I read both of these, I read Go Ask Alice more than once. It horrified me. I was surprised, when I was Barnes and Noble a couple months ago, that they had it sitting on a table with a bunch of other featured books. I didn't even realize it was still in print.
On that same line, I saw Judy Blumes "Forever" with a new modern cover at Target last week in the teen section!
There was another I read, as an adult, about a girl who dies of aids after being date raped by someone, that was a horrifying book also, but I can't remember the title.
it was called 'it happened to nancy'-it's by the same author as go ask alice.
dd recently brought home about 3 of her books-the one about nancy, one about a teen who becomes pregnant as a result of date rape, and one about a girl who becomes a homeless-then abused within the foster care system after her father attempts to rape her and kicks her out of the home. they are all written by the same author of go ask alice.
i read them as well as rereading go ask alice and i was struck that while alice read in a manner wherein it could be somewhat frightening and cautionary-the other books could be VERY frightening to a young teen girl. the boys are depicted in each as entirly predatorial and prone to date rape. i did'nt like that it depicted all boys (for the most part) as being that way.
it's interesting that they've finaly moved these books to the teen fiction section-there's been controversy over their authorship for years. the 'doctor' who supposedly just helped with getting them published has been called on her credentials and has never been able to substantiate her education and professional experience. there was a case where a REAL family provided her with their deceased son's diary in hopes it would be published as a cautionary tale about suicide only to find the finished product contained only a handfull of actual diary entires and their son depicted (baselessly) as a suicide victim as the result of satanic involvements
on this subject-anyone remember the cautionary movies of that time?
DAWN-portrait of a teen age runaway
ALEXANDER-the other side of Dawn
such and such -portrait of a teenage alcoholic
such and such-portrait of a teenage prostitute
people were so shocked that 'sweet little jan brady' would play those kind of parts
and all those cautionary afterschool specials and abc 'movie events' (i remember my dad would'nt let me watch 'that certain summer' (about the teen boy whose father announces he's gay).