The phrase 'bad book' is uncommon among us. Many believe that a bad book is that which is poorly written, full of grammatical errors and mistakes, poor vocabulary, underdeveloped characters, boring plots et cetera. Well, it might mean that but in this piece, it’s way different.
Bad books in this case are sordid texts with X-rated and manipulative content that puts children at high risk of being negatively influenced by them. Shockingly, the sales of such books have gone through the roof.
Generally, anything with sexual content or romance is likely to attract a lot of readership. During an interview with a media personality, the legendary prolific David Mailu said his book After 430 was widely read but only made a handful of sales. This meant that it was widely shared. We have come across such books along the streets, in bookstores and in our libraries.
Information is all over the place cautioning and reminding parents and guardians to be aware and be sensitive of what their children are consuming on the internet. Meta introduced a new feature during the festive season to protect children from consuming X-rated content.
Well and good, but does the same apply to literature? Of course not. This is because we believe all books are beneficial and we do not need to worry about what kind of books youngsters consume.
Books carry different messages depending on the origin, beliefs, nationality and culture of the author. Among other factors of consideration, all these shape what the writer is going to write. This is to mean that what will be written and welcomed by Romans will not sit well with Africans. Our cultures and levels of morality differ depending on a plethora of things.
For years, books have left a great impact on society. Generally, books introduce new concepts into our lives by simply exploring the world of fiction and nonfiction. Well, who doesn’t know of Charles Darwin’s On Origin of the Species?
This book changed the accepted view of the origin of the universe. Now almost every learning institution in the world teaches the history of evolution based on it. It pits Christians and scientists.
After Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital, it is believed that almost 2 billion souls in at least 20 countries lost their liberty and had to live under totalitarian regimes. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier is accused of containing violence and explicit masturbation scenes. Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl is condemned for sexual explicitness and depressing tragic outcome. And, of course, we have the Bible. We know the impact it’s had to date.
Fantasy author Neil Gaiman said he does not subscribe to the notion of bad books for children. He said there are no bad authors for children and that they should be left to select and read books of their interests by themselves.
He however ignored the possible effects books would have on children. He was only clinging to the idea that parents should support reading culture among their children. Joel Hawes, in his lecture to young men on the foundation of character in 1829, said “Books contain a deadly and secret poison. Many a young man has been destroyed by reading a single volume.”
As a parent, there are some books you would not wish your children to read because their content shocks you.
All books are good when consumed by their target audience. Sadly, we live in a world where parents rarely interact with their children. Many are dedicated to their jobs and businesses. They rarely monitor what their children consume.
Parents should expand their scope and try to see, not just look. They should place themselves in a suitable position to evaluate the type of literature their young ones consume. Just like movies that have parental guidelines, warning the audience of the type of content contained in them, the same should not be an exception with our publishers.
Having something like '18+' on the cover would tremendously help our children. This will also place parents in a position to only go for appropriate materials for their children. However, this has not always been the case.
Many of our publishers are targeting the market not the audience plus the impact on society. I will end this with a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “ If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.”