Swear Words in Space

It has often been repeated in this blog but it is worth saying again: the answer to the question “What should kids read” is simple.  “Let them read what they want.”

My 7^th grader came home about a week ago saying more than just a monosyllabic “Fine” when I asked him about his day. “We had advisory in the English room today and since I was bored I picked up The Martian and started reading it. It is so awesome!”

The Martian, by Andy Weir, is terrific. Fast paced, exciting, grounded in real science and incredibly funny, it focuses on Mark Watney, the sole inhabitant of Mars. His fellow astronauts had to evacuate the planet during a dust storm that nearly killed him. Now stranded on the planet, with no way to signal to Earth that he is alive, Mark must find a way to survive. Armed with his engineering skills, smarts, a few disco sound tracks, some potatoes and a streak of black humor, Mark makes like the Bee Gees in stayin’ alive.

The book is also liberally peppered with expletives, starting with the very first sentence. I wish I could quote it here.  

The  #*$@! makes sense.  If you were the only person on Mars you would not talk like a Victorian schoolmarm; you would talk in four-letter words. The language is a realistic part of the landscape of the book and not added for shock value or false titillation. In fact, it adds to the humor and makes Mark Watney a much more believable character.

But did I want a 12 year old to read it? I confess I did hesitate, briefly. This is pretty grown-up language. Could I suggest he wait, just a bit longer, to read it?

But then again, was it really so bad? Certainly there are many more vulgar things out there, in rap lyrics, and some Internet pages. What if Jon Stewart weren’t bleeped out? There is no violence in the book and certainly no sex. Mark is the only person on the planet, remember.

For the record, when I read this book about a year ago, I loved it instantly and knew my son would too. And when the movie comes out in December, we will be there together. I just hoped he might wait a bit longer. Maybe read the new Adam Rex first. Try some classic science fiction next.

But the day he came home having started the book at school, I found our copy, gave it to him and said “Enjoy.” For one rainy weekend, he read constantly, laughing often, forgetting to check his phone. If he had to stop to do something else, he would complain “But I’m at the most exciting part.” When he finished, he said “This is the best book EVER!” He has since recommended it to all his friends, a few teachers and possibly random strangers. It is that kind of a book.  

This is what happens when you just let kids read exactly what they want.