Blog post on my synthesis page

In the book I'm reading, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, the main character's Grandpa dies, and he goes to an island where his grandpa grew up to find out secrets from his past. His grandpa was always odd and told stories from his childhood that seemed too crazy to be true. The main character finds some secrets in the island that he doesn't want to be true. He wants his grandpa to had been  a good person and he wants his grandpa's stories to be true, but deep down he knows that they weren't true and that his grandpa wasn't the good guy that he thought he was. He doesn't want to admit the truth to himself because that would mean that his whole life had been a lie.

“Age Ratings” Argument Essay           

Lulu Tenney 807

Has someone ever told you that you can’t do something that you love? That’s what adults are doing by putting age ratings on books.  Adults are putting age ratings on Young Adult books, but they don’t realize by doing this, that they are taking away teenagers’ freedom, responsibility, and independence. I think that there shouldn’t be age ratings for books because students have the maturity to read what they wish, and their rights as human beings shouldn’t be taken away from them.

 Young Adult, or “YA” books save teens because it shows them that they aren’t alone, and that other people, or characters relate with what they are going through. There was a popular hashtag on twitter called #YAsaves, where teens would tweet heartfelt responses to how YA saved them in their darkest moments. Teen blogger Emma says, “good literature rips open all the private parts of us- the parts that people have deemed too dark, inappropriate, grotesque, or abnormal for teens to be feeling- and then they stitch it back together again before we can realize that they aren’t talking about us.” This shows that these books are portraying what these teens are going through so well, that teens feel like the books are talking about their own situations. In the article, “Has young adult fiction become too dark?” by Mary Elizabeth Williams, she says, “That’s why it matters; why, in the name of protecting teens, we can’t shut them off from the outlet of experiencing difficult events and feelings in the relative safety and profound comfort of literature. Darkness isn’t the enemy. But ignorance always is.”  YA is a comfort for these young readers and without them, they would be completely shut off from the sad truths of life. Adults have the right to read whatever books or movies they want, so why don’t young adults?

Teens read YA because teens need to know about what happens in the real world, and YA teaches them that. Teens don’t mind the darkness of the world or of YA books because as author of dark YA literature, Patrick Ness, says, “teens are dark.” “All you have to do is read what teens write themselves, and I’ve judged competitions for teens writing and its darkness is beyond anything I could come up with.” Teens already know about these dark truths of life, and they need to know about it in the real world and when they are grown up, so why not let YA fiction, something that they enjoy, teach them about it?

On the other hand, parents think that teens shouldn’t have access to YA books, but teens actually have access to many worse things. Patrick Ness says, “teens look at the internet, they look at the news, they look at violent movies on the internet, and they look at pornography on the internet. So if children’s literature is not addressing that, if it’s addressing the world as it should be rather than as it is, then why would a teen read you?” Teens also see and hear about sad things that happen in their day-to-day lives, so hearing about them in books isn’t any different. Teens are smart- they can find something that they want easily, and Patrick Ness says, “if it’s got an 18 certificate for adults, then younger children will look it out when their parents are not around… Children are great self-censors. They know what they can read and they know what they want to read, and if you don’t give it to them, they’ll find it somehow.” They are responsible enough to know for themselves which books are too mature for them, so if teens want a book, why can’t they get it?

Although this is a very controversial topic with good points on each side, I strongly believe that adults should give children the responsibility that they deserve and that there shouldn’t be age ratings for books. I think that adults should stop trying to promote age ratings, and start with age ratings for internet content, because right now I think that that is the bigger issue.

Book Response

In the book I’m reading called “A Monster Calls” by Patrick Ness, the main character is a boy named Conor O’Malley who’s mum is dying of cancer and a monster comes to visit him and makes Conor, who has been avoiding the idea of his mum dying, tell the truth about how he feels.

In the book, the monster represents truth and fear. The monster is what Conor feared, because Conor feared facing the truth about his feelings towards his mom’s sickness. The stories that the monster tells, makes Conor repeat in real life, for example, one time he wrecked his grandmother’s living room, and another time he beats up a mean kid from his school, and then in the last story where his mum dies, happens in real life.

Non-fiction critical analysis

In the article "Should young adult books have an age rating?" By Husna Haq, the main idea of the article is the different opinions of YA fiction and age ratings of different YA authors. Author of dark YA fiction, G.P. Taylor has changed his mind about YA fiction and age ratings and says "for children, we've got to be really careful. We've got to have a guide for parents." On the other hand, YA author, Patrick Ness thinks that teens should have access to whatever books they want. He says, "teenagers look at the internet, they look at the news, they look at pornography on the internet, they look at violent movies on the internet. So if children's literature is not addressing that, if it's addressing the world as it should be rather than as it is, then why would a teen read you?"

The author doesn't show much opinion, but I think the author is leaning towards the no age ratings side because the author includes a paragraph about how #YAsaves, and in this paragraph, the author uses the technique of figurative language, such as "heartfelt and emotional reactions" to help the reader empathize and lean towards the no age ratings side.

I think that there shouldn't be age ratings for books because students are mature enough to read YA literature and adults should give teens the responsibility to determine whether or not the teen feels ready to read a certain book. I think teens should have the responsibility to recognize when they are or aren't ready for a book. Although the opposing side has a few good arguments, no age ratings is what I believe in and it relates to my life.