1/7/15

Dear Ms. Berner,

We have heard the the administration has been receiving emails regarding removing certain books from our libraries. These books may include topics about drugs, sex, violence, racism and other more mature content. I feel that removing these books from the libraries would not benefit the M.S 51 reading community, but it might hurt it.

To begin, many banned books teach important lessons that its readers might not learn without reading the book. As said by Jen Doll “...the majority of our favorite books might have been sourced directly from the banned books ‘top 100’ list -the honor of number one on that list, for the record, goes to Alvin Scwartz’s Scary Stories series. Not only were these books ones we read intently, and over and over agan, they were the books that taught us important things :Like Jen Doll stated, these books teach us important lessons, and without them, we might never learn them. Additionally, Jen Doll continues to say how the good books were the ones that were banned. “Over and over again, the books worth reading were the banned ones.”

Secondly, reading about harsher topics are better for kids to learn about them then not knowing about them. Jen Doll also says that “...book banners and protective parents or maybe even folks without kids would have you believe that this sort of stuff will hurt the minds of young readers, will disturb them, will be bad for them.” What Jen is trying to say is that many people think that reading about mature topics is not meant for kids and should be banned in schools, but these topics are not even too harmful for the age group that it is meant for. The Hunger Games for example, is meant for teens and young adults, not 3rd graders. But parents who ban books in middle and high school are being too hard on the books and not letting their children experience reading about different topics, when they are at the age when they could be.

Some may say that banning books is a positive way to filter what kids read. For example, if a reader had experienced something in their life that might bring back a bad memory or give them post traumatic stress because of something they read something harsh. Additionally, banning also gets kids more curious about what the book is about, and will gravitate towards a banned book rather than a non-banned one. As Jen states “I honestly don’t think that banning a book ruins its reputation or makes children afraid to read it. If anything , the opposite will happen.” When something becomes censored, children become more curious, and read it just because of the censorship.

To conclude, I feel that banning books would hurt the 51 libraries more than help. It would take away books we love and that teach us important lessons. I feel that if someone has a problem reading a book because of its explicit content, then they shouldn’t read the book, not take it away from others who might want to. Because we aren’t in elementary school, I think all YA books should be present in MS.51 libraries.

                                                                 From   

     Miles Mukamal