Dear Mrs. Berner,
It has come to my attention that you have wanted to take out books from various sixth grade libraries because you believe they are too mature. I believe that if sixth graders read them then they should make the choice deciding if they are ready or not to face reality of the world.
Some books are banned for no reason at all. In the video “Top 10 banned books” the book Where’s Waldo is banned for a tiny illustration of partially naked woman. This makes no sense because no kid who is looking for Waldo will be looking at the partial naked woman. In the same video, the dictionary is banned for inappropriate words but that also doesn’t make any sense because a dictionary was meant to find meanings of all words. This isn’t letting Kids decide for their own and if you take books from sixth grade libraries then you will be taking away their choice and decision.
Some books are thought to be very heavy with very sad scenarios. The article “darkness too visible” by Megan Fox Gurdon is about how these days all YA books are too much and filled with dark matters. She says that teen books had an influence on a “child’s happiness, moral development and tenderness of heart” That is not true. Kids in this school have already dealt with the loss of a peer. They’ve dealt the struggles of facing reality. I don’t think this made us any less tender of heart, that are just made us a little innocent but this may not lead to things like depression. An article by Michelle Pauli defends banning books by saying “illness, depression, sexuality, - these are all issues that teens are going to bump against in their lives”. I agree, because you never know what’s going to happen. There are so many realties in life Ms. Berner; we need to be prepared for them, the earlier the better.
Some may say that sixth graders are too young to deal with many books. Such as a book like Scars, this is about a girl who cuts herself. Yes, that is true. Some are scarred or unprepared to read this. But there is an alternative. Have parents sign a paper which tells you what type of books their child should read. I don’t think it’s up to anyone but the child and maybe their parent to decide what to read or not. That’s because then the child can come to their parents to understand the meaning of what they are reading. Bill Moyer had once said “A lie can be exposed, but censorship can prevent us from knowing the difference” this means that you can’t see books as they are but you have to see who it can affect and if it doesn’t affect anyone then don’t ban them.
I hope this essay challenges you to think about not banning books without asking sixth graders first. Whatever you are banning affects the sixth grader and how they want to see the world. You cant shelter us forever because we all have to grow up and face reality one day.
Yours Truly, Areebah Pervez
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