Wall Street Journal book reviewer Meghan Cox Gurdon sure knows how to stir the pot–and make it boil over with fury.

On June 4 she wrote a column saying that current young adult novels are too dark and depressing.  Basically she said young adult novels are corrupting our youth and making them want to do things like cut themselves and commit suicide.

Well.  Writers and readers of YA books did not, to say the least, take it sitting down.  My favorite response to Gurdon’s arguments comes from Sherman Alexie.  You can read his response on WSJ.

The one thing I haven’t seen anyone respond to is that Gurdon essentially says parents should have the right to get books kicked out of libraries and schools if they object to the book’s content. She says:

But whether it’s language that parents want their children reading is another question. Alas, literary culture is not sympathetic to adults who object either to the words or storylines in young-adult books.

…

In the book trade, this is known as “banning.” In the parenting trade, however, we call this “judgment” or “taste.”

I don’t disagree that parents have the right to control what their children read, watch and listen to.  But parents absolutely do not have the right to control what other people’s children read, watch and listen to.

And when a parent says “This book is vulgar, explicit, profane and I want it off the library shelves,” that parent has crossed the boundary between her rights and mine.  If that parent objects to a book, she should say “My child is not allowed to read this book,” and that should be the end of it.

I am not a mother, and I don’t intend to become one.  I am still close enough to my teenage years to remember how tumultuous and angsty life felt, and how much solace I found within the pages of books.  I am sure, 100%, that had some parent said, “Sandman has nudity and language and profane ideas and I want it off this library’s shelves,” and the librarians had listened, I would not have had the opportunity to read it.

Had I not read it, I would have most likely not chosen writing as my major in college.  I would have gone with chemistry, and I would have been miserable, because I am not meant to be a chemist.  I probably wouldn’t be going to grad school for my MFA, and what’s more, I probably wouldn’t have met my husband, and if I had, I doubt we would have connected in the same way we do (because of literature and writing).

So, Ms. Gurdon, kindly STFU and keep your judgement to yourself.

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Image from stock.xchng, by porah.