Opinion: Parents, it’s time to judge books by their covers
By Tori Roderick, Staff Writer
March 4, 2024
Social media is often a tool utilized by authors and artists to push their work and garner support for their novels and works. But while social media has been accredited to the 22.9% increase in recreational reading, a lot of the trending books on these platforms aren’t necessarily written for or appropriate for young readers who might come across them.
In late 2018, Barnes and Noble was on the brink of bankruptcy and abruptly shut down 98 stores across the country. However, after 2019, book sales saw an almost 3 billion dollar rise in revenue, according to Statista.
The success of bookstores around the world is accredited to the pandemic, where many first saw a boost in the popularity of reading.
While this comeback is often linked to the excess of free time that came along with quarantine, one of the driving forces behind this movement is the niche corner of TikTok known as Booktok.
Booktok is a subcategory based mainly on Tiktok which focuses on books and literature-related goals, jokes, and reviews, among other things. The community is extremely diverse, representing many different ages, cultures, and readers, and has even started to extend to other social media platforms.
As of September 2023, Booktok has garnered almost 200 billion overall views.
The most popular genres of books amongst viewers are fantasy and romance, rather than more realistic, knowledgeable genres such as nonfiction.
It’s not necessarily damaging or bad for reading to once again become a staple of popular culture but the content of the books could pose a threat to the young demographics they are being targeted to.
For instance, Colleen Hoover is a romance and contemporary author who most notably penned the 2016 romance “It Ends With Us”.
Hoover is credited with being one of the most influential and popular Booktok authors and is trending the most amongst those from ages 13-21+.
Hoover’s works often have questionable topics and a focus around domestic abuse in relationships. Many of her female lead characters have been or are in an abusive relationship.
However, Booktok seems to water down the focus on toxic relationships and instead chooses to romanticize them or defend the abuser.
One tiktok user posted,”Me defending Ryle cause how can you prefer Atlas [the other love interest] over the handsome neurosurgeon. ”
Although portraying love through an often tragic and realistic lens can be beneficial at times, it can also serve as a catalyst for young girls who internalize the topics of these books in the development of their opinions on love.
Young minds are extremely impressionable and often take on what they see, so reinforcing harmful stereotypes such as women being weak and being forced to submit to a man, can encourage the romanticization of toxic relationships in the lives of young women around the world.
In fact, “It Ends with Us” is marketed as a young-adult novel, which typically appeals to ages 12-18.
This same problem is again reflected in the “Cat and Mouse” duology, “Haunting Adeline” and “Hunting Adeline” by H.D. Carlton where the main female character is abused, stalked, and hunted. However, many romance readers who found the book consider it to be “spicy and the perfect dark romance,”.
One tiktok user claimed, “This wasn’t dark enough for me. I needed it to be darker”.
Another concerning claim was shared by Tiktok user @jazzyread who said “Me shopping at Barnes and Noble and I see a 13-year-old pick up Haunting Adeline with her friends.”
Some adult readers condemn the books, considering them taboo and gruesome, so there should be no possible way these books should end up in the hands of a child, right?
Wrong.
One booktok user shares the age that they first picked up the book.
“I read the [Cat and Mouse duology] when I was 14,” one user boasted.
Further, many of the books that are being recommended for teens and general Booktok viewers contain explicit sexual content within the pages.
Some romance books that are bestsellers right now have seemingly innocent colorful covers that could appeal to children but contain adult content inside.
Take “Icebreaker” by Hannah Grace for instance, the cover is very pretty with a figure and hockey skater on the cover surrounded by pretty shades of pink, purple, and blue, but is well known for being “spicy” when it also touches on more important themes of abuse and eating disorders.
As years go by, younger and younger children have more unlimited access to the internet, and become exposed to worse things.
The prefrontal cortex, the most complex part of the brain which is responsible for decision making and judgment, isn't fully developed until your mid 20’s. An excess of sexually explicit or fear-inducing content in books or other media could cause a delay in this development.
So with a platform with trending tropes such as “domestic abuse”, “mafia boss romances,” and “kidnapping or torture,” it’s important to recognize the danger that comes with “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen sitting next to “Twisted Love” by Ana Huang on your child’s shelf.