I was aware of quite a few books Florida was attempting to ban early on this week, as I follow John Green on Twitter and he seems to be at the brunt of the attack. From what I can gather, this is just a low blow at semi successful authors/books, with any mention of the world sex or mildly erotic scene sending of warning bells in the heads of overprotective and conservative parents. I find this just ridiculous
I'm seventeen years old, and I love to read. I am not American, and although these potential bans don't impact me directly, I am simply appalled at the amount of control parents want over what their children can read. When I'm reading, I go into a whole other world entirely, imagining along with the character and following them on their adventure. I know from personal experience that it just isn't as much fun to read books that you're told to read. Half the fun of reading is seeing a book on the shelf for the first time and exclaiming "I want to read that!"
With the constant rise in modern technology, our generation is being overloaded with iPods, phones and all sorts of things, that reading may slowly begin to fall to the wayside. It's becoming more important to update your Facebook status or send a tweet than it is to curl up with a good book. I love reading, and censorship of books is taking the magic out of it.
Banning, and attempts to ban books is effectively turning a positive into a negative. The magic of good literature, many of which are on the chopping block, is a positive influence on kids and young adults, and therefore the small-minded people who are most likely yapping away on the phone rather than curling up with a good book should rethink the damage they're potentially inflicting on their child's future.
