Julia Balder 808                Banning Books Argument Essay

Dear Ms.Berner

Banning books is horrible.  Kids are getting limited access to books just because their parents and administrators don’t want to allow access to certain topics.  I don’t believe that this is a sufficient reason.  Banning books isn’t fair to the teens that are mature and can deal with the problems and facts of life, the students of MS51 who want to read certain books and some of them have been unfortunately banned from the school.   Banning books isn’t fair to the people who can handle reading them.

First, banning books wont stop kids from reading them. “When adults ban books it makes kids want to read them,” says The Atlantic Wire.  Teens clearly want to disobey authority, it is natural and normal to feel like you should rebel against authority and parents, teens will: stay up all night, eat junk food, too much social media, stay out past curfew, damage their health by smoking, etc.  When your parents tell you not to do something it is embedded in a teens mind to go do the thing their parents specifically asked for you not to do.  The fact we, teens, assume there is something that our parents don’t want us to learn about in the book, it is an instinct to want to know about the stuff our elders don’t want us to know.  If concerned parents wanted their child not read a book its best not to talk about the book or author a lot cause kids will get suspicious.  Parents asking what book their child is reading from time to time is less suspicious.  “Young adult fiction, books 12-17, has turned darker and starker.  It has also more popular than ever.  Sales are up 25% over the past 5 years, according to Publishers Weekly, with 78.5 Million worth of young adult books sold in April alone,” says the Atlantic Wire.  This shows that the more young adult books are being read, having a banned books makes them more likely to be read.   “People censor books that kids like, because kids only read books when there is something bad/wrong in them, this is what people who censor books believe in my opinion” – Judy Blume.  I believe with Judy Blume that the most popular books have been challenged and been tried to be banned.   Banning books wont stop them being read.

Second,  when you make kids oblivious to certain topics doesn’t make the topic any less real.  Parents can delay and baby their children, but that can’t deny what reality really is.  “Its our job as parents to protect our kids, even as they slowly move out of childhood and further away from our dictates.  But there’s something almost comical about raising them with tales of Big Bad Wolfs and Poisoned Apples then deciding at a certain point that literature is too ‘dark’ for them to handle, kids are smarter than that.  And a kid who is lucky enough to give a dam about the value of reading knows the transformative power of books.” – Mary Elizabeth Williams.   This way that children are raised and grow up is so fairytale-ish you are treated that you will live forever and nothing bad will ever happen, in reality horrible things happen; parents die, other family members die, murders, robberies, racism, illness, war, etc.  When you ban books you are trying to manipulate another persons thoughts into what you believe or want them to believe. In real life you can’t change other peoples opinions just because you want to, just because you slow down your child’s exposure to the real world and real world problems doesn’t mean they don’t/can’t happen. Just because books don’t portray certain topics in writing won’t make them go away.  People ban books so they can shield their children and get them under the impression that nothing is wrong in the world. 

Many people believe that mature content in books should result in them being banned.  “Contemporary literature has too much sex and violence, and our kids need to be protected from it’s depravity, “ wrote Meghan Cox Gurdon, in The Atlantic Wire.   However, I think that while banning books is not necessary, some restrictions can be helpful.  For instance, banning certain books can keep a too young child from reading something that was meant for an older/teen age reader.  For example, if a first grader gets a copy of The Hunger Games, they wouldn’t understand the deeper meaning of the book - all they would be able to comprehend is that many people were trying to kill each other, because they are not mature enough to understand the story, as it was meant to be read.  Another supporting example, is if a young child got a copy of Cat Wings, they would think only about little kitty-cats with wings looking for a home.  An older reader, who has experienced the world, would understand that they book is also talking about discrimination, with ‘different creatures’ being held to different standards just because of what they look like. Books are intended for certain age groups, because of what the content is.  Books that are published for a certain age groups, should only be allowed to be read with the proper labeling.  Once they are labeled, it is then up to parents and their kids to decide what is right for them to read, based on their level of maturity:  simply banning books isn’t fair. 

Overall, banning books isn’t productive, isn’t helpful to other kids and their parents, and banning books isn’t necessary.  Parents and administrators who are banning books are oblivious to the fact that they are disrupting another persons reading life and a person who would want to read a book that was unfortunately banned by one person thinking they were making everybody happy.  People have different opinions on certain topics which is why banning books isn’t necessary.