I think it is stupid to ban Ellen Hopkins books (Crank, Glass, Impulse, etc.)! They bring up very important issues that every teenager should learn about. Not every family is going to sit down at the dinner table and discuss the harmful effects that drugs or other bad habits have on a person and their family. A single father will have a very difficult time explaining to his little girl how dangerous recreational sex and prostitution is. With the help of these books, children will be able to learn and discuss with their family and friends, mentors or counselors, the hardships that they will most likely be facing as a teenager.
My first child is only 10 months old but issues like these are already in my mind. I know how I thought about sex, drugs, alcohol, etc., in middle and high school and I wish I was more prepared for them. I agree that my children will read these books when they are ready, because yes it is heavy reading, but I know the awareness that comes from these books and know that I wish I could have read them, or something like them, when I was younger. I was lucky and stayed away from most bad habits, but I had some friends in high school who should have read these books. It's not a guarantee that they wouldn't have taken the same path that they did, but I would have felt better knowing I tried to help them see what those choices create.
Hopefully more people will see the good that these books can bring and see that there is more to them than just sex, drugs, and alcohol. People need to see that these books can be great guidelines for discussing upsetting topics with their own child. Read the books yourself before having your child read them and then you will know what to expect and will be better prepared if your child wants to talk about them. If you still disapprove after having read it yourself, then fine, don't have your child read them, but just because you do not want your child reading them does not mean you can decide that these books are harmful to all children in general. Let others decide for their own children and let authors like Ellen Hopkins continue to do an amazing job shedding some light on these touching topics.
