Non fiction blog

          Ellen Hopkins, author of Crank, Burned, Impulse, Glass, Identical, Tricks, and Fallout, wrote a controversial article called, "Banned Books Week 2010: An Anti-Censorship Manifesto." Ellen Hopkins writes some very controversial books, often having to do with subjects such as drugs, violence, abuse, and other subjects, that can cause readers, especially parents, some alarm. This caused Hopkins to write this article, talking about the people who ban her books. 
          In the article, Hopkins mentions how book banners almost never read the books that they ban and only skim the pages for "dirty words and sexual content." I, personally, find this unfair to Hopkins, or any author that has had a book banned. Books like Hopkins' can be beneficial to students facing the same issues as the characters in her books. Unfortunately, a lot of the book banners or "gatekeepers" are parents. Ellen Hopkins says that she has had situations where she was scheduled too speak at a school about poetry, but a parent read about the content in Hopkins' books and told the superintendent not to let her speak at any school in the district, and that all of her books should be taken from the shelves of every school in that same district. Unfortunately, the superintendent agreed, even though both had never read the books. But this wasn't the first time Hopkins was dis-invited from speaking at a school. A librarian became concerned after hearing two parents complain, and after reading about Hopkins' books on a website that rates books for content. Again, they hadn't read any of her books.
         After sharing the story of her two dis-invitations, Hopkins went on to state, "If you don't want to child to read a book, take it away. But you do not have the right to decide "appropriateness" for everyone." I agree with this statement because if I wasn't allowed to read a book, or hear an author speak just because someone else's parent wasn't okay with it, I know I would be pretty annoyed. I also agree with Hopkins' next two statements, " What's perhaps not right for one child is necessary for another."and "Those whose lives are touched by the issues I write about deserve to know they're not alone. I agree with Ellen Hopkins because you never know who can benefit from books like hers. And book banners should know that they don't have the right to decide what's best for everybody, and that those people need to decide fro themselves.