1984 but for teens

[Singleandproud]

13 year old DD is keen to read 1984 but I don't think it's appropriate largely because of the sexual content.

She has ASD and will only read books that make her think, she enjoys satire and likes to read Private Eye and watch Mock the week and Have I got News for You etc. She really enjoyed Animal Farm and didn't mind Lord of the Flies but found it male centric which ofcourse it is but didn't like Hunger Games and the Divergent series because they focused on the romantic relationships of the characters.

Does anyone know of any books that are like 1984 but are appropriate for younger teens? Or any other recommendations for books she might like.

'Lace' was all the rage when I was 13. I also read 1984 in 1984 as a preteen.

@Singleandproud common sense media is American isn’t it? They’re weirdly puritan. We had it as a set text at school at 13 and also watched the John Hurt film.

Me too and I would recommend them for teens. Also The Time Machine. I read a fair bit of vintage sci-fi as a teenager, On The Beach, Survivors, Brave New World, and The Giant Stumbles were others I remember reading.

Brother in the Land is aimed at teenagers, as is Simon Mayo's Blame which I enjoyed as an adult, and thought better than Hunger Games.

Klara and the Sun might be a good one for her too.

My Mum always encouraged me to read and wasn't too picky about what I read, generally in sci-fi, thrillers and classics the sex is no worse than in Judy Blume which is found in most school libraries. Many for my friends whose parents were more strict about what they read still managed to get their hands on Jilly Cooper, which was far worse than anything in the sci-fi or crime books I was reading.

I find it interesting to compare the kids' and adults' age recommendations on common sense media!

To echo others - I agree that 1984 is fine at 13. I was sneakily reading my grandma's Jackie Collins and Judith Krantz novels at that age 😳 Now they really did have sex scenes!

I read through George Orwell at that age. I read Jack Kerouac and Jean Genet at 14. I never ran off with bikers or took part in gang-bangs, nor did I become a homosexual prostitute. Reading about it isn't doing it. Your child will be fine with 1984. You read it again too, so that you can discuss with her how closely it aligns to the position we find ourselves in today.

Hi OP I work in a secondary school library. The problem with 1984 is generally that it is a hard text written for adults. It has a high reading age and obviously the torture and sexually ideas and actions are adult fare.
Personally I find the unrelenting misery an issue but teenagers love misery.
Has your daughter read the Noughts and Crosses series? Malorie Blackman wrote those for teenagers and they are very thought provoking.
We also have a number of fairly new books that look at the problems of racism in the USA like the Hate U Give. The students like these as the protagonists are their age.
A small number of students really like sci fi. Ready Player One for example which is set in a dystopian future. Also the wonderful Octavia Butler who wrote Parable of the Sower and Kindred.

One sure way to get teenagers to read a book by the way is to tell them they can't. We had to buy a lot of Handmaid's Tale when the English dept said it was unsuitable for teenagers.

This books are not graphic in that sense and good talking points. Does she like gothic ones or just genre of dystopia?

Either way have a look at this list and she what she fancies
https://www.vulture.com/article/best-dystopian-books.html

The Gender Game- Bella Forrest- there are 5 books. Then that leads to The girl who dared to think books. Definitely dystopian and not focused on the romance side.

1984 is fine for a 13 year old in my view. My mum almost never censored what I read, so I was reading things like Lace and Stephen Fry’s The Liar at that age, both of which feature eye-wateringly explicit sex, and it doesn’t seem to have warped me!

1984 is appropriate for a 13yo.
Brave New World would be much more challenging at that age.

Fahrenheit 451
The End of the World is Flat
Ella Minnow Pea
The Children's Story

I wonder how she'd get on with Dickens? David Copperfield and Oliver Twist are the ones that spring to mind for accessibility and relatability for a child. When our dc were all about 8-14, we listened to an audiobook of Oliver Twist on a holiday with long car journeys. It triggered a lot of interest, enjoyment, outrage and discussions.

I read 1984 at that age.

Oryx and crake?

I read it at 13yo, and wasn't traumatised. I'm fairly sensitive as a reader/watcher too. I will say I was quite disappointed in it because I wanted the regime to be over-thrown at the end.

I would ask if she wants to read about similar things, or wants to read specifically 1984?

Ds is 16yo and "it's literally 1984" is one of the things he and his friends say, normally incorrectly when they're not allowed to do something they think is reasonable, like stay up to 2am to watch a football match.
So I got a copy for him to read. He'd read Animal Farm for GCSE, so he was already fairly familiar with that sort of thing. He said it was interesting... but it hasn't stopped him saying "literally 1984"!

If she's been hearing people saying that she may just be wanting to know where it's coming from.
I'd let her read it. It isn't that bad, and it's interesting. I don't think I'd bother reading it again, but it's a good one to have read.

Ps. If you'd been my dm and told me I couldn't read it at 13yo, I'd have read it in the school library as soon as I could get hold of it.

Common sense media can be very conservative. We read 1984 for GCSE so can't think it is that bad sex wise (the rat torture is more what would concern me if she is sensitive!).

Others have mentioned John Wyndham. I enjoyed his books around that age - Day of the triffids, the crysalids etc. I also liked Roald Dahl 's short stories written for adults (several collections available including 'the wonderful story of Henry sugar'. Meg Rosoff 'how I live now' might be good too.

And maybe hitchhiker's guide as mentioned above for relief from all the dystopia!

Just let her read it. It's an excellent book. My parents let me read adult literature as a teen but would sometimes just give me a heads up (eg.my mum gave me Grapes of Wrath to read at 12 but chatted to me about a couple of things I might come across in it).

I think books are distinguishable from films in this sense.

Same

i mean it's probably a good way to get teens to read classic novels

Another one here who read it in school, 3rd year standard grade so around 13/14. I distinctly remember handing in an essay with a paragraph on how the Party wanted to abolish the orgasm.

Censoring books will only make them more attractive.

I read 1984 and Animal Farm at that age and the below

Earth abides by George Stewart
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Earths Children series by Jean Aeul
Z for Zachariah by Robert Obrien

Sunset song by Lewis Grassic Gibbons
A Sound of Chariots by Mollie Hunter

These books have stayed with me throughout life and I reread them every few years.

I’d say given the content of many other books young people read 1984 is fine. Mine read it in the first lockdown, he was 14. They know about sex at 13/14 and it isn’t graphic

Ah, Earth's Children. Only one sex scene in that. Of course, she does copy and paste it back in every third chapter or so.

She’s likely going to be exposed to it on some level in the near future. It’s better it being cultured than in the media

Loved these when I was 13/14

I agrée you should let her read it. I think I read it at about 11 or so.

1984 was the most horrible book I ever read. The torture scene always sticks in my mind and was really harrowing. I don’t remember the sex scene.

I really don’t think a 13 year old should read it. The concept is clever for its time but it’s a really long read and I don’t think it’s written well/gripping it’s all just gloom gloom gloom nothing good happens.

What about Handmaids Tale (also a bit gruesome but nowhere near as horrible for me) or Noughts and Crosses? Or maybe seeing if she likes the crime drama genre like Before I go to sleep? (Book is way more clever than the film very gripping)

I read it age 11 (because I was determined to read it before the date was 1984.) I didn't remember there being sex, but I reread it a few years ago and got a lot more out of it.

If we wanted books for sex, we read stuff like Judy Blume's Forever (confiscated by the headmaster when we were 12), and Lace, and Flowers in the Attic (which we kept away from teachers and parents.)

I would not be worried about sex in 1984. It was Room 101 and the rats I was bothered by.