The Debate Over YA Fiction

Once again, the freedom to read whatever you want has been challenged. This time, in the form of YA Fiction. YA Fiction (or young adult fiction) has more recently ventured into rather gruesome territory. These topics include, but are not limited to abuse, drugs, sex, and teen suicide. For some parents, teachers, and other well concerned citizens, these types of books should not be accessible to their young readers. Solutions such as banning books, and adding age limits have been suggested. However children deserve to choose the books they read because as human beings they have the right to make their own decisions. Young Adult readers should continue to choose books that are being challenged.

                We raise kids to believe in fairy tales, that there are always happy endings, and princes coming to the rescue. We raise kids to believe that at the end of the day, the glass slipper is going to fit. But the reality is there isn’t always a happy ending. There are poison apples in the world. Life is much more complicated; it’s got plot twists and turns, and bumps in the road. At some point, we have to wake up our kids, and slap them in the face with reality. The question is how do you show them the dangers without overexposing them? By handing them a novel, they can learn important life lessons in a controlled environment. In the article Should Young Adult Books Have Age Ratings? by Husna Haq, Patrick Ness says, quote, “If you’re not addressing it in your Fiction, they you’re abandoning them to face it themselves.” Now, you could definitely argue that some of these books are far too traumatizing. Books like Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler are far too graphic, and inappropriate for young teens. These books are traumatizing and by reading about this they might become more afraid then when they started out. And what’s more, some of these books don’t even depict a true version of real life. Except that part of educating your kids is talking to them discussing what they read, and listening to their opinions on whether or not they can handle it. And now that kids know problems such as self-abuse (cutting, etc.) exists they’re a bit more educated, even if your child can’t handle it, they know what’s out there. The first step is to stop sheltering, and to start educating. As Mary Elizabeth Williams says in the article Has Young Adult Fiction Become too Dark? “Darkness isn’t the enemy, but ignorance always is.”

                Then, there are the readers who’ve already been exposed to these topics, and deserve to continue to have access to these books. In fact, most readers know about real world issues at the Young Adult reading age. Books featuring darker subjects can help readers who have experienced drug use, rape, abuse, etc. cope. Books addressing pressing issues can show people that they are not alone, and that there are others out there who’ve dealt with the same problems. It can give them hope, and show that they can overcome their issues. However, for teenagers who’ve read these books that are meant to inspire, it could be too close to home. “I’d finished reading and immediately reached for my blade,” said Jess, a teenager and recovering cutter. After reading powerful books, with powerful messages, fragile people could get the wrong ideas and restart into depression states. (The Sick-lit Books Aimed At Children: It’s a Disturbing Phenomenon. Tales of Cancer, Self-Harm and Suicide by Tanith Carey) However, author Sherman Alexie, writer of The Abusolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian wrote, “I have yet to receive a letter from a child somehow debilitated by the domestic violence, drug abuse, racism, poverty, sexuality, and murder contained in my book. To the contrary, kids as young as ten have sent me autobiographical letters written in crayon, complete with drawing ispired by my book, that are just as dark, terrifying, and redemptive as anything I’ve ever read. It’s too late to protect children, the best we can do is give them verbal weapons and hope they can battle their monsters on their own.

                After we give children the knowledge and power to deal with these topics, it is left up to the teens reading YA books to be mature enough to hand dark topics. Teenagers know what they want to read. “They know what they can read and they know what they want to read, and if you don’t give it to them, they’ll find it somehow.” (Should Young Adult Books Have Age Ratings, Husna Haq, paragraph 11.) Kids know better than to be so heavily influenced by what they read. And to those who still think teenagers are not mature enough, think about this: by eighteen kids can vote, drive, and even go to war. If they can do things that adults do, why not pick out their own books? (Why the Best Books are Written in Blood, Sherman Alexie) As one teen said in the article Has Young Adult Fiction Become too Dark? “they’re called Young Adult. Adult.” Perhaps it isn’t that they aren’t mature, it’s that parents aren’t ready to accept their maturity and adulthood.

                Teenagers should not have their book selection be limited because someone else decides it’s subject matter is too dark. Children deserve to be educated about what goes on in the world around them, they also should use these books as inspiration to get better in their lives, should they need the motivation. And finally, yes teenagers are mature enough to pick out their own books. And if parents still feel uncomfortable letting their kids read about issues, than have a conversation about the books they’re reading.