• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Paul Ruditis: Rainbow Party

How can you say the book is promoting the idea when you've never read the book?

I would let my kids read the book because of the way it treats the party. The book clearly shows that every action has a consequence and things like this should be rushed into or taken lightly.

the kids don't have the rainbow party. most of the kids don't want to go, but they get pressured into it by friends and boyfriends, then most of them all decide not show up anyway. The book is more about peer pressure than anything else. Not to mention the few kids that are sexually active all end up with an STD.
 
venusunfolding said:
How can you say the book is promoting the idea when you've never read the book?
Click to expand...
Venus,
I haven't read the book either, but do have a question.
Does the book clearly take a stance against rainbow parties?
Or is that left as a conclusion the readers ought to draw for themselves, given the risks, etc?
Peder
 
Peder said:
Venus,
I haven't read the book either, but do have a question.
Does the book clearly take a stance against rainbow parties?
Or is that left as a conclusion the readers ought to draw for themselves, given the risks, etc?
Peder
Click to expand...

the book never plainly states, "no, rainbow parties are bad" but it also never says "yes, you should have rainbow parties."

it does leave the reader to make their own decision, but it asks them to consider the reason why they'd want to participate in one, and definately states that doing it because you want to fit in or because everyone else is doing is not a good reason to go through with it, especially with all the risks involved.

i think it does "promote" them in the sense that it makes people aware of them happening, but in no way is it suggesting that kids run out and buy lipstick to host one of their own.
 
venusunfolding said:
it does leave the reader to make their own decision, but it asks them to consider the reason why they'd want to participate in one, and definately states that doing it because you want to fit in or because everyone else is doing is not a good reason to go through with it, especially with all the risks involved.
Click to expand...
Venus,
Thanks for the answer. But it does seem a tough age to get kids to stick out and run against the herd on their own judgement and responsibility. A firm parental "no" seems better. But then again all mine are grown, so I'm old fashioned and have to admit to having no knowledge of what today's permissiveness levels are like. Are we at 10-year-old boys using 'protection?' I ask that rhetorically, but it sounds like it is coming, if it isn't already here.
Peder
 
I haven't read the book, but from what others are saying, I can see why they might be appalled. But really, I don't think it should be censored. No book should be censored. The parent can assess the maturity of their kid and decide if they are strong enough to make the decision themself or not. I doubt this book glorifies the concepts of oral sex, but points out the possible dangers of engaging in such activity. The fact is, these are 'real' teens and this is real life. I'm in high school, and I overhear more disgusting details on a daily basis than any little book of shameless horrors may contain. I'm not sure if this relates, but what about The Perks of Being a Wallflower? It covers everything, from sex to drugs to depression and is all-encompassing around the issue of peer pressure. I'm not sure kids will find in this book anything more appalling than what they hear at school. Besides, most of us teens who read are smart enough and mature enough to make the right choices when it comes to sex ;). We're going to be exposed to all of this someday, after all. Since we barely discuss these things in health class, and are often too embarrassed to bring it up with our parents, all we are left with is friends, who are not necessarily the most reliable source of information. Better for them to learn about what it is and what it can do rather than not know and go out into the real world, make the wrong decisions, and end up with an STD. Is it really worse than stuff on TV and in school? Remember, this book is aimed at teens, probably older teens who are old enough to understand the situation. I wouldn't recommend it as a birthday present for an 11-year-old.

Once again, I haven't read the book, so I may be way off!
 
veggiedog said:
rong decisions, and end up with an STD. Is it really worse than stuff on TV and in school? Remember, this book is aimed at teens, probably older teens who are old enough to understand the situation. I wouldn't recommend it as a birthday present for an 11-year-old.

Once again, I haven't read the book, so I may be way off!
Click to expand...
Veggiedog,
No, it's not worse. Only when it is your own child with the unwanted pregnancy or the STD, then it is worse.
Peder
 
Besides, most of us teens who read are smart enough and mature enough to make the right choices when it comes to sex
Click to expand...

So all three of you might be safe? What about the rest?


veggiedog said:
Remember, this book is aimed at teens, probably older teens who are old enough to understand the situation.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure there's any such thing. :(
 
"Rainbow Party (Simon & Schuster, $8.99) is about a group of teens who plan an oral-sex party at which each of the girls wears a different color of lipstick.
...Ruditis says the book was never meant to sensationalize sex parties. "We just wanted to present an issue kids are dealing with," he says. Bethany Buck, Ruditis' editor at Simon & Schuster, came up with the idea for the book and says she hopes it will "scare" young readers. Suzanne Kelly, a buyer for the Chester County Book and Music Co. in West Chester, Pa., which will stock a limited number of Rainbow, agrees. She says the book's message that oral sex "really is sex" and that teens can contract STDs through such sexual practices far outweigh the controversial story line."

Teenage sex parties where the boys rack up lipstick shades from the girls - ew, ew, ew. I don't understand why the problem is that someone wrote a book about it. If your girl's a skank or an idiot, she'll do it. If they're not, reading about it won't give them whacky ideas. It's the editors and bookstore buyers quoted in the USA Today article, paying lip service to the educational attributes of their YA fiction, that I find disturbing. I know and don't care that the editor was looking for a marketing hook when she suggested the topic to the author, but I hate the continuing idea that questionable or lousy fiction for children can be somehow redeemed if it has a potential for putting across some message. Children's fiction is no more supposed to be pure propaganda than is adult fiction. The bookstore buyer should have stood up for her decision to buy the book, not ducked for cover behind the 'higher purpose' excuse.
 
Well, at least teens who read it will learn more about STD's and protection than they will in all the dumb abstinence-only schools. Kids will have sex whether they're told about condoms or not. At least those of us who learn know how to keep ourselves from getting AIDS...or a kid.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top