The best-selling The Fault in Our Stars has been banned from middle schools in California this week.
The young-adult novel which focuses on the story of two teenagers who are both dying from cancer was banned as parents complained that there was too much death, illness and sex in the novel.
The bestseller has become a global hit and has also been made into a movie, but Riverside Unified School District middle schools in California are not letting their students read it.
The district’s book reconsideration committee decided to pull the book from the shelves of the library according to the Press Enterprise. This followed a six-to-one vote by the committee.
The subject went to vote when parent, Karen Krueger, made a case against it.
“I just didn’t think it was appropriate for an 11, 12, 13-year-old to read. I was really shocked it was in a middle school,” she said.
In response to the news, author John Green said: “I guess I am both happy and sad. I am happy because apparently young people in Riverside, California will never witness or experience mortality since they won’t be reading my book which is great for them.
“But I am also sad because I was really hoping I would be able to introduce the idea that human beings die to the children of Riverside, California and thereby crush their dreams of immortality.”
