Guilty Pleasures

The Horn Book Magazine, about books and reading for children and young adults, once ran a series called "Guilty Pleasures" in which authors wrote about the forbidden and embarrassing books they read as children. One writer recalls being a sheltered, overprotected fifth grader in rural Ohio when his friends led him excitedly to Judy Blume's Forever, the book that talked about "it." Another writer recalls growing up in a household where her parents, musicians who valued intellectual pursuits, read aloud form Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Louisa May Alcott. When she discovered some dog-eared Young Adult paperbacks at the library featuring girls with "coltish legs" and seductive moves, she studied them earnestly but secretly, knowing that they were the "Cap'n Crunch" of reading and terribly lowbrow.

Many of us had our own guilty pleasures in reading as children. I remember long summers at a lake cottage in West Virginia where I found plenty of junk to devour. Hidden within the large volume of Sherlock Holmes was Valley of the Dolls, which I read avidly at age 11; my mother would have been horrified. The following summer I managed to hide Rosemary's Baby inside Anne of Green Gables-- I like to think of the literal interpretation there. Predictably, Rosemary's Baby gave me awful dreams and had some impact on my early adolescent notion of pregnancy. And of course, babysitting often provided a trove of trash. I was always ready to babysit the Burleson children because the parents had a copy of The Godfather that I needed to finish (at age 12) or the McAlrich children, whose parents had Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (But Were Afraid to Ask) at age 13.

What are the forbidden books for elemenary children these days? The Twlight series by Stephanie Meyer immediately comes to mind, with its deceptively appropriate first volume and its troubling final volume. (See my note on What Not To Read on my web page.) The American Library Association publishes lists of most frequently challenged books in libraries each year. Most of these challenges are from parents who want to protect their children from books that violate their own value system: books featuring homosexuality (And Tango Makes Three, Uncle Bobby's Wedding) and witchcraft (Harry Potter, The Golden Compass) usually top the list.

Would I have wanted my own children to read, at age 11 or 12, the shocking stuff I found? Of course not. Did they read surreptitiously? I have no doubt. (Free free to comment, Justin and Adam.) Do I try to steer children to the most appropriate titles for their age and re-direct when necessary? Every week. Am I surprised when children tote trashy books around? Not at all. But I would love to hear from others: What were the guilty pleasures, the lowbrow stuff, the barely tolerated reading, the forbidden books of your childhood?