A young writer piped up on Sunday’s page to vouch for the maturity of adolescent readers who seek out books such as “Fallen Angels” and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

(…) I’m going into my senior year of high school and as a middle schooler I picked up and read each of these novels. I turned out more than all right.

Honestly, though, how many students are actually going to seek out a novel about the Vietnam War and another about a girl who is abused in just about every way possible but grows and overcomes it? Probably not many, and the ones that do are more than mature enough to handle it.

You’ve got to be kidding me if these parents think that their kids aren’t being exposed to violence, profanity, racism and sexism every day on TV, at school and by their family and friends. The parents and teachers raising my generation are teaching us not to think. By the time we are on our own in the world and it’s realized, it will be too late. (…)

So, what have you read recently that kids should/shouldn’t read?