Why Crank Should Be Banned

consumes her, readers cannot escape the horrors of Kristina’s reality, which may be extremely traumatic for young adults who are ignorant of such matters. Yet another concerned parent concluded, “I know that [the novel] is supposed to be ‘real’ so that kids will relate. But how can I introduce my daughter to this world? You may be thinking, ‘You're so naive....she already knows about it!’ but she doesn't. At least not in the kind of detail that Crank provides” (“Reading Teen”). Parents find the content of Crank and other young adult texts too detailed, graphic, explicit, and provocative for their children, so they do not want their kids going anywhere near it. The controversial themes found in Crank do not align with what an overwhelming
majority of parents consider suitable and appropriate for young adults to read.
Although Crank and YA literature at large deals with explicit content and mature themes, it is absolutely necessary that adolescents are exposed to these types of novels in school and at home because they help to stir up intelligent conversation between teens and the adults in their lives. Since young adults typically attend school and receive a formal education, which usually includes assigned reading of young adult literature, it is no surprise that parents challenge many of these contentious novels, and try to get them banned from both school and local libraries.
Since 1990, studies conducted by the American Library Association prove that parents consistently lead the crusade against young adult texts, and most often claim that the works they challenge contain certain scenes that are “sexually explicit,” or include dialogue that uses “offensive language,” and in some cases also argue that the texts are “unsuited for any age group” ("About Banned & Challenged Books"). Many parents have these exact issues with Hopkins’ novel, proving that this controversy is not unique to Crank, but spans the entire spectrum of YA literature. Parents want to protect their kids from sexually explicit content in literature, yet their daughters are giving blowjobs under the bleachers after school, and their sons are doing more than just making out in the back seats of cars (Saletan). Furthermore, guardians are concerned that there is too much swearing in young adult
literature, yet the average adolescent curses at least eighty times each day, so clearly teens are not just using profanity in novels (Glover).
While parents are too busy trying to prevent their kids from reading about controversial themes and protagonists, since it will introduce them into a world they are unprepared to find out about, they fail to notice that their kids are acting exactly like the main characters in the novels they so desperately want their children to avoid! Parents claim that YA literature contains material that is inappropriate for their children, and may give them negative ideas about how to behave, yet their kids already know all about this provocative, controversial world because they live it everyday, proving that the content reflected in YA literature is not so unfamiliar for adolescent readers. Crank appeared on the Banned Books List of 2010, citing reasons of drug use, offensive language, and sexually explicit material for the ban, proving that adults feel the text deals with themes that are too mature for an adolescent readership ("About Banned & Challenged Books"). Despite the claims adults make about the explicit and
controversial content included in Crank and YA literature as a whole, parents, teachers, and school administration can work together to use young adult novels as the basis for intelligent discussions about highly complex issues in a controlled setting. By using YA novels as a teaching tool, teachers open the door to discussions of young adult issues in class, which can then be continued at home between the child and his parents. Instead of ignoring difficult adolescent issues, or shielding young adults from the ugly side of addiction, pregnancy, rape, abuse, etc, adults in positions of authority can use young adult literature to expose kids to these real life situations in a safe way, instead of letting adolescents have damaging first hand experiences. Rather than having a student contract an STD because they do not know how to