In class on Friday, we moved to the topic of books and its influence on others (hence my previous post). I gained some really good insight and just wanted to share a bit. We talked about good books and how some therapist can use them to open up conversations with their clients. They can take situations that have happened in a book and discuss them more openly then they would normally talk about themselves. This can possibly help the therapist to see what problem the child is focused on or worried about at that particular time in their life.  Harry Potter was a great example of this! There are so many times where he is being tried and tested, yet he remains true to himself and his friends. There are so many other good examples. Even if he has unfortunate circumstances at home, he can always find good in others and make his friends his family or if he are feeling afraid, he can think of something that makes him happy so a Patronus can be conjured to chase away the dark. 

There was also the topic of not so good books and how we could sensor them from not coming into our homes. From our lecture there was a surprising amount of profanity, sexual content and substance use in the top 40 most popular books for adolescents! The point was made that not all books are created equal but some parents don’t have time to read the book beforehand or look up the content before their teenagers read it.  Or maybe they do but they are just happy that their child is reading anything that they don’t use the same restrictions they would on a movie with the same content. In our society we do have somewhat of a double standard when it comes to books. Other countries have ratings on their books but in America there are many who don’t agree with putting content warnings on them. I think it sound like a good idea. We talked in class how it could be problematic but growing up, I would have appreciated knowing the type of book I was getting into before I stared reading. I think it would also be good for parents to just be able to pick up their child’s book and see what they are reading.

I did a little Googling online and found a few sites that had gone through books and rated their content! Here was one that looked promising!  http://ratedreads.com/