#rêves amers is considered appropriate reading for kids 9 and older

[runespoor7]

the idea that kids shouldn't read upsetting stories is fucked up and an attempt to protect the privilege of the people suggesting it.

i can’t believe people were mad irene/tqt was included in a kidlit competition, as if the animorphs aren’t out here committing war crimes and having the most fucked up endings?? as if darren shan didn’t traumatize all of us in every single book he wrote? as if margaret peterson haddix didn’t kill off what everyone thought would be a main character in her FIRST BOOK and completely change the course of MY LIFE?? louis sachar wrote a scathing criticism of racism where a white teacher watches her school be burned to the ground and her black lover is shot in front of her! HOWL IS OUT HERE GETTING ASS OVER TITS DRUNK AND BEING A FUCKBOY WITH HIS LACROSSE BUDDIES AND WE SHELVE THAT IN THE JUVENILE SECTION!! luke castellan tricks a girl he loves into holding the sky on her back because he’s so traumatized by the uselessness of being turned into a child soldier by a father who will never see him as an individual and then kills himself to save that same girl and i read that at age 13 and lost my ever loving mind over it and we are saying that irene doing some light torture is too teen?? did no one else read coraline at age 11??!

come on, middle schoolers are grown enough to realize that bad things exist in the world, and using magic or sci-fi as a metaphor for real world trauma and hurt to explain big world concepts to younger kids has been a tried and true way of writing a story since the 90s, not every middle schooler wants to only read junie b jones! junie b jones herself would probably prefer a fucked up fantasy story over a rosy colored depiction of real world hurts bc she’s a smart cookie just like many other kids!!