing the young adult section at the library. 90% of it is trash. Fortunately, I can still remember many of my favorite books when I was a teen and I've tracked many of them down on PaperbackSwap.com. And thank goodness my daughter hasn't been interested in reading Twilight. I'd rather eat my own eyeballs than have to read about teen vampires in love.
In the same vein, some freinds of mine with teen daughters say "bless Disney Radio" - the alternative on the way to school is morning drive-time DJs. Not suitable for kids.
PS - agree with Anon above - how about O'Brian? That should keep her busy for a few weeks.
My lad always has his nose buried in a book. His 6th grade reading level tested out as a college freshman. Devoured Tolkein, not just the LOTR stuff, that same year. He'll be editor of his HS newspaper next year.
We were always encouraged him to read and were careful about what he read. His main frustration was with the school's summer reading lists since he found most of it boring and "lacking intellectual depth" (his words - not mine. Some of the school's choices were odd for the age bracket (8th grade - Ken Follett, Pillars of the Earth).
If you think that's bad, page through a typical middle-school history or social studies textbook. It'll send a chill down your spine. Imperialist American bad, commie good.
The innocence-destroyers are driven by the need to keep themselves in a job. The sex-ed instruction beginning in elementary school is far more detailed than is necessary. All it does is create anxiety in half the students, and give bad ideas to the other half.
This idea that small children have to know all about condoms and fallopian tubes is creating more problems than it solves. They already have kindly grandmother types coming through the classroom to ask if anyone's daddy does things that give them a "funny feeling".
It's an industry now, employing teachers, writers, psychologists and social workers. This mission provides the justification for many government jobs.
If your fourth-grader isn't up on the latest STD, you're a bad parent. It's the perverted outgrowth of a twisted doctrine: full liberalism where anything goes and children are sexualized before their teeth come in.
Funny thing, I've been a bookworm whole school life, even being "liaison to the library" in class for 12 consecutive years. And yes, devoured Verne by 3rd grade, Tolkien by 6th grade, and launching into academic history books by 8th grade.
Sadly all of this left me completely lacking in social skills and completely out of tune with my own generation...
ewok40k:
Sadly all of this left me completely lacking in social skills and completely out of tune with my own generation...
You say that as if it's a bad thing .
For another, earlier take on the problem described in "The Dumbest Generation", I recommend "Silicon Snake Oil" by Cliff Stoll. More technology-centric, of course, but outlining the same issues.
I forgot to mention that the picture included with the CDR's original post is exceptionally creepy.
I'll say just that for "Well I certainly hadn't expected that from the Cover" Sex scenes I've gotten Ken Follets "The Pillars of the Earth" and Peter Berling "Der Schwarze Kelch". I don't recall abortion in them but rape, rape of underage, underage, blasphemy (monk engaging in various sex act, also secret passage opened by ramming a dildo up the posterior of a statue of Maria Magdalena) and in Der Schwarze Kelch a lovely description of an Aztec(Or Maya? I'm beginning to forget, hurray.) orgy-cum-human sacrifice.
Otoh that was after I found my parents (Dad's?) stash of smut. Which was mostly Penthouse level of smut but also deSade's "Sodom". That stash disappeared mostly and quick.
In closing before you complain that your precious kid suddenly has softporn or worse in his/her literature first check wether or not your or spouses stash of erotica is still secret.
And don't let him on the internet. I know exactly what I used it the first year for.
Also no webcams. There is a term called "camwhore*". It's like your child being in a Girls gone wild video except more readily spread.
*more like camgullible because they're quite often conned into their performances or the ex (or brother/sister/friend thereof) makes them public as a parting gift.
My mother did her best to be careful with me, but I often was able to work around her efforts....so we can't blame Muriel, lol.
In particular I recall two things.
First, "The Exorcist". One of my uncles gave it to my mother right around the time of the movie in '73 - it had been written a year of two earlier. I was 12. I was FORBIDDEN to read it. I grew up in a three story townhouse in Charlestown. My mother had housework to do on the 2nd and 3rd floors and meals to prepare in the kitchen. But the best, longest chunks of time were when friends would come to visit and they would have tea/coffee in the kitchen. One quick hello and a smile and I was off to my mother's seat in the parlor (pronounced pah-la) careful never to move her bookmark. LOL! I finished before she did - it was awful! I had nightmares for weeks! I slept with my Rosary beads under my pillow.
The 2nd was finding a shopping bag of books left behind by my uncle Kevin. My sister Grace & I inherited Kevin's old room complete with Hi-Fi, some records & books. Several books were by Robert Rimmer, author of "The Harrad Experiment". According to Wikipedia - "The recurring theme in all or almost all of Rimmer's writing was a criticism of the assumption of monogamy as a societal norm. All the protagonists in his novels discover that they are happier in arrangements which would nowadays be called polyamorous or polyfidelitous." *cough cough* I have nothing more to say on that subject.
Good for you and Mrs. Salamander
The absurd thing is to assume that children are dumber than adults and dont find out what's hidden. And rather than hidding evil out of sight its better to teach how to discriminate it from good and how to choose good. It serves better them when they encounter evil in real life.
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