Response to "Why The Best Kid's Books Are Written With Blood"

Sherman Alexie, the author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, writes the article; Why the Best Kids Books Are Written in Blood, in response to Megan Cox Gurdon’s popular and argumentative article about Young Adult (YA) literature “reflecting hideous portrayals of what life is”; Darkness Too Visible. In her article Alexie disagrees with Gurdon and stresses; YA books does not protect a reader from difficult situations that they had already endured but acts as a weapon for the reader to use to tackle down that difficult situation. She believes “book banners” are trying to ban books for the protection of privileged kids who have not yet had their hands dirty. But what about those whose hands are already dirty? She believes that YA books are meant for those kinds of readers, readers who have already have gone through or going through a tragic challenge, to use the words they read as weapons they could use to later tackle their challengers. 

 

In Alexie’s article she talks about teenagers she met at a promotion ceremony for a Seattle alternative high school. She describes how a lot of these kids at the high school have “…stories that are individually tragic and collectively agonizing” and how they all loved and have been inspired by Alexie’s controversial book; The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. She also shares her story of major hardships of being a Native American teenager. She states “When I think of the poverty-stricken, sexually and physically abused, self-loathing Native American teenager that I was, I can only wish, immodestly, that I’d been given the opportunity to read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”. She says this to say that YA books such as the one she wrote serves as a resource for teenagers who are facing similar challenges as the characters in the book. Then Alexie poses another side of her claim of “book banners” trying to protect the privileged kids. She shares a small story of her meeting a 17-year old boy, who is from a well rounded family, undergoing a very torn situation of being forced to join the army by his father and him wanting to become a writer. He had turned to her book for inspiration and help with his problem. This shows even a“privileged” kid needs help.

 

Sherman Alexie uses several craft moves to help her support her claims. She has a serious tone when she shares stories of the people she met undergoing tragic difficulties now taboo to the world of YA literature. Her seriousness portrays how she strongly she feels about these “dark” topics that she writes about in her books which are actually a common problem to common people. However when she is directing her argument at Megan Cox Gurdon she has a very sarcastic tone and a lot of authority over her in her voice. In her article she says “He  was seventeen and destined to join the military. Yes, he was old enough to die and kill for his country. And old enough to experience the infinite horrors of war. But according to Ms. Gurdon, he might be too young to read a YA novel that vividly portrays those very same horrors.” In this quote you could hear Sherman Alexie saying, “Come on now Ms. Gurdon, really?”

 

Another craft move that Alexie uses in her article is little small moments she shared about herself, and teenagers facing the horrors of life. She uses each small moment to support her opinions. For example, in the small moment she shares about herself, she mentions if she could have read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian when she was facing the same problems as the protagonist of that book, it would have helped her cope greatly. This supports her claim of YA books acting as a weapon for teenagers to use to tackle their worst nightmares.

I definitely agree with Sherman Alexie’s argument. And I most definitely agree with her statement; “I read books about monsters and monstrous things, often written with monstrous language, because they taught me how to battle the real monsters in my life.” This statement which she directly made, speaks to me. It stands very true to me. When I pick out books to read, I choose books with the characters facing a similar problem as I am. I want to read about someone who’s battling a similar monster as me. I want to learn how they face that monster down so I can do it too. And sometimes the best way to learn something is to have someone else show you how to do it. This is the concept schools use. The best way for a student to learn to multiply numbers is by having a teacher show you how to do it. If that’s okay, then why is reading a young adult book which deals with real world problems not okay to read if it can teach you how to tackle challenges you may face once your out there alone in the world? Basically parents who are in support of the “Book banning” extravaganza want to shield their kids from the real world, typical of common over-protective parents. But this simple act of “protecting” kids from the consequences of the world, which may seem as justice to most parents, can really affect their kids in their adult life when reality slaps them in the face.