Should Teens Be Able to Read What They Want? Not According to Some. By Clare Topping

The article “Darkness Too Visible” by Megan Cox Gurdon, published on Wall Street Journal in June of 2011 is about young adult books and why teens shouldn’t read many of them because they are too dark. The author talks about the gory covers and the, in her opinion, inappropriate and sometimes depressing content. Megan Cox Gurdon thinks that some young adult novels should not be available to teens. This article sparked something in many people. A flood of responses were published talking about it. While some agreed, some didn’t. People argued Megan Cox Gurdon’s points and said that teens should be able to read young adult novels.

Through out the article the author gives evidence on why certain books are bad such as “Scars”. Ms.Gurdon only includes evidence to support her semi-obvious bias that many young adult novels aren’t good for the targeted audience. She also includes an example of how the books affect regular people when she talks about a mother trying to find a book for her teen daughter “Amy Freeman, a 46-year-old mother of three, stood recently in the young adult section of her local Barns & Noble, in Bethesda, Md., feeling thwarted and disheartened.” she goes on to say “She left the store empty-handed.” Since this article was published on The Wall Street Journal, it mainly targets adults. Giving a real life example that many readers can relate to helps them see things from Amy Freeman’s perspective. The author builds her argument well, but doesn’t give examples to show the other side of the story.

Personally I don’t agree with the points are opinions of the author. You can’t say how books affect teens if you aren’t a teen! We should be able to read what we want. Most young adult books deal with a main character going through a struggle. Every teen goes through struggles and hardships and reading about heros that overcome those things is encouraging. If parents want to hold their child back from reading about things that happen in the real world, then it’s going to be a shock when they need to be independent and be on their own. Shielding teens from the real world will only hurt us in the long run. Overall teens should be able to read whatever young adult novel they want, because it’s their choice.