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Thursday, March 13, 2014

Are Books Still Being Banned?

YA Author John Green posted on his Tumblr today about a teacher in Colorado who wants to start an elective course in YA literature for grades 10-12. The list of books on her curriculum has been challenged by a group of parents who consider the books to be "profane, pornographic, violent, criminal, crass, crude, vile, and will result in the irreparable erosion of my students’ moral character."

Here's a link to John Green's Tumblr post.

Here's the list of books:
  1. Feed by M.T. Anderson
  2. Thinner Than Thou by Kit Reed
  3. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
  4. Uglies by Scott Westerfield
  5. Taken by Erin Bowman
  6. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon
  7. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
  8. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
  9. Will Grayson, will grayson by John Green and David Levithan
  10. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
  11. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
  12. Paper Towns by John Green
  13. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
  14. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
  15. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
  16. Looking for Alaska by John Green
  17. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
  18. Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
  19. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Have you read any of these books? Could you compare them to any other books from any other banned book lists? Do you agree with the group of parents? Discuss!

UPDATE: John Green posted on his Twitter that the School Board has voted to allow the teacher to go ahead with the proposed list of books. He adds:

1 comments:

  1. I've read Uglies and Thirteen Reasons Why.
    I think Uglies could be compared to Brave New World.
    I don't agree with the last part of the parent group's statement; you have to let your kids see different points of view so they be can form their own opinions. A variety of perspectives makes them more well-rounded.
    Thanks for the list -- more books for me to devour!

    ReplyDelete