Books Written in Blood Shouldn't be Banned

     The article "Why the Best Kid Books Are Written in Blood" by Sherman Alexie published in the Wall Street Journal presents the idea that dark issues in Young Adult books help teens deal with and face the dark issues in their own lives. Throughout the article, Alexie references the dark issues he's faced in his own life such as rape and both sexual and physical abuse in his family. He explains how reading dark Young Adult literature didn't hurt him because he was exposed to so much darkness in his own life, and that writing and reading helped him through it. Furthermore, Alexie supports his idea by using examples from other people in real life. He tells some stories of people from both poor, wealthy, and all kinds of schools and environments he's visited who have shared their hardships and life struggles with him after relating to his book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Sherman Alexie also contrasts his ideas with those of Megan Cox Gurdon in "Darkness Too Visible" to further support the idea that teens should have access to dark Young Adult literature. In the end of the article, Alexie closes with powerful words to further convince the reader of his claim. His closing sentences are about how he writes "in blood" or writes about dark and "monstrous" concepts because he remembers what it was like to deal with dark issues as a teen.
     Throughout the article, Sherman Alexie uses a lot of craft moves to support his claim. For example, he backlashes at Megan Cox Gurdon by giving examples of people who have suffered hard times and who read dark Young Adult books for inspiration in their own lives. He talks about how a seventeen year-old was already "destined to join the military" and "old enough to kill and die for his country" and but Megan Cox Gurdon believed he still shouldn't be exposed to the darkness in banned books. The way Alexie writes about this and directly addresses Megan Cox Gurdon's counterclaim evokes anger from the reader and encourages the reader to agree with him instead of Megan because they feel for the seventeen-year old whose story Alexie told. In addition, Alexie uses specific word choice and imagery to support his claim. In the article, Alexie says "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." Alexie's choice to repeat the words "monster" and "monstrous" strengthens the image readers get of battling monsters in real life.
     I agree with Sherman Alexie's claim because teens should be able to read about dark issues in Young Adult books since they are issues they are going to face in real life. Reading about dark topics in YA books such as drinking, drugs, death, sex, and more can help teens figure out how to overcome and deal with these issues in their own lives. This article gives examples of people who have talked to Sherman Alexie, telling him how simply reading his book made a big impact in their life. This shows how the ideas books present and how protagonist characters overcome issues and obstacles gives teens inspiration to overcome those obstacles themselves, and it gives them hope that they can turn their lives around from a bad place. In this article, there were certain lines that stood out to me. These lines were the last two of the article, "I give them [teens] weapons-in the form of words and ideas-that will help them fight their monsters. I write in blood because I remember what it felt like to bleed." These lines stood out to me because I think it's really interesting how Alexie's book and many others can be used as a way for teens to fight the monsters in their life, whether their monsters are homework or tests or something more serious like abuse. And the very last line really made me think about the article on a whole new level. The line means that Alexie writes about teenage hardships because he remembers what it was like to go through them himself. Overall, I agree with Alexie's claim because reading about real issues can help teens overcome obstacles in their lives.