When discussing books with a children’s school librarian, I mentioned Twilight and the fact that so many youngsters are fascinated by Stephenie Meyer’s books.  The librarian said that the series becomes a little more risqué in the subsequent books.  So at that school, they limited the reading to Twilight, unless the student had written permission from the parents.
This was considered an appropriate policy, especially since students as young as fourth grade wanted to check out these books.  This gave the parents input into their children’s reading selections.
This raises some interesting questions:
Do you think a school should limit a student’s reading material unless he/she …read more

Censoring Books 
Do you check out the books your youngsters are reading, especially those that are labeled as young adult (YA)?  Perhaps it’s a book they got from the local library, the young people’s section of the bookstore, from their school library or even read in the classroom.  So it must be okay.
However, books nowadays deal with topics that were considered taboo years ago.  Authors write about real life situations that young people face, often in very graphic terms.  These aren’t simply religious ideas that parents feel go against their faith.  They deal with sex, rape, homosexuality, drug addiction, alcoholism, abortion and other controversial topics.
 So, …read more