Ellen Hopkins Identical: Should It Be Banned To Young High School Students?

The renowned author Ellen Hopkins never disappoints with her unique novels. Identical follows the lives of sixteen year old twins who battle their oncoming demons everyday. Kaeleigh is the perfect student and the perfect child. Yet ever since she was nine, her corrupt father has sexually abused her because of the absence of his wife, who is away campaigning for congress. Raeanne doesn’t want to come second in her father's eyes so she turns to drugs and sex to fill the void in her heart. This novel should be banned to young high school students because of the extent of drug use, the explicit and vivid sex and rape scenes, along with inappropriate relationships, and self harm. However, this is the best novel I have ever read. Hopkins wraps the reader into the realistic lives of the twins, which are about ready to shatter.
Hopkins’ novels never leave any gruesome details out. She almost wants the readers to feel uncomfortable so that the meaning of her novels get across. That’s why all of her books have been challenged at one time or another. Identical has been challenged and even banned from numerous school throughout the United States. In the Appoquinimink School District, located in Delaware, a male student felt uncomfortable having to read Identical for the school's book club. His parents contacted the school board who then
Yet this comes to how just how cruel life can be. After finishing this book, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. I’m not going to spoil anything, but the dramatic turn of events is empowering. Anyone, upperclassman in high school and older, who has been through traumatic experiences with rape, self harm, or drug overdose should read this book because they could compare their experiences to what the character have gone through. Yet at the same time, it’s crucial to ban it for younger adolescents because I don’t believe they would be mature enough to handle this type of