Argumentive Essay

           Our books are under attack. The same books that we enjoy to read in our free time whenever we have the chance are now going to be limited. We may never be able to read our favorite books again. A few years ago, a debate rose about whether or not young adult books that include gruesome, graphic, or dark issues and images should be under limited access to young adults and teenagers. Popular books like The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling have been challenged. The argument of those who criticize these books is that these books are too dark and are bad for kids and young adults alike. But the truth is, access to young adult books with gruesome or dark content should be unlimited because teens and young adults can get valuable lessons and experience from these books.
         One way teens can get valuable experiences and lessons from YA books with dark and gruesome content is that they can connect the experiences of the characters in these books to that of their own lives and make changes based on the outcome of these issues in the books. For example, teens can learn what to do or not to do based on their insight in the book of any problems they are facing. An example of this is if a boy that wants to run away reads about another teen who ran away, reading the outcome of this other teens journey may give the real boy a glimpse into the future about the consequences of their actions. So what I am saying is, since teens can see possible consequences of something that they may have thought of doing, they may change their mind about these actions and find a different way to solve their problems rather than the bad ways described in these books. Another example of how if a teen relates to a character it will help them is if they relate to a character in a YA books who has the same problems as them, they may feel better about the problems that they are experiencing in their lives. For example, according to Meghan Cox Gurdon's article called "Darkness Too Visible", "If a teen has been abused, the logic follows, reading about another teen in the same straits will be comforting". This means that teens will learn the valuable lesson that they are not alone in their problems that they are facing in their lives. For example according to Why the Best Kids Books Are Witten in Blood by Sherman Alexie (who is also the author of the book, The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian  which has been frequently challenged), "I write to give them weapons- in the form of words and ideas that will help them fight their monsters". The monsters that Sherman Alexie is discussing are the problems that the teens are facing in their lives.
        Another example of why access to YA books with gruesome or dark content is that teens who haven't experienced the issues described in these books can learn about them and prepare themselves should they occur in their lives. It really is the truth when I say that parents cant protect their kids forever because eventually kids and teens alike will have to learn about these issues in order to understand the world around them. For example going back to the quote I got from Sherman Alexie in my previous paragraph, these books can be used as "weapons", but not just for those who are currently facing these problems, but also for teens who have not experienced these problems, but may experience them in the future.
       But despite the valuable lessons and experience that readers can take from these books, there are still many people who believe that access to YA books should be limited. One of those people is Meghan Cox Gurdon who wrote the article "Darkness Too Visible". One of her reasons for why she thinks that access to YA books should be limited is explained when she says, "Yet it is also possible-indeed, likely- that books focusing on pathologies help normalize and, in the case of self-harm, may even spread their plausibility and likelihood to young people who might otherwise never have imagined such extreme measures". This means that young adults may think that what characters do is plausible and may even do these things. But what Gurdon and other critics of YA fiction don't realize is that if teens were to continue reading these books, they would soon learn the consequences of these "extreme measures" by reading their outcome in the book and this will down-right wipe out their "plausibility and likelihood". These critics also don't realize that the more gruesome and graphic a book is, the more likely it's message and or warning is to get across affectively to those who read it. And this will help teach readers, including teens, right from wrong in the issues described in YA fiction.
       So overall, it is clear that access to YA novels and books that may include disagreeable content that may arouse criticism, should still not be taken away from teens who, despite these dark and intense qualities, enjoy reading these books and learn valuable lessons along the way that they can use to help them throughout the rest of their lives. And despite criticism saying that these books may spread bad ideas into the minds of young readers, the truth is that these books do exactly the opposite by showing the flaws and bad outcomes of these bad ideas. We can't just let teens and kids go on without truly understanding the world around them, and that means that we need to keep access to YA  fiction open, and free.