You Are What You Read?

I've always been a bookish young lady.  Growing up, most of my allowance and baby-sitting money was spent on books; I mentally referred to the public library in my small town as 'my office'; and if I met Judy Blume today, I'm pretty sure, nay, certain, I would lose my shit completely.

I still re-read the books that I enjoyed as a youngster and despite my voracious reading habit, I still find that I missed a few classics here and there.  My friend Melissa was reflecting on her best-loved books a while ago, and mentioned the works of Alida Young, in particular, a cautionary tale of the dangers of steroid abuse: Dead Wrong.

Oh no!

I never read Alida Young when I was growing up, but she seems to be in the Lurlene McDaniel/ Beatrice Sparks camp of writing cautionary tales about young people who go through incredibly trying ordeals and often die.  Other Alida Young titles include: What's Wrong with Daddy?  Is Chelsea Going Blind? and I Never Got to Say Goodbye.

Naturally, I immediately requested Dead Wrong from the library and read it the other day on my lunch break.  What struck the most, however, was not the message that steroids are terrible (I do already know that, and have no desire to bulk up), but the fact that money and the family's struggles with it are just as much of a theme in this book as steroid abuse is.

The parents in this book own a small business and work very long hours trying to bring the money in, which ends up being one of the reasons that the older brother uses performance-enhancing drugs--he needs a college scholarship.  The main character hates that her parents are always working, and begs them to buy a computer so she doesn't have to use her teacher's or a friends, but they tell her that they can't afford it.  

This reminded me that a lot of young adult and children's books I read growing up featured families that were struggling financially, and that in most of the young adult books I read these days (the current ones) rarely include characters like that, or even mention money unless it's spending it at the mall.  Let's take a look at some of the books I read that shaped me into the lovely adult I am today:

Ramona Quimby in the Ramona Quimby Series:

1. The cat, Picky Picky, had to eat Puss Puddy brand cat food because it was the cheapest, and he hated it.
2. In Ramona and her Mother, Ramona squirts out an entire tube of toothpaste in the sink, and her mom carefully scrapes it all back out and the family has to dip their brushes in the cup of paste until it's all gone.  When I first read this, I thought it was weird and gross, and I remember having what may have been my first lightbulb moment: this family is poor!  In my mind, that made these books even more interesting.
3. The family always eats at home, and there is mention of crock-potting and eating pancakes for dinner.
4. There are various job changes and layoffs over the course of the series, and even though the books are told from the perspective of a young girl who doesn't quite understand everything, money is often at the forefront.

Baby Sitters Club Series:

1. Perhaps most of the families weren't poor, but Kristy's rich step-father was an anomaly which always got an extended mention.
2. The BSC members all worked for all of their own spending money, and seemed to buy most of their own clothes.
3. The only time the BSC girls seemed to go on vacation, they were also babysitting.  Even when they went to camp, they went as Counselors in Training and presumably got a reduced rate.

Sweet Valley High Series:

1. The Wakefield twins shared a car that had previously belonged to their mother.
2. Jessica was often involved in a hair-brained money-making schemes
3. Elizabeth saves up for the duration of a whole book to pay for her word processor
4. Many mentions of baby-sitting jobs, au pair gigs and internships (that Jessica always seemed to get even though she was wildly underqualified and seemingly uninterested).
5. There were 'rich' characters--Bruce Patman, Lila Fowler, and then there was everyone else.

Contrast those titles with current 'classics'

1. Gossip Girl Series: Rich kids in Manhattan whose only money concern is having the newest and best.  I used to read Gossip Girl books while on my break at the bookstore.  I would pretend that the latte and biscotti I was enjoying were not simply spoils of the barista life, but that I was the type of person who lounges in a cafe with coffee and a treat.
2. The Clique Series:  I've only read one of these books, but they pretty much only talk about labels and shopping.  Apparently The Gap is unacceptable?  Who knew!  I rarely shop at the Gap because I think it's too expensive.
3. Pretty Little Liars Series:  Fancy houses in a fancy part of Philadelphia.  There's some shoplifting, but not really because the characters are poor.  Many, many mentions of Escalades.

So what happened?  I realize that it's more fun to read about and write about people who have the means to have endless adventures, but if these books are supposed to imitate life and allow kids to find themselves within the pages, we may have a problem.  Did we get too comfortable during the heyday of the 1990's spending and forget what it meant to scrape by?  

So far, the current economic slump seems to be inspiring more distopian YA fiction than ever before, which seems to make the money woes of the present more far removed from reality.  Maybe the 'New Frugality' will take a place in the books for the next generation, or maybe we'll keep sheltering kids by making money trouble more fantasy than real life.  Of course, we have to consider that there is far, far more writing for young people these days than at any other time in history, but even if we look back at the very old classics, there was often mention of money and not having enough of it, and there were often secondary characters who were known as rich people--often the rich people were unhappy:
Little Women-- The March family constantly frets about money (even though they have a servant).

The Secret Garden--The characters have money, but are miserable until the poor neighbor boy teaches them how to play outside and make things grow.
Heidi--Lives in a mountain hut with her grandfather and sleeps on a bed of straw.  Also, spends time in Frankfurt with rich people who seem very unhappy.
Nancy Drew--Even though Nancy never worried about money personally, Bess and George often had the challenge of coming up with cash to go mystery-solving with their favorite chum.  Honestly, I remember wondering at various points in that series where Nancy got all her cash.  Then I decided to be a lawyer, since they're obviously rolling in it, like the famous Carson Drew.

Is this something anyone else noticed?  Can you think of other books from way back that included poor or poorish characters?

What's Old is New Again

If you follow me on facebook, you'll know that I just got an email from Amazon.com telling me that jelly shoes are back and they're now for grown-ups--along with a very grown-up price tag of $40.  For anyone who doesn't remember jelly shoes, they were basically shoes made out of a flexible plastic that kind of felt gelatinous.  They were the kind of shoes that you'd find in a giant box at a Wal-Mart or Target with the two shoes tied together (this is where all of my shoes came from until about age 10), and I imagine they cost about $5.

While they were awesome in theory, jelly shoes did not work so well in practice.  The plastic would steam up as your feet got hot, and then you'd start slipping around in them creating blisters unlike you'd ever had before!  But, they came in tons of rad colors, and I'm sure I talked my mother into buying me at least two pairs.  The best thing we ever did with jelly shoes was put them in the freezer.  They'd freeze in about five minutes, and then you'd stick your feet in the super cold shoes, and walk around squealing until they thawed again.  This never got old.

So this is just the latest in pieces of my childhood that are now available for purchase again.  Rainbow Brite and Transformers have been back for a little while and now I'm just waiting to see new commercials for My Buddy and Teddy Ruxpin.  What's most bizarre about this whole turn of events is that fact that I (and people my age) are being targeted so aggressively with all our old toys.  Whatever happened to being inventive and creating something new?  Is this what happened to my parents when they were my age?  I realize that most of the people I graduated high school with have full-time jobs and kids who might love Rainbow Brite, but for me (childless and part-time), it's just so foreign that I feel like the advertisers are trying to get me to reinvigorate my love for childhood toys--for myself.  I guess that is the case with the jelly shoes, actually.

I won't be duped though.  As kitchy and cool as it might be to show up to a party wearing new jellies, I remember all too well the pain that they caused to my feet.  And considering the $40 pricetag--that's not a pain I'm inflicting on my credit card.

What I used to spend my money on

I read a lot of frugality blogs, many of which are kind of half frugality blog and half "here's a great deal!" blogs, which can be a bit difficult for me at times. I love a good deal--who doesn't, but as I've mentioned before, when I began couponing and reading these blogs, I spent more on food and stuff than I had in years. A lot of it was boredom; a lot of it was a need to feel in control of something while my professional prospects seemed hopeless; and a lot if it was just glee at getting good deals (that weren't even that good, just slightly less than I might have previously paid).

One thing that always surprises me when reading these other blogs, is what people want to spend their money on. In my mind, and this may just be where I'm at in my life right now, but I spend money on necessities and save the rest. I may be saving the rest for travel (I consider that a necessity), but I don't buy things for the home, jewelry, beauty treatments etc.

So many of these blogs are concerned with creating inexpensive centerpieces and finding discounts on scrapbooking materials, which I guess if that's what you like, good for you, but for me it just seems extravagant. I'm glad that I see how other people spend their money, though, because it gives me a bit perspective. I'm certainly not making a Thanksgiving centerpiece using remaindered silk flowers and ribbon ends (just sounds like something to dust to me), but if it makes people happy--good for them!

It did get me thinking about what I used to care about--the things that I used to spend all my money on. I started working at age fifteen, and had two jobs by age sixteen. Since I lived with my parents and didn't have to pay for any necessities, it was all just spending money. I saved plenty, sure, but the rest, I just spent on anything and everything that I felt I needed at the time. I get a little sick thinking about all the crap I frittered away money on, and I understand why it was so hard to adjust to a real world where all of my money goes toward necessities and not tacky room decorations.

Books: The biggest thing I used to spend money on was books. I was an avid library user when I was younger--I was there every day--but we moved to a different town when I was twelve, and I kind of forgot about the library. Plus, this library was in a small town, and just didn't have a lot of the books I wanted, so I bought them instead (and borrowed many from friends). As I'm a fast reader--usually at least one book a day, despite working two jobs and having an active social life--you can see how this got expensive.

CDs: By the time I finally bought an iPod, I had 500+ CDs. I actually had enough that I could sell them all to the CD resale place for $1 each, and have enough money to buy the largest iPod on the market at the time. So, that was kind of cool, but still, a lot of money spent.

Tacky Crap from catalogs: I grew up in a very small town, 1500 people, so we had one store. Around age 13, I discovered catalogs, and that was the beginning of the end. I had to order all those CDs because the nearby Pamida didn't stock much that wasn't country, and Columbia House Music Club (my music delivery system of choice) often sent along a catalog of tacky plastic wall decorations that were decidedly rock and roll. I bought a lot of them.

It's funny, looking back, because the things that I used to spend all my money on, I never buy anymore. I don't want to have books in my house anymore because they take up too much space and get so dusty (though I do have a few that I read over and over again, and some collectible ones), I get all my music and books from the library now. I do still buy stuff from catalogs, but now it's about four times a year rather than weekly, and is usually clothes, not wall decorations.

I guess it's all indicative of growing up and priorities changing, but it's also weird to look back on your own life and think that the things that were most important are now least important. I'm not talking reading (I still do that), but buying books. I used to have a big thing about liking owning books, and now I could really care less. I wonder if I'll ever start caring about centerpieces.

What was your big thing back in the day?