Banning Books For 6th Graders At M.S. 51

Dear Ms. Berner,

    Books with mature topics should not be removed from M.S. 51’s 6th grade libraries because reading about these topics may help kids. These books usually teach the reader a good lesson. Some people argue that young readers shouldn’t be exposed to the mature topics discussed in these books. However, many of these books teach valuable lessons beneath the difficult topics. Also, these challenged books can help improve the readers’ lives.

    Teenagers can learn many important lessons from these books. In the video “Book Under Fire” on ABC Channel Thirteen, the Verm family tries to ban Fahrenheit 451 from their daughter’s high school. Diana Vern received the book for a 10th grade reading assignment. Diana was upset about the mentioning of burning a bible and occasional cursing. Her dad was angry that the author, Ray Bradbury, used God’s name in vain. However, they fail to see the real lesson of the story, which is that books shouldn’t be kept from people. Ironically, they wanted to ban a book that warns the world about the dangers of banning books. This shows that the Verms did not read the book deeply enough to truly understand it. In the article “The Banned Books We Have Loved” by Jen Doll, it says “Not only were these books ones we read intently, and over and over again, they were the books that taught us important things.” I think that even though teen literature can explore grown up topics, it is still meant to help young readers grow. These books may seem dark and disturbing but they usually teach the reader a message that can be applied to their lives.

    Teenagers can use the messages told in these books to help them tackle problems in their own lives. In the article “Banned Book Week 2010: An Anti-Censorship Manifesto” the author tells the story of a former teen drug addict, “She saw herself in the pages, and suddenly knew she didn’t want to be there. The book turned her around. Today she’s been sober two years, is graduating high school and has embarked on a modeling career.” Books can help struggling readers to change their lives. Books can change readers’ lives by warning them or giving them characters they can identify with. This could help 6th graders going through difficult problems. In the article “Why the Best Kids’ Books Are Written in Blood,” by Sherman Alexie, he writes “When I think of the poverty stricken, sexually and physically abused, self-loathing Native American teenager I was, I can only wish immodestly, that I’d been given the opportunity to read ‘The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’.” Alexie wishes his own book was available to him when he was young. This is because he could relate to the character and see how they solved their own problems. These books are not meant to ruin young readers‘ lives, but to help save them by giving them the tools to face the challenges in their own lives.
   
    Some people find that the subjects described in these books are thought to be too dark for young readers to handle. In Megan Cox Gurdon’s article “Darkness Too Visible” she writes “How dark is contemporary fiction for teens? Darker than when you were a child, my dear: so dark that kidnapping and pederasty and incest and brutal beatings are now just part of the things . . . “ Megan Gurdon is suggesting that today’s teen literature is becoming too mature and inappropriate. These issues may be too dark for 6th graders. In the article, “Teen fiction plots are dark and starker” by William Porter, he writes, “The stories range from grim to ghastly: A boy returns to school from a mental hospital five years after setting his playmate on fire. An anorexic girl watches her friend die from the same illness.” This illustrates some of the horrible subjects in today’s books. These are some of the reasons why people want to ban books from M.S 51’s 6th grade libraries.


    In conclusion, banning mature books would deprive readers of possible relief from their pain. People need to feel that they are not the only ones experiencing their problems. Young people have real and big problems, so they need to read mature topics. Ignorance is only harming readers by not exposing them to the real world. The more people read, the more they will be prepared to face life’s problems. I find that the 6th graders at M.S. 51 need to read challenging and mature books to help them deal with their own lives.