Surprising Results when Teens Read Spicy Young Adult Novels
In this article in Language Arts and Literacy, Gay Ivey (University of North Carolina/
Greensboro) and Peter Johnston (University of Albany) describe the battle lines on book bans
in the U.S. On one side is the fear that certain books will traumatize, radicalize, or undermine
the morals of young people in a time of increasing anxiety, loneliness, depression, and suicide.
On the other side is a passionate argument for unfettered access to ideas, student choice, and
democracy.
But in fact, say Ivey and Johnston, most young adolescents rarely read books on their
own, and if they do pick up controversial books, we know very little about how they react.
To explore these issues, Ivey and Johnston worked with several 8th-grade ELA teachers
who decided to stop assigning works of literature for their whole classes. Instead, they let
students choose from a wide range of young adult books, gave them time to read, and then led
class discussions. Over two years of observing classrooms and interviewing students, then
following up with some students for another two years, Ivey and Johnston came to the
following conclusions:
• Students, most of whom had done little or no independent reading beforehand,
“started reading like crazy – in and out of school – and their reading achievement improved.”
• Students reported that reading engaging stories about characters with complicated
lives made them more empathetic, less judgmental, more likely to understand multiple
viewpoints, and morally stronger. Students reported that they had better self-control,
friendships, and family relationships.
• The notion that teens would be distressed as they read controversial books alone was
the opposite of what happened, say Ivey and Johnston. Kids pestered teachers, family
members, and friends to read the books and talked about the characters, relationships among
them, drugs, sex, and depression. Parents said they welcomed these conversations.
• Far from emulating the unwise choices made by characters in the books, students saw
the stories as cautionary tales and scoffed at the idea that they would make such poor decisions.
“The books helped them to see the consequences of problematic decisions and language,” say
Ivey and Johnston. “The complexities of characters’ lives and the consequences of their
decisions deepened students’ moral thinking while making them grateful for their lives and
families. The books reduced their own self-absorption, diminishing personal concerns that
might otherwise overwhelm them. Bad words and disturbing scenes simply fed bigger
conversations about life and relationships.”
• “Reading and talking about personally meaningful books can provide a literal lifeline
for teens,” conclude Ivey and Johnston. “Somewhere in the arguments about whether books are
‘educationally suitable’ we’ve lost the thread of why we want students to read in the first place,
what they, and we, stand to gain in the process, and what’s at stake.”
“What Happens When Young People Actually Read ‘Disturbing’ Books” by Gay Ivey and
Peter Johnston in Language Arts and Literacy, October 31, 2023; their new book, from which
these ideas were excerpted, is Teens Choosing to Read: Fostering Social, Emotional, and
Intellectual Growth Through Books (TC Press, 2023); the authors can be reached at
mgivey@uncg.edu and pjohnston@albany.edu .
