Dear Ms. Berner,
Young adult
fiction is just that, young adult fiction. Adults cannot try to understand
something that is meant for kids. And if they do read a YA book, they have to
get the meaning, not just the "bad references." When these adults want to
ban books, they are censoring kids' views of the world. Young adult books
that have "inappropriate" content help kids get over their problems, and therefore should not be banned from 6th grade libraries.
Bill Moyers said, "A lie can be exposed, but censorship can prevent us from knowing
the difference." Simply meaning, a lie can be discovered;
but if the lie is censored, you will never know the truth. If you take away the plot, the improper topics, we will never know the whole story. 6th graders need to read books to get the
knowledge of our world. But if we try to read these books without the
"dark subjects" we miss the true meaning of the book.
According
to Ellen Hopkins, author of several NY bestsellers, her books help people turn their lives around. Hopkins
explains in her article, Banned Books Week 2010: An Anti-Censorship Manifesto,
"...straight down into the same hell my book represented so well. But one
day, she found that book. She saw herself in those pages, and suddenly knew she
didn't want to be there.” So this lady read Ellen Hopkins' book, Crank, and
turned her life around. Because she didn't want to end up like the character in
the book.
Meghan Cox Gurdon claims in her article, Darkness
Too Visible, that, “teen fiction can be like a hall of fun-house mirrors,
constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is.”
Basically saying YA books portray life disgustingly and lie about what life
really is. But this is not true because the issues in these books happen in
real life. William Porter, another person supporting banning books even
admitted that, “these darker books reflect what today's faster-maturing teens
routinely see in their multimedia world,” in his article, Teen Fiction Plots
are Darker and Starker. Confirming that teens see these “horrible” topics
almost every day.
So
banning books would not be helpful at all. “I don’t write to protect them. It’s
far too late for that. I write to give them weapons–in the form of words and
ideas-that will help them fight their monsters.” Sherman Alexie says in his
article, Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood. Kids going through
traumatic times don’t have to be protected and won’t have anything to connect
with. The bad and vulgar topics make the story. The books that are “inappropriate”
can help kids get though their problems and shouldn’t be banned from 6th
grade libraries.
Respectfully,
Rachel
Duke
