It can be very hard to forget the things we read.

Few people know this as well as those on BookTok and Bookstagram. While light hearted and beautiful stories are often recommended, it can be hard to avoid books that are horrifying, dangerous and even traumatizing.

Popular book tokkers need to realize that everyone is different, and people need to be warned before they read these popular books.

During my freshman year, I picked up a book from the library. I had heard people online talk about it, and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. The book was Monday’s not Coming by Tiffany D Jackson. It was known for being incredibly moving and very well written. I couldn’t wait to read it.

At first the book was amazing. There were multiple time periods occurring at the same time and a large overlapping mystery that I longed to figure out. Finally, I reached the climax of the book one night before I was going to bed. The mystery was solved, and tears started to pour down my face.

(Spoiler Alert) For people who have read the book, you know how devastating that part can be. It involved one of the main characters dying an extremely brutal death caused by her own mother. I sat in my bed and just sobbed.

Thankfully, my parents heard me, and they had the good sense to tell me to stop reading the book. They offered me a more light hearted book to read, and eventually I went to bed. I may have stopped reading the book, but those words are still with me, now in my junior year. If the people talking about it online specified the certain triggers in that book, or any book that is similar, I may have avoided the traumatizing ending. People on BookTok, or any online platform talking about books, need to recognize that not everyone has the same guts to read the books they recommend. 

Reading has become more and more popular over the years. YA and teen fiction books have especially gotten more popular since the early 2000s, with popular books like the Hunger Games and Harry Potter series both being extremely popular. When social media sites like Tik Tok and Instagram became popular, it was only natural that those sites would become a popular place to talk about books. Several books became extremely popular from booktok or bookstagram such as The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Scythe series by Neal Shusterman and the ever so popular A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.

The book has been described by The New York Times as a “Traumatic tale of male friendship.” In fact, almost all the book is about the trauma of four college-aged friends living in New York. Several book influencers took on the challenge of reading the book, which led to mixed results. In their videos of their reactions to the book, they were often seen upset and even sobbing. It’s hard to imagine words on a page doing that to someone, but A Little Life proves that to be very possible. 

I think it’s extremely important to read challenging books that cause people to change their world view and make them question the things that they have been taught. We will never grow as a society if we remain stuck in our ways.

However, I think that there is a time and a place for learning certain facts about the world that we live in. The majority of people on Tik Tok, Instagram and YouTube tend to be younger, with some of them not even being teenagers yet. If those younger people have books recommended to them on social media such as A Little Life or Monday’s not Coming, they could be awakened to things they don’t have the mental or emotional capacity to comprehend. 

I believe that there is a rather easy solution to this. Book influencers need to include trigger warnings before they recommend books to their audiences, especially if they are aware that several young people watch their content. This could cause people to think twice before they pick up that extremely mature book. They may still read the book, but at least they will know what they’re getting into instead of going in blind. As long as book influencers do this, they will not be liable to the premature awakening of harsh subjects, and they can keep their audience safe. 

As an avid reader and writer, I believe that reading is extremely important. It can allow people to learn things they would have never realized, build a stronger attention span, connect with people they wouldn’t have met otherwise and cultivate a stronger sense of empathy and love for people different from themselves.

As long as the people recommending books remember that people of all ages and backgrounds are watching them, they can help young readers make informed decisions.