Popular book banned in some schools
The Riverside School District School Board in Riverside, Calif., voted on Sept. 22 to ban John Green’s bestselling “The Fault In Our Stars,” making it only the second book that the school district has ever banned.
Green’s novel follows the tragic yet beautiful love story of two teenagers dealing with terminal cancer.
His book was banned because of a parent’s complaint that the content was inappropriate due to its theme of “mortality.”
This is a completely ludicrous reason to ban any book.
Although death in a novel may make some readers sad, it’s certainly not a topic that should be taboo. Banning a book simply because it involves a life and death theme doesn’t even make sense.
Just because mortality is a sensitive subject does not mean the school district should prohibit students from reading books that involve it.
It’s not the school’s place to say whether a book is “too sad” for a student to read.
What’s next? Are schools going to start banning every book that might make readers unhappy? Or quit teaching middle schoolers about the Holocaust because it may be “upsetting” for them to read?
Just because something is unpleasant doesn’t mean you should just avoid it at all costs. People are forced to deal with mortality at all stages of life, even as preteens. It seems unlikely that reading “The Fault In Our Stars” would emotionally scar any student.
Considering most school curriculums include at least one book in which a character dies, it’s unclear what makes Green’s book so much more offensive than any other.
“The Fault In Our Stars” is not just a book about death and dying. It’s a story about two people falling in love and truly appreciating each other.
If all readers get out of this novel is that dying is bad, they probably didn’t really understand the point of the book to begin with.
If a parent thinks “The Fault In Our Stars” is not appropriate for his child to read, then he should not let his child read it. If a child does not want to read the book, he doesn’t have to read it.
But to say that the book will be completely banned from the school just because of its life and death theme is completely absurd.
Patrick • Oct 20, 2014 at 11:15 am
While I appreciate and ultimately agree with your article, there are a number of incorrect assertions as to why the Riverside School Board chose to ban “The Fault In Our Stars”.
The original complaint was made by a parent who objected to the book containing profanity and references to sex. In addition, the book was “banned” at the middle school (and one would assume grammar school) level, not at Riverside High Schools.
Now, one can argue the merits (or lack thereof) of banning books containing sexual content or profanity to 13 and 14 year olds and there are those who feel strongly on both sides of the fence. that said, your overall position regarding the banning of material because it references death or is “uncomfortable” to read is well taken. Frankly, once students reach High School, there are not many books that should even be considered being banned and certainly “The Fault In Our Stars” would not qualify in any way.