Argument Essay draft 2

Argument Essay Draft 2

More and more books are being challenged and some even banned. You would be surprised if you knew all of the books being questioned. Plenty of them are classics or best sellers. However, that doesn't change the fact that there's something in these books that could be inappropriate for certain audiences. But who's to decide who should read these books? The reason why banned books are such a big controversy is because not every kid is the same. Some kids can handle mature themes in books while others just are not ready. After reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, I think that all kids in middle school and up should be able to read this book because although it discusses harsh topics such as drugs, rape, sex, and violence, it teaches good lessons to teens. This book has some inappropriate content such as drugs, rape, and sex but in my opinion this shouldn't mean kids in middle school can't read this book and other book that deal with similar themes.

          The article "Why the Best Kids Books are written in Blood" by Sherman Alexie has a lot of great examples of why I think books shouldn't be banned. Sherman Alexie is the author of the extremely popular book "The True Diary of a Part Time Indian". She wrote this article about her book being challenged. One part in the book talks about how these are real issues faced by teens. The text says, " I spoke resilience-about my personal struggles with addiction and mental illness." (Sherman 1) Sherman didn't make up unrealistic problems just to make the story interesting. She took real issues inspired by her life to teach a lesson. At one point in the story Alexie even says she wishes she could've read her book as a teen because it could've helped her deal. To prove this, Alexie went to a high school and talked to about 60 students about stuff they deal with. They said problems such as "depression, attempted suicide, gang warfare, sexual and physical abuse, absentee parents, poverty, and racism." (1) She spoke to one woman who was a teen mom who was told it was impossible for her to graduate. Responding to this Alexie said, " Does Ms. Guordon honestly believe that a sexually explicit YA novel might somehow traumatize a teen mother?"(2). I love this quote because it's so true. Reading about issues doesn't change the reality of what some teens go through. In conclusion, this article shows how teens should be able to read about harsh issues because everyone deals with hard stuff a lot of which would be questioned if put in a book. 

           Another article that really defends my opinion is "Banned Books we have loved," by Jen Doll. She talks about these great classics that are being questioned or banned. First of all she brings up that great books that everyone loves are on the banned list.  For example, "To Kill a Mocking Bird", "Gossip Girl", "ttyl, ttfn, l8tr", "Harry Potter", and The "Hunger Games.” If these books are inappropriate why would so many people be in love with them? Kids aren't being scarred from reading these books. How do I know? Because people are continuously purchasing these books. According to the article, "Banning books doesn't, in fact, hurt them much at all. If anything, it may inspire more interest in them, and sometimes sales too." This shows why banning books isn't a good idea. If Perks of Being a Wallflower is banned it could just cause more sales which is the opposite of what the concerned people want.

           I just finished reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," and thought it was an incredible book about different high school experiences. Some may say it's "over-dramatized". It deals with big issues and teaches you the bad side of high school.  But in my opinion it deals with stuff teens go through while at the same time showing good lessons. Some teens do drugs and a lot have to learn that drugs are bad the hard way. Charlie the main character says," Regardless, I decided to never take LSD again." (Chbosky 100). Before this Charlie takes LSD and it shows what it makes him do. It teaches teens a great lesson about not doing drugs. I think no matter what age you are it's great to know the repercussions of drugs.

          As you can see books being banned is a difficult issue and there is no right or wrong answer. I have read many of the books that are being questioned and I would never take back reading any of them. A lot of these books teach great lessons, teens should be able to choose what they read and if they're mature enough to read a certain book. Everyone's different; some people can handle reading about drugs, or suicide, while others aren't ready. You know yourself better than everyone. This is why I think Perks of Being a Wallflower shouldn't be banned. If it these books were banned nobody would have the chance to read a lot of great books and some personal favorites of mine. On the cover it says it's New York Times Bestseller, obviously teens love this book and if it was banned people would be missing out on a great book. 

 Work Cited

• ·      Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. New York: MTV /Gallery, 2012. Print.
• ·      Doll, Jen. "The Banned Books We Have Loved." The Atlantic Wire. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/04/banned-books-we-have-loved/51018/>.
• ·      Sherman, Alexie. "Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood." Speakeasy RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. <http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/09/why-the-best-kids-books-are-written-in-blood/>.