"Darkness Too Visible" Reading Response

We have recently been learning about banned and challenged books in ELA class. "Darkness Too Visible," by Megan Cox Gurdon is a Wall Street Journal article about young adult fiction. This article states that young adult literature is inappropriate for teens, and that many of the topics in modern young adult literature, such as self-mutilation, are too dark for teenage readers.

Megan Cox Gurdon utilized quotes and narrative to strengthen her claim. She quotes several controversial young adult books such as The Marbury Lens. She uses bloody scenes from these books to exemplify the material in many such novels. Gurdon also uses narrative and quotes from parents, teachers and authors to further her claim. However, she neglects to use one very important perspective- that of young readers. After all, who better to decide if books have a detrimental effect on young readers than teenagers that know how books effect them first hand? Many, apparently. Though she didn't represent young adult readers, Megan Cox Gurdon uses loaded words like "horrendous," "hyperviolent," and "hideously distorted," to describe the contents of young adult books. These words are meant to evoke strong feelings of revulsion, worry and even fear from readers.

While I thought "Darkness Too Visible" was very well written, I don't agree with the authors opinion. Megan Cox Gurdon writes that young adult fiction gives "hideously distorted portrayals of what life is." I believe that some "inappropriate" material is necessary to make teen characters realistic and relatable. While Gurdon writes about how profanity is too abundant, real-life teens curse. If self-mutilation is too dark a topic, many teens experience it firsthand. Teenagers experience what they read about in the real world, and reading young adult books can help them deal with the not PG-13 problems that they may be facing.