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Not Only Appropriate but Vital

I feel drawn to reply to Dave Holman's letter about alarming and disturbing books ("Alarming and Disturbing," Oct. 26). There are too many kids who feel outcast and alone because their gender identity, sexuality, color, religion, or heritage don't fit the norm in their community. These kids, and adults, can sometimes find comfort and understanding in books like the ones Mr. Holman wants to make unavailable. Books that help us accept humanity and ones that present an unpolished picture of history are not only appropriate but vital for teens and should be in our schools and public libraries.

I do, however, appreciate the publicity Dave Holman provides for the books he lists, and in that spirit, I would like to suggest some other alarming and disturbing books I have read over the past 20 years: Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, 1491 by Charles G Mann, The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson, Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond; The 1619 Project by Nikole Hannah Jones and other essayists, and American Uprising by David Rasmussen. All of these are appropriately alarming and disturbing reading for teenagers.

Rich Hall

Guilford