Kelly Jensen of Stacked has started writing for Book Riot and her latest, What Are Grown-Ups Afraid Of In YA Books, does not disappoint.

Kelly has a nice, nuanced post that points to several recent examples of adults fretting over the books teen read. Read the whole post; I particularly liked “when you fear the books, you also fear the truth.”

One of the examples Kelly pointed out was an article calling Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson porn.

This is where it gets good; it’s one of the few times on the Internet that I say, “read the comments.” Because the person arguing about Speak being porn shows up in the comments, and engages in extended debate with a variety of people. And it pretty much ends up confirming much of Kelly’s post.

I’ll add one other thing. One thing the person says is “When you promote good things, fewer bad things happen.”

I disagree with that. And instead point out one of my favorite books that addresses the danger of the “only good things” approach to life, Hush by Eishes Chayil. From my review: “Hush is a fascinating and brutally honest examination of what happens to a family and community that believes that if they think child sexual abuse doesn’t happen, then it doesn’t happen, and anything — or anyone — that says otherwise should be quieted, excluded, shunned, hushed. Best to act as if nothing ever happened. I could not read this book in one sitting. I had to put it down, take deep breaths, literally walk away.” (See also She Will Not Be Hushed, about the author of Hush).

So, go over. Take a look. And think about the power of words and the power of books.