"Should IKWCBS Be Banned?"- Argument Essay (very very rough draft)

The classic I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is the  touching autobiography of a girl who was raped as a young child and is forced to deal with that, racism, and unfamiliarity throughout her life. Because of these mature themes, many people think that IKWCBS should be banned from middle school libraries. I disagree. I think that this book should not be banned. It is also important for middle school kids to learn about real-life issues such as those presented IKWCBS. Besides that, banning books has also proved to be ineffective in many situations.

IKWCBS should not be banned from middle school libraries because children in middle school need to learn about real life issues like those in the book. For example, in the book Maya deals with unfamiliarity and racism. These are unavoidable subjects in life even today, and the best way for a child to learn about these issues through reading about it. Maya says "These others, the strange pale creatures... weren't considered folks. They were whitefolks." Though some kids may not deal with unfamiliarity to this extreme, they could relate to Maya....(unfinished paragraph)

This book also shouldn't be banned because banning in general is ineffective. According to the article The Banned Books We Have Loved, "banning doesn't... hurt the [authors of books] much at all. If anything, it may even inspire more interest....and sales, too." Banning certain books just makes books more intriguing and kids more interested.

Some people want to ban IKWCBS because it was a couple of sex/rape scenes in it. But this is not a good reason to ban the book because most middle school kids have already been exposed to this. Also, it should be an expectation for kids of that age to know what they can handle in a book. If a child reads the blurb of a book such as IKWCBS and is uncomfortable with some of the content, he/she should be mature enough to put the book down.

In conclusion, limiting kids from reading certain books such as IKWCBS is wrong. IKWCBS specifically has important themes that kids should learn about, and even if it was banned it would be ineffective.