Dark YA Content: Two perspectives

Gurdon, Meghan Fox. “Darkness Too Visible.” The Wall Street Journal,  June 4, 2011.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038

Crutcher, Chris. “Young Adult Fiction: Let Teens Choose.” Huffington Post, July 21, 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-crutcher/young-adult-fiction_b_906398.html
 

Image from WSJ

Meghan Cox Gurdon's article "Darkness Too Visible" started a great deal of conversation about the content of young adult fiction. YA author Chris Crutcher responded. What are the arguments for and against this "dark" content? Who do you most agree with and why? How would you respond to either Gurdon or Crutcher?


I’ll very quickly confess that I am unwaveringly on Chris Crutcher's side of the fence on this series of articles.  I think there is value in YA novels that present difficult subjects because teens need these books.  It’s amazing how many kids know someone who is or are themselves going through difficult times as a result of unimaginable situations.  Drunk and abusive parents, parents with PTSD, older siblings in jail or in gangs, questions about their sexual preference or gender identity, pressures of sex, drugs, and alcohol, thoughts of suicide or self-harm, bullying and social stigma from their peers. These are real things that kids may need to process.  Seeing someone in a novel go through the types of problems that they may see can provide a source of relief and a feeling that they are not as alone as they think they are.

And while Gurdon claims that reading about dark subjects normalizes pathologies, I believe that’s not how teens’ minds process these books. Instead, I think the problem is really that parents are often not ready for their children to face the dangers of life that already exist, and that their children need to find sources they trust to process their emotions. Sometimes, that trust extends to a kid’s parents, but sometimes that trust falls on books and authors at the library.  And as I’ve said before and will repeat here, what I choose to expose my child to as a parent is not the same as what as a librarian I will allow on the shelves, because it is not my role to be a parent for every kid that walks in my library. I can’t presume to know what a patron’s parents would and would not allow them to read. And while they are minors, they are also patrons who have a sense of autonomy and a right to self-selection.

Parents have the responsibility to be aware of what their kids are reading, and hopefully have the trust in their relationship to ask their kids about the books they read, the movies the watch, and the games they play. Parents do not have the right to be watchdogs for other parents’ children. That is censorship and I am strongly opposed to it, regardless of the reasons professed for it.