Many people all over the world have been working to ban kids' books. Schools and even some libraries have taken books off of their shelves due to mature themes and messages that some may think kids can't handle. However, these books can teach kids important life lessons and will show them the consequences of the mistakes that the characters make. One of these books is "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. While some think this book is too inappropriate for kids to be reading, I think that it doesn't deserve to be banned, at least for middle schoolers.
The first reason why I think "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" shouldn't be banned is that you can learn many important life lessons from the text. One lesson from the book is that you should always be yourself. Charlie (the main character) says "If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am." In other words, he is stating that he wants people to like him for who he truly is. This will encourage kids to always be themselves around others and associate themselves with people that like them for who they are. Characters like Charlie are great role models, and can influence kids to make good choices when it comes to being yourself.
Another reason why it shouldn't be banned, is that not only can they learn from the characters positive attributes, they can also learn the consequences of their negative ones. One example of this is when Charlie takes LSD and as a result, it just made him more confused and heightened the emotions that he was working so hard to get rid of. Later on, he says "Regardless, I'm never taking LSD again." This scene really shows the negative effects of LSD and when kids read it they will most likely not want to try it. If a book is showing how LSD may not be as great as it seems, we should be encouraging kids to read it, not trying to ban it.
While some people may say that these books have a lot of explicit content that they don't want their kids to be reading about, such as drugs and violence, the reality of the situation is that they will be exposed to these subjects eventually. I think that it is better for kids to be exposed to these kind of things within the context of a book, so that they can see the positive and negative consequences of different actions without having to experience it themselves. In the article "The 'sick-lit' books aimed at children" by Tanith Carey, the author mentions how the book Red Tears deals with the difficult topic of cutting and self-harm. She states that "she would give the book to the family or friends of a self-harmer to help them understand the issue." This shows how books with tough subjects like this one, can help you understand the situation further and help yourself and people around you refrain from carrying out actions that could hurt you.
In conclusion I think that "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, and other questionable books, should not be banned from middle schools. You can learn many important life lessons, and kids will learn from the consequences of the characters mistakes. In the real world there are many bad situations that kids could get into and they need to be prepared if they find themselves stuck in one. One way that kids can be educated about these topics is through literature. So, lets work together to help to encourage reading instead of depriving kids of great books.
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