KID LIT

(Photo found on internet when I researched Photo Realists. It did not state the name of the artist. I suspect that it may be ESTES, as it looks like his style, but I am not certain).
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Can you remember what you liked to read when you were a kid? I thought of that because I needed to satisfy my curiosity about something. I doubt there's anybody out there who hasn't been exposed to the book "Go Ask Alice." It's listed as being written by "Annonymous." There were things about that book that always bothered me. The main thing was that our heroine ended up in the psychiatric hospital when she was babysitting and drank a soda laced with drugs which had been intentionally planted there for her to consume. At least, that was her story. That's the sort of junk cops hear people like, say...hmmm...Paris Hilton state (honest, the drugs weren't mine). I could never accept that somebody would leave a half drank bottle with drugs in it, with the knowledge that at some point in the future, Alice might babysit at that home again and would drink the bottle. Most homeowners are not that cheap. They're going to toss out a flat, partially consumed bottle of pop.
So, I did some research and found that this book was "edited" by Beatrice Sparks. She's a Mormon counsellor who's claimed to be behind many "found diaries" of patients. When pressed, she stated that this book was partially based on a real diary, part fiction and the rest was a compilation of the files of various patients. I hunted out my old copy of the book and saw the incription that it was not based upon real people; that it was a work of fiction.
I doubt that there's anybody out there who hasn't had to sit through watching this film played in Guidance Class. It's funny, but if you watch it now, the fashions have come full circle, and some of that stuff from the early '70's is now in style again. The bad thing about the film version of this movie, is that the thin, cool kids were the ones doing drugs. Oops. By the way, William Shatner (Star Trek), stars as the Dad in the film. He sports a very happening leisure suit.
Every so often, this book will appear on a list of "banned" books in school districts. There have been parents who have been upset at some of the sexual material in it. I think it's a ridiculous book to ban, as there's probably a lot of kids who haven't tried drugs because of reading it.
This started me on my trip down memory lane. When I was very young, I got into "Anne of Green Gables." I loved her independant spirit and the fact that she wanted to write at a time when most women didn't do anything except have babies and die in childbirth. I read every single book that Lucy Maud Montgomery put out. I also read "Little Women", which is a bit of a cliche. I think every girl who every contemplates writing cites Jo Marsh as somebody they emulated.
However, I read well beyond my years. My God-Mother and Great Aunt was close friends with a woman who had been on the Titanic, and who I met when I was a little girl. This woman had celebrated her 18th birthday on the ship and hadn't wanted to get into the life-boat. That set me off reading books on the sinking of that doomed liner. I also enjoyed books on people with mental problems (The Bell Jar).
In elementary school, girls discovered Judy Blume and the favorite was "Are You There God, it's Me Margaret." I guess everybody learned some facts of life from that book. It was passed around and pages were folded down so that people could find the good parts.
I was in grade nine when I read "The Butterfly Revolution" by William Butler. I then proceeded to read it over and over again. It was about a bookish boy, forced to go to camp. They end up taking over the camp and placing the adults in the brig as part of a revolutionary take-over. It was quite the sophisticated comment on totalitarian society. When I was in senior high, I combined my reading of this book with "The Lord of the Flies" and "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier to write a 25 page single paged essay on good vs. evil in society; how we start off in the idyllic Eden and then it is man's nature to seek anarchy and destruction. Yes, it was an advanced English class. Still, I pity that poor teacher.
It's odd how certain books really stand out all these years later. I think it says something about who we are and who we were when a specific thing really speaks to us. That's why it's always nice to remember and to look back to see if we've really changed all that much after all.