Today I went to a bookstore and found YOU TOO on the shelf!
It's gratifying but I also felt kind of conflicted about it to be honest. YOU TOO is shelved in the Young Adult section, and while this is the intended audience, I really feel like it's kind of in the wrong spot. Or that it should also be shelved in other categories. Or that maybe the book needs some kind of explanation so that teens understand what it is, and why they should read it.
I think there needs to be a book section called....MOM. And this book needs to be shelved in the MOM OF TEENS section. For mom's to read, and for mom's to then hand to their teen kids to read. Either gender. But especially females. Because this book has a purpose. And it is to be SEEN.
This book is so good. I can say that because I am the EDITOR of it. So while I'm responsible for coming up with the idea and selling it to a publisher, it was a GROUP of writers who put wrote it. (I had to say that, as I clearly have a fear of bragging about my own work)
But this book is GOOD.
This book evokes so many emotions. Not all of them are positive, many aren't, but all of them are things we need to feel. Shock. Empathy. Sadness. Outrage. Admiration. And that is only a few.
This book contains stories that are so important because they tell stories that are about teens and kids, and the very hard things that they went through. And may still be going through NOW. The stories are so important because they show the reader that holy shit, this harassment and abuse thing happens to SO MANY PEOPLE. And it's wrong. The stories are important because they show the reader HOW WRONG the things that happen ALL THE TIME really are. INCLUDING when it happens to them.
My point though, is that I worry that this is the kind of book many teens might not pick up themselves and buy. It's shelved in with fiction. And while fiction in the YA category covers a whole gamut of genres and tastes, I thought it seemed a little out of place. And I felt sad for it. The book I edited.
I want to have shelf talkers blinking and shouting that THIS BOOK need to be read, I want people standing in the book section to hand it to kids who need to read it. More than that, I want to hand it to MOM's to read. Because I think MOM's of teens and middle school kids need to read this, for their own children and for THEMSELVES.
I hope that this book finds its way to teens and to those of us who were teens and have all these things in our memories that we never really think about that much anymore, but when we do, we realize that HOLY SHIT. What happened was wrong. What was said was WRONG. And we need to STOP NORMALIZING harassment. Of course we want to stop child abuse and sexual abuse of anyone at any age. But too, we need to STOP allowing young children to take the blame for behaviors or actions they do not want, or deserve.
I hope that LIBRARIANS, TEACHERS, PARENTS, CAREGIVERS, FRIENDS, help put this book into the hands of young people and that they read it themselves. Read so that they can experience some of what has happened in the past, and try to change the way we teach our children now about consent and hiding secrets that they don't need to hide. Whether they fear getting in trouble or sparring their parents or caregivers. The onus needs to be taken off all of us who keep quiet to protect.
But besides all of this. I am also HAPPY. This book is out there. I only hope it reaches the many, many people who NEED TO READ IT!!
