Dear Ms Berner

Attempting to “purify” literature through book banning will have a negative affect on all Children or young adult readers. Only a kid knows the specific type of book that is good for the age group, and a parent’s or teacher’s job is not to attempt to figure out the type of book that is not right for the younger age group, so adults should not be the one to decide what is suitable for their child. Books will help the kid learn about the real world, instead of keeping them in a bubble that will burst eventually. While the adults are fretting over bad language, kids are enjoying the highly challenged books.

            When Ellen Hopkins, author of the book Crank, met a teenage girl who read her book, the girl burst into tears. The girl told Ms. Hopkins about how her life was changed because of her book. Crank was one of the books that you were considering banning. Although books are combating harsh subjects, it does give adults the right to remove it in order make a genre closer to their standards. Banning does not make the article any better; it simply just takes away an important reading option for the kids. Sherman Alexie, the writer of the book you are considering banning The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian recalled his encounters with many kids who wanted to be free, just like his book. He met a boy who was rich but still had a problem. His Father was forcing him off into the military against his will. The boy said, “I read your book, I want to be free, just like you.” This shows how even though a book may contain a harsh topic, it can help kids get hope, even in awful situations. Although these books may contain harsh topics, they help those affected by it. These books are the books that you want to ban, and yet, banning them would have no benefit on a child’s reading life.

            According to the ALA (The American Library Association), the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower has had many ban attempts on it. The reasons were that the book was “anti-family, drugs, homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group”. The book was removed from a public school library, and because of it, a small bookstore sold more than 5 times the amount of that particular book. Banning a book actually helps make it better known.  People have tried to manipulate reading so that kids would be stuck in a bubble until they were 20. This does not help kids grow up; it simply limits their future options in reading. A kid should be able to read the book of his choice, because he/she is the only person who can judge what he/she can read. Only a kid knows what type of book is best for himself, and although the adults believe they can understand it, attempting to ban it will make books a less important part of their lifestyle, because some of their favorite books are being banned by adults who can’t truly understand young adult literature.

            Meghan Cox Gurdon wrote a scathing article on how books are getting darker and darker. She claims that there are “Ever more appalling choices” and that publishers are “bulldozing coarseness and misery into children’s lives. She goes on to how these books are horrible for the children who read them and that anyone should have the right to prevent a child from reading these offerings. In contrast, these books actually don’t “bulldoze coarseness and misery into our lives”.  The book the chocolate war is constantly under fire because of its scenes of violence and cruelty. However, when I read this book, I was not unhappy because I read it. I empathized with the main character and tried to figure things out related to it. Mary Elizabeth Williams talks about her own childhood reading. “Many of those books were trashy as Hell, but we loved them anyway. Teenage books are not just wizards and vampire romances”. Ms. William’s point shows how important the fact that books are not supposed to be white fluff with a beautiful ending. These books actually do have meaning. The darkness in a book is what makes it different from children’s books, but at the same time, it is not an adult book because of the fact that the protagonist is a teenager and that it is made for young adults, not adults. Since the dark books are becoming bestsellers and very popular, banning them would not make young adult fiction any more pure.”

            All of these books mean a huge amount to young adults and many of them read these books in their spare time. Robert Cormier, author of many a controversial book said, “You seldom get a censorship attempt from a 14-year-old boy. It's the adults who get upset.” These books are not adult books; they are young adult books that only young adults can truly understand.