Nonfiction Critical Analysis - "Should Young Adult Books Have Age Ratings?"

                              Nonfiction Critical Analysis

                             "Should Young Adult Books Have Age Ratings?"

          The article, "Should Young Adult Books Have Age Ratings?" by Husna Haq, debates on whether young adult fiction should be limited to people of certain ages because of its "increasingly dark young adult literature." Haq wants to promote the fact that some teenagers are not yet ready for young adult fiction because of the level of maturity it requires. One thing Haq includes is a quote from Graham Peter Taylor who was debating on whether young adult fiction should have age ratings with BBC Breakfast and an author named Patrick Ness. He says "I wrote the  Vampyre Labyrinth, it came out, I hadn't really read it when I wrote the book, and people who were reading it and reviewing it were saying 'This is the most frightening thing has ever been written for kids... I have changed my mind: I think children's literature has gone too far." Taylor is an experienced author and he claims that young teens shouldn't read YA fiction which really contributes to Haq's main idea. Haq also compares young adult books to video games when she says "[Taylor] comments come on the heels of a recent study by Brigham Young University that found young adult bestsellers have twice the rate of cursing of video games and characters who sear are typically portrayed as... more popular than clean-mouthed counterparts." Haq also applies Patrick Ness's quote to use as a counter-argument. Ness opposes Taylor when he says "All you have to really do is read what teenagers write themselves... it's darkness beyond anything I could come up with... Teenagers look at darkness all the time." These details connect to Haq's argument that YA fiction should have age limits.

          Furthermore, Husna Haq's goal was to make the reader to think that young adult fiction can negatively influence them. She achieves this goal by including Graham Peter Taylor's argument with Patrick Ness at BBC Breakfast. Taylor, a experienced and believable writer, supports Haq's goal with his assertions of YA fiction. In addition to his first claim, he says "I think the way forward is a certification system for books, the same way we have in films... For children we've got to really be careful. We've got to have a guide for parents." Haq utilizes her first technique here, when she paraphrases what Taylor was implying in the previous quote, "Taylor hit the hot-button topic du jour: advocating the establishment of an age-ratings system for young adult literature, similar to ratings systems for movies and video games." Haq also applies another technique in her article; the basic argument essay format. This format starts with the claim, then the support, next the counter-argument, and lastly the conclusion. She starts with her claim that YA fiction is becoming increasingly dark, then supports it with Taylor's strong quotes, and concludes after Ness's counter argument. Haq deploys these techniques in order to make the reader feel scarred and dismayed about young adult fiction books.

           To conclude, I can take away that young adult books can be a little too dark and requires responsibility and maturity but Patrick Ness's argument was just as convincing when he was talking about the teenager's perspective of YA fiction; they see it all the time. However, my thinking about young adult fiction hasn't been shaped or changed very much, although I will keep in mind that YA fiction can influence me the same way as it can other teenagers.