You will remember that I wrote an entry called Angry About New Meg Cabot Novel, where I discussed the cross-promotion of the last Princess Diaries book with Cabot’s new and very adult historical romance, RANSOM MY HEART. I expressed the opinion that it was very likely RMH would find its way into the hands of some preteens based on the display dump showing both books together and RMH’s cover having the words “from the author of the Princess Diaries” on it. (And that was before I went on GoodReads and learned that excerpts from RMH appear in FOREVER PRINCESS, thereby raising the chances that this will happen.)
Is this going to happen to a million little girls? Of course not. Is the display in the middle of the children’s department? Well, not at my local Barnes and Noble, anyway. Should parents be looking at what their kids are reading? Of course.
But this kind of response from an author is disappointing and immature. I’ll quote the relevant part in its entirety:
Apparently one or two people dislike it because the characters in the book have sex (I know, shocking: It’s a romance). And the reason for their unhappiness with this is because the movies of my life (you remember those, right?) are geared toward children.
So, allegedly, children might pick up Ransom My Heart, which is by me, and LEARN ABOUT SEX! Apparently, I’m not ever supposed to mention sex or write books in which characters have sex, even if they are adult characters who live in medieval times WHO WERE NOT IN THE MOVIES OF MY LIFE, and the book is being sold in the ADULT SECTION OF THE BOOKSTORE.
I would just like to point out that people who worry about these things remind me SO MUCH of my grandmother (not the grandmother from the movies of my life, who was cool, but my real life grandmother, who is so not cool).
Also that people who worry about kids being psychologically scarred from reading love scenes in romance novels really need to get a grip on reality. I recommend they visit this site or this one and find out about some of our world’s real problems.
This might not be in response to my review at all, but I don’t care. You know what, Meg? You wrote a series that a heck of a lot of preteen girls read. And then you wrote AN ADULT BOOK (thanks for the caps, by the way) supposedly by the main character of those books, and apparently you think it’s just dandy if those girls read it. Just because reading about sex won’t psychologically scar them (I’d love to see who actually wrote that) doesn’t mean they need to read softcore pornography masquerading as historical fiction before their twelfth birthday.
I don’t know about other reviewers, but I wasn’t talking about how good the book was, or whether or not Cabot should have written an adult book, or whether or not there should have been sex in it. I was talking about the deliberate cross-promotion between Forever Princess and Ransom My Heart and how I believed (and still believe) it to be irresponsible. Because no, I don’t think 11 and 12 year olds (or, frankly, 13 and 14 year olds, and I’ve got my doubts about the 15 year olds too) need to be reading explicit sexual scenes – a lot of these girls reading PD are still reading Anne of Green Gables, for the love of God. Don’t girls grow up fast enough already? Is there something wrong with wanting to keep sex away from them as long as we can? Does the period of innocence have to keep getting cut shorter?
You know what would have been easy? To say something like “I understand some people are concerned that RANSOM MY HEART might find its way into the hands of readers who aren’t ready for its adult content. I encourage all parents and teachers to be careful about what they’re giving their children and students to read. I don’t think the cross-promotion will be harmful in any way to readers.” It’s easy to disagree without being obnoxious.
But apparently it was easier to be obnoxious and to write off concerns as censorship or hysteria or whatever “Mia” was trying to do with all of her capital letters. After seeing authors like Lauren Myracle engage intelligently and maturely with reviewers or readers who have complained about the age-appropriateness of their books, it is even more disappointing to see Cabot react in such a childish fashion – especially since she’s “hiding” behind “Mia” to do it.
February 5th, 2009 - 2:14 pm
That blog is just strange. But I agree… a book should be marketed for the age it is appropriate for.
Write books. Write picture books. Write Harlequin-esque romance. Write hard core porn for all I care. But market it as it should be.
February 5th, 2009 - 3:15 pm
You know. . . in Forever Princess there are excerpts from Ransom My Heart. . . and while in the excerpts, the characters aren’t having hard core sex, there are references to things tweens/young teens shouldn’t be reading about. Things throbbing, wetness, straddling. . . ect.
Forever Princess hugely pissed me off. . . and I’ve been a huge fan of the books up until now. If I can get my child to stop crying for more than 3 minutes (gah! bad, bad week!) I’m going to write a LiveJournal post about it.
February 5th, 2009 - 3:17 pm
Oops. You posted about the excerpts. . . sorry. I read too fast, sometimes.
February 5th, 2009 - 10:54 pm
Isn’t there an issue with your math, here? You’re assuming that if a child begins to read the series at the age of 11, they’ll finish the series, not only well before their 12th birthdays, but they’ll also read RMH before their 12th birthday as well.
11 books in one year. None of them with any academic value. That’s not something the average kid would undertake.
Above average readers have already found the adult section by that age anyway. Remember how old you were when you started playing pass-the-book?
February 6th, 2009 - 6:22 am
You don’t think a kid in love with a series would read the whole series in a year? Or in a few months? Because that’s certainly the case with the kids I used to sell books to. I’m not sure what the “average” kid means in your viewpoint, but an 11 or 12 year old is still mostly reading books with no “academic value.” These are middle school kids. They still get to read mostly for fun.
And there were a LOT of girls who turned 13 this year waiting for the last PD book to come out, and yeah, I think they’re too young for RMH, which very well might find its way into their hands.
Also, I was an incredibly above average reader and my mom paid attention to what I was reading. She flipped through books and skimmed and read reviews when she could get them and talked to the librarian and the teacher. I didn’t play pass-the-book until I was 15 or 16.
But none of that was my issue here. My issue here was an author’s incredibly snotty and mocking dismissal of a genuine concern that I have seen echoed in other parts of the internet.
February 6th, 2009 - 8:52 am
Okay, so it’s 11 books in a year. Well, the average kid of that age I’m aware of here (coworker’s daughter) is given four or five paper back at Christmas and two or three at birthday (usually of my suggestion). That’s six to eight books. Even if she read one a month, she’d finish those in half a year. So yeah, even the non-devouring book kid can get them done.
But yes, agreed. No one has an issue with Meg Cabot writing what she wrote (which is what she seems to think is the issue). It’s the cross-promotion of the books that is at issue here… a point that seems to have been missed in her reply.
February 6th, 2009 - 12:24 pm
My mother mistakenly allowed me to read the Jean M. Aule books without knowing what was in those. I was an above everage reader and got a hold of these in sixth and seventh grade. Wowee what a education and yet you aren’t talking about savage sexual acts where people are hurt, raped or such, save one scene. The acts of love making in all but the first book was a matter of a true act of sensuality between people who loved one another. In a handful of books I learned what sex SHOULD be and how it SHOULD feel.
Somehow I’ve grown up and I’m just fine and I was just fine then as well. It is my experience both as a child and a parent that “they WILL find things out on their own” if you don’t talk about it with them or are open with them. The human is by nature a curious being and the young human even more so. Why not be there with them as they learn these natural and essential parts to life?
DW Golden
February 6th, 2009 - 8:25 pm
I’m happy for my child to learn about sex from an early age. That doesn’t mean she needs to learn about it from a badly cross-promoted Meg Cabot novel.
August 10th, 2009 - 10:44 am
Someone just tried to post a comment on this entry. It was a very even-keeled comment, and would have been approved except for one thing: it was anonymous. I don’t approve anonymous comments of any sort. Try again, anonymous, and use your real name or real email address, and I’ll be happy to approve it.