Editorial - Tuesday July 2, 2013

A pity it didn't bomb

WHEN it comes to children, New Zealand has long been able to take pride in the quality of its literature. God's Own Country might be hell on Earth for some kids, but few other countries can hold a candle to this one when it comes to producing children's books that do all that is within the power of the written word.

There is no greater gift that any adult, be they a wordsmith or a parent, can give to a child than a love of books. Enjoyment of reading is a lifelong blessing, opening doors to worlds past, present and future. Books that inspire us, that excite our emotions, that fire our imaginations and help us to understand where we have come from and where we might be going, are treasures beyond price.

A love of reading is a seed best sown early in life, and children who are fortunate enough to experience the pleasure of holding a book and allowing its contents to transport them will have huge advantages, intellectual and emotional, over those who are not. It is enormously sad, therefore, that Into the River, judged to be this year's best children's book in New Zealand, should have received such a plaudit.

The writer has not read Ted Dawe's prize-winning book, described by one newspaper as having dropped a bomb, but has seen enough of it to understand what all the excitement is about. And he has no intention of allowing his grandchildren to read it. Even without the exercising of rational judgement, the reaction of some in the literary community, including some book sellers, is enough to suggest that failing to read it will not deprive a reader of any age of anything of value.

Dawe claims that the story needs to be told; the problem is the manner in which he has chosen to tell it. It is apparently liberally sprinkled with detailed descriptions of sexual activity, the coarsest of language and depictions of drug use. Just what the average 14-year-old, the bottom of the target market, needs to read.

The organisers of the NZ Post Children's Book Awards have responded with the extraordinary decision to distribute 'explicit content' stickers to those they expect to sell it so buyers will know what they're spending their money on, as if that will deter the average 14-year-old. One Hamilton book shop is refusing to sell it, with or without the warning, however, and a nationwide chain has advised its managers that it is suitable only for children over 15. The extra year might make some difference, but it says something about the contents when a Sunday paper declines to publish extracts for fear of offending readers.

School librarians seem to be having trouble making up their minds. Some have removed it until they have read it themselves, while others are restricting it to senior students, but the School Library Association reckons young male Maori as central characters are a rarity, and when one comes along "you grab it."

It's probably fair to assume that if the lead character is a Maori boy and the book is riddled with sex, drugs and foul language, his portrayal is not going to be especially positive. Perhaps negative stereotypes are better than none.

The author, possibly emboldened by the fact that his first novel was of a similar ilk but raised not an eyebrow, says he writes the way he does because a lot of writing for boys is "watered down and neutered." Ergo, boys don't get into reading as much as they might. He defends his style as more likely to engage young readers than "happily ever after and a warm cocoa and off you go to bed," although he doesn't expect his fans to emulate the stuff he writes about. Rather, he thinks they will use his books as a guiding tool when they are faced with "similar situations." What 'similar situations' they might find themselves in at 14, probably younger, is left to our imagination. Of course the insights they gain might have a lengthy gestation period, otherwise they would amount to no more than teenage titillation.

Even if this past year has been an uncharacteristically barren one for New Zealanders who write for children, nothing Mr Dawe has said so far goes close to explaining why his book warrants publication, let alone an award. The tract the writer has read is pure pornography, which suggests that the book has well and truly exceeded any legal barriers that might once have prevented the placing of pornography in the hands of juveniles. Presumably those barriers still exist.

Children grow up more quickly these days than their parents and grandparents did, but publication of this book specifically for an audience that starts at age 14 is a disgrace. The fact that it has been hailed as a superior addition to the national trove of children's titles in this country brings the NZ Post Awards into disrepute, and the standards of those who judged it into question.

'Ordinary' people might look at the sort of work that so often wins art awards these days with bemusement, but art 'work' whose meaning eludes all but those with the most refined artistic appreciation does no harm. If those who judge art on our behalf want to give accolades to stuff that most people wouldn't have in their homes, let alone pay for, they are free to do so. When it comes to judging children's writing there is much more at stake.

In this case children will be exposed to material that no 14-year-old can possibly have a healthy interest in or benefit from. And they will be exposed to it not only because it is there to be bought, but because some people who are supposed to know what they are talking about have judged it to be of great value. It is not. Published material of this nature should not be available to anyone under the age of 18, and should be classified as such.

Literature, which this is not ('literature' being defined as writings whose value lies in beauty of form or emotional effect), can be powerful in the hands of the young, something that one had imagined would be uppermost in the minds of those who judge what purport to be prestigious competitions. Those who receive the most prestigious children's writing award in New Zealand should be expected to have made a valuable contribution to the art of writing in this country, as opposed to producing material akin to the more titillating passages of men's magazines.

If children in this country wish to indulge in pornography they have every opportunity to do so, however vigilant their parents might be. The NZ Post Children's Book Awards should not be adding to those opportunities. They should be seeking out the best of New Zealand writing for young readers, books that will inspire them and add value to their learning in the broadest sense, books that will set their imaginations free and draw them further into the worlds that good writing gives them access to. This book might do wonders for a young reader's imagination, but it offers nothing positive to a demographic that should be protected from rubbish like this.

Hopefully the Hamilton book shop that has rejected it will be joined by others, at least until it is given an appropriate censor's classification. And hopefully the NZ Post Children's Book Awards will do better next year.