Books That Help, Books That Heal
The Value of Controversial Literature for Teens
Dr. Joni Richards Bodart
The New Young Adult Novel
The Outsiders—S. E. Hinton
Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones—Ann Head
The Pigman—Paul Zindel
The Contender—Robert Lipsyte
The Chocolate War—Robert Cormier
Forever—Judy Blume
Lies
Yevgeny Yevtushenko
Telling lies to the young is wrong.
Proving to them that lies are true is wrong.
Telling them that God’s in his heaven
and all’s well with the world is wrong.
The young know what you mean.
The young are people.
Tell them the difficulties can’t be counted,
and let them see not only what will be
but see with clarity these present time.
Say obstacles exist they must encounter,
sorrow happens, hardship happens.
The hell with it. Who never knew
the price of happiness will not be happy.
Forgive no error you recognize,
it will repeat itself, increase,
and afterwards our pupils
will not forgive in use what we forgave.
Why has recent YA lit become so controversial, so bleak, so dark?
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it mirrors the changes in our society and in our world
it uses current events, beliefs, ideas, and realities as inspiration
it is well-written, creating an intense emotional response in the reader
it tells the truth, even when it is unpleasant
its characters, situations, dialogue are all realistic
its endings may be ambiguous, not answering all the reader’s questions, allowing for further
consideration and speculation after finishing the book
its authors respect teens and refuse to present pat answers to complex questions
Bruises—Anke DeVries
Breathing Underwater—Alex Flinn
Speak—Laurie Halse Anderson
Dreamland—Sarah Dessen
Rules of Survival—Nancy Werlin
Robert Cormier
I am the Cheese
We All Fall Down
After the First Death
The Chocolate War
Heroes
The Rag and Bone Shop
Walter Dean Myers
Fallen Angels
Monster
Shooter
Autobiography of my Dead Brother
David Lubar
Dunk
Hidden Talents
Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
Chris Crutcher
Chinese Handcuffs
Ironman
Whale Talk
Julie Ann Peters
Keeping you a Secret
Luna
Far from Xanadu
Between Mom and Jo
What do we do now?
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Read them
Purchase them
Replace them
Promote them in booktalks, RA, and displays
Fight challenges to them
Tell teens about them
Contact their authors to encourage them to continue to write dangerous books
Educate teachers and communities about their bibliotherapeutic value
Analyze them, to understand why reading them is uncomfortable, and share your understanding
with parents, teachers, and library staff
The six required titles in my YA Resources class
The Outsiders
The Chocolate War
Chinese Handcuffs
I am the Cheese
Weetzie Bat
Fallen Angels
Books can help, books can heal. But only if teens know about them and know where to find them on their
library shelves.