In the What Kids Are Reading: 2024 Edition published by Renaissance, Colleen Hoover’s ‘It Ends With Us’ series is listed as one of the “Highest Rated Reads” for 8th graders and a “Top Print Title” for 9th through 12th graders despite the series’ mature rating.

“This report is brimming with insight into the books we know kids are truly reading, from beginning to end,” sites the Renaissance report.

On Renaissance’s Accelerated Reader Bookfinder, ‘It Ends With Us’ is described as containing “profanity, sexual situations/violence, and domestic violence.”

BookLooks.org rates ‘It Ends With Us’ as a 4 on a scale of 0-5, with 0 meaning the book is “For Everyone” and a 5 meaning it contains “Aberrant Content.” If a book is classified as a 4, this means it contains adult content and is not intended for children.

According to BookLooks.org, ‘It Ends With Us’ contains “explicit sexual activities; profanity; alcohol and drug use; suicidal ideation; violence; and profanity.”

The site provides numerous citations to support its findings and ratings that I will not provide in detail here in an effort to keep this outlet clean.

Students can earn up to 15.0 Accelerated Reader (AR) points for completing the ‘It Ends With Us’ AR quiz, providing incentive for students whose schools implement the AR program to pick up the book and read it.

Colleen Hoover grows in popularity in 9th grade, according to Renaissance with ‘Ugly Love’ and ‘November 9’ joining the ‘It Ends With Us’ series in the “Highest Rated Reads.” ‘Ugly Love’ and ‘November 9′ are also classified as “Mature” and for 17+ on Hoovers’ own website.

Hoover novels are also a popular choice with 10th-12th graders. For 12th graders, the ‘It Ends With Us’ series is their #2 Top Print Title.

“Though kids curled up with a book may look like they are ‘just reading,’ a passive activity, nothing could be further from the truth,” states the Renaissance report.

“While kids may indeed be relaxed and content while reading, their minds are hard at work,” the report continues.

We need to ask ourselves, if our children’s minds are “hard at work,” churning through the ideas they are reading, should we not be more carefully cultivating which books they read?

Books are powerful. Literature shapes minds. And I am increasingly concerned that children are having their minds shaped by content that was never meant for them.