The Perks of Being a Wallflower by: Stephen Chbosky, although a major motion picture and considered a classic, is a challenged book. Why is this and who decides what is okay for kids to read and what isn’t. Should we trust the book banning system or be aware of its’ flaws?
When trying to find out why this books was challenged I noticed that the issue of the book being banned seemed to come from schools. 28% of all banned book issues come from school curriculum so it wasn’t surprising to see so many schools debating whether to keep the book or not. The school’s main issues with the both were: sex, masterbation, homosexuality, drug and alcohol use, and abortion.
Now I would NEVER read this book to my classroom because I am an Early Childhood Major and elementary schools are no place to be talking about those topics. If I was a high school teacher though I would probably assign this book for my students. All the issues the school had with the book are things that high schoolers are and could potentially face. It would do them a disservice to just assign them books with no substance or reliability. I understand why certain books are not appropriate for certain audiences but I feel that as a whole school’s often underestimate their students and what they can handle. And one day students are going to grow up and have to face these issues so shouldn’t we do our jobs as teachers and prepare them for the world they are going to face?
-MP
A Novel Idea 
It’s great to see you connect this to your classroom. I completely agree that we should be exposing high schoolers to what the “real world” will be like. Students know about topics like homosexuality and abortion because these are often hot button issues people argue about. So, we should make the curriculum to them and what’s happening.
-SK
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These are important topics for high school students to read about so they can form their own opinions. I do agree that it wouldn’t be the best book to teach elementary school students! I think it’s important to teach books that are age appropriate, but banning books entirely is not the right approach.
-SG
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