Ariana Henry 802
Dear Ms. Berner,
I know that many parents have been pushing you to ban certain books from the MS 51 Library. However, it is unfair to make a decision based on a small population of people. Each child at this school is an individual and knows what they are capable of learning about. Each student makes educated book-reading decisions based on previous experiences with controversial material. These days, many teens are busy on screens, if the material is a bit extreme it is ok, the fact that they are reading alone should be seen as a positive thing. Reading is a fabulous activity that enriches your life in many ways.
Reading has marvelous effects on many lives. One being, it reduces stress. An article titled, “A Teenage Guide to Stress” by Nicola Morgan mentions that, “If you are spending too much time worrying about these things [exams and your social life], your body is under fairly constant stress, so we need to find ways to reduce the negative effects.” Stressful lives lead to unhappy ones. Reading is essential to help release the tension. The article states, “People who are reading for pleasure report that it relaxes them and allows them to switch off their worries. We also know that there is a strong connection between reading and everyday pleasure and higher grades in exams.” Reading allows us to exit our daily stresses and enter a world of excitement. This leaves us with a feeling of relaxation and a new perspective on life. Another article called “Reading ‘Can Help Reduce Stress’” from “The Telegraph” (published in March of 2009) explains the science behind how this stress-relieving works. “Psychologists believe this is because the human mind has to concentrate on reading and the distraction of being taken into a literary would ease the tensions in muscles and the heart.” Reducing stress allows a happier, healthier lifestyle. Although snuggling under the covers to watch a movie may be nice, it does not enrich your life in the way reading does. No matter the content, you will always learn something from a book. When reading, you can escape on a personal level and enter a new world. This is a mystical experience that only books offer.
Reading allows people to become better versions of themselves. In an article titled, “Reading Fiction ‘Improves Empathy,’ Study Finds” by Alison Flood an interesting point is brought up, “...participants who read the Harry Potter chapters self-identifies as wizards, whereas participants reading the Twilight chapter self-identified themselves as vampires. And ‘belonging’ to these fictional communities actually provided the same mood and life satisfaction people get from affiliations with the real-life group.” This shows that reading allows you to feel like a fuller, more accepted version of yourself. Most books involve a group of some sort, providing you with the opportunity to feel welcome. Even if it is only hypothetical, it can give to a sense of belonging. Another quote from the same article reads, “Books provide the opportunity for social connection and the blissful calm that comes from becoming a part in something larger than oneself for a precious, fleeting moment.” This shows that books allow you to connect with the characters and experience important events over the course of the story. Another quote that adds to this idea is when the author states, “In fiction, also, we are able to understand characteristics’ actions from their interior point of view, by entering into their situations and mines, rather than the more exterior view of them that we usually have. And it turns out that psychologically there is a big difference between these two points of view.” When reading, you can join someone in a journey and experience it through their point of view. You can learn from their mistakes and understand their good points. You can enter a whole ‘nother life and escape from your everyday lives and routines. It is nice to have a break because when re-entering your life, you feel calmer and more grateful for what you have. In most cases, the characters are going through much harder experiences than us. Reading helps us feel better about ourselves, shaping personalities in the process. Books help us mature.
Many people believe that complex books encourage highly inappropriate behavior. They are taking away reading experiences and material based off a fabricated theory. An article called, “Has Young Adult Fiction Become Too Dark?” by Mary Elizabeth Williams explains that, “..it is possible-indeed, likely - that books focusing on pathologies help normalize them and, in the case of self-harm, may even spread their plausibility and likelihood to young people who might otherwise never have imagined such extreme measures.” Although some aspects of this may be true, as another article called, “Yes, Teen Fiction Can Be Dark-But It shows Teengaers They Aren’t Alone” states, “No one writing about self harm is providing instructions on how to self harm. No one writing about rape is providing instructions on how to rape or how to be raped.” Books are not encouraging bad behavior, they are just explaining and exposing children to real-life situations. It is understandable that some parents may want to inform their children themselves. However, some books provide an explanation no one can compete with. Books provide you with hope for the future. The same article states, “If subjects like these are in YA books, it’s to show that they are real, that they can be survived.” Books open you up to unexplored aspects of many teens’ lives without normalizing it. Some books expose us to things that are hard to overcome. This is a good thing and just adds to the reason why books are so enriching.
It is important to let reading into kids’ lives no matter how gory the context is (it may even grab their attention). As the article called, “Reading ‘Can Help Reduce Stress” says, “It really doesn’t matter what book you read, by losing yourself in a fully engrossing book, you can escape from the worries and stresses of the everyday world and spend a while exploring the domain of the author’s imagination.” Sophisticated material is okay because it all does the same thing in the end. By allowing teens to choose their own books, it gives them the opportunity to cross extreme boundaries. The maturity of a book should reflect the reader but the act of choosing a book should be done by the reader based off of his or her interests. Reading makes such a huge impact on many lives that it is important to encourage teens and children to do it. By taking books away, you can only hurt these teens.
Thank you so much for understanding,
--Ariana Henry
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