I've been tempted for the longest time to set down a list of books that are good reading, books I enjoyed in my childhood and those I read lately. The list itself will probably resemble more a Great Classics of Literature than a list of high school reading, which appear to be watered-down paperbacks whose only claim to fame is an exaggerated enumeration of various body parts or bodily functions, things which wouldn't even be mentioned in books of quality of the past.
And lest I come off as a prude, let me add I have nothing against describing various physiological processes, for instance, in a biology textbook. The problem starts with modern authors who seem to think that everyone is fascinated by a teenage girl's divigations on the size of her cleavage. I understand that these are real issues to be faced in everyday life, but I can't see how writing pages on inflatable bras is going to help any insecure teenager out there. On the other hand, a book that doesn't focus on body image and who-to-go-to-the-prom-with and what-to-do-when-my-crush-prefers-my-younger-sister problems, but instead touches on vitally important matters of the heart and soul, this is the book you remember and take with you into later life.
I take issue with the poor literary quality of today's 'youth' literature as well. I suppose if the content is severely deficient, than it's wishful thinking to expect the language to be the least bit inspiring. After all, it is hard to write about throwing up in the wake of an especially eventful party with the subdued, delicate tone of a George Eliot. And I do realize few teenagers in school speak to each other with the polished sentences of Jane Austen's smooth banter, or even diss each other with a tad of irony. Neither am I totally oblivious to the fact that, most probably, few Victorians fought and flirted with as much class as Darcy and Elizabeth. And yet I can't help feeling that we've lost so much by breaking all taboos in literature. The books on reading lists in public elementary schools make Zola's naturalism pale by comparison, and the "Manifeste des 5" and its protest against a macabre and morbid view of life could very well be applied to picture books in the kid's corner in libraries.
So much for hard-cover books. As to magazines for teens... don't even get me started on that.