Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?I was never banned from reading anything when I was younger, in fact I was encouraged to read whatever I wanted! There are pictures of me on holiday reading Jeffrey Archer when I was 7. I have a friend in America who now, at the age of 20, is having to secretly read the Harry Potter books because she was never allowed to read them when she was younger and still isn't now!
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?one of the greatest literary shames ever is that only the first 2 volumes of Dhal's auto biography were published and that it didn't even bring us to the end of WW2(Original post by JustRollingAlong)
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I also remember my Year 6 teacher bringing her own copies of The Hobbit and Roald Dahl's autobiographies to school for me to read because I'd made it through the entire school library by half way through the year (very small, rural school). Neither she nor my parents seemed to think they were inappropriate reading for a 10 year old. I loved all of them and am still a voracious reader to this day. -
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?The only thing I wasn't allowed to read was an Iain Banks one that for the life of me I can't remember the name of. I got encouraged form a pretty young age to read adult fiction instead of kids stuff.
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?No, I was never banned from any books. Although none of my parents books look particularly racy, and none of them interested me except the non-fiction books with lots of pictures. I remember when I was fairly young I bought a sci-fi/humour book that had a bit of rather graphic oral sex in it, but of course I didn't tell my parents about it.
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?My mum taught me to read really early on (just after I was 3) so I was always very advanced when it came to books. I found that books aimed at my age group just didn't hold my interest, so I moved on to books intended for older kids.
I remember being told off in school in year 4 because I brought a Jeffery Deaver novel to school (for those who haven't read them, they're fairly gruesome crime novels- the ones I read were about a quadriplegic detective named Lincoln Rhyme). My teacher thought it was really inappropriate for me to be reading it aged 8. She called a meeting with my mum to discuss this and my mum pretty much told her that I can read what I like. It never affected me in any way. If anything it was less scary to me at the time than an episode of CSI yet everyone was allowed to watch that (I didn't really watch a lot of TV, I preferred to read). Eventually the whole thing was dropped and my teacher didn't say a word when I showed up a while later with much darker themed novels. I kept trying to push the boundaries by finding the most depraved and gritty crime novels I could and reading them in school.
I got told off again by my form tutor in year seven for reading the scarlet letter in form time 'silent reading'. I think it was less to do with me reading the book than it was about her disagreeing with its themes and the fact I was reading a book about adultery in a room full of impressionable kids? I don't know. Either way, my mum said pretty much the same thing: that she trusts me to decide what I read.
So to actually answer the question: no. I wasn't banned from reading certain books. My parents trusted me to read books I liked rather than things they decided I should read. Proper children's books never really held my interest, so I moved onto books intended for older teens and adults in about year 3 or 4. I did still read some books for children (like a series of unfortunate events and CHERUB etc.) but my parents never stopped me if I wanted to buy books from the adult section.Last edited by CloudedWithDoubt; 19-03-2012 at 16:04. -
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?Yeah, there was a girl in my class like that. Her parents wouldn't let her read Harry Potter because they were really religious and didn't agree with teaching children to believe in magic (but apparently it's okay to teach them that a beardy man in the sky will grant their wishes if they get down on their knees and pray hard enough?). We just brought the books to school, let her read them during silent reading and then took them home with us again. I don't think her parents ever found out.(Original post by Reagan Smash)
I was never banned from reading anything when I was younger, in fact I was encouraged to read whatever I wanted! There are pictures of me on holiday reading Jeffrey Archer when I was 7. I have a friend in America who now, at the age of 20, is having to secretly read the Harry Potter books because she was never allowed to read them when she was younger and still isn't now! -
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?Also, my friend in america told me recently that her 10 year old sister wanted to read the hunger games, but their dad wasn't sure (my friend had already read them so he knew roughly what they were about) so he said she could read them if he read them first. He ended up absolutely loving them and he let the little sister read them despite how violent they were because he couldn't deprive her of such a good story.
Last edited by CloudedWithDoubt; 19-03-2012 at 16:52. -
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?I was never banned from reading any sort of books ... but I know that some of my cousins weren't allowed to read the Harry Potter series because it was witchcraft >_<
I don't believe in banning reading, how can reading possibly be anything negative? If anything, it opens up your mind and you become generally more inquisitive about the world. -
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?Personally, I was given a lot of literary freedom as a child which I wish was the case for every child. Reading was a huge part of life (still is- now I just have work!) and I would read several books a week. The most adult book I read as a child was The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory in Year 4 as I was interested in the Tudors!
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?I was never banned from reading any books, but I stopped reading as soon as I started secondary school and developed a deep hatred of it.
My dad raised some eyebrows over Kimi Wa Pet, but that's a manga so I'm not sure that counts. -
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?I was never censored. I used to read an awful lot so I imagine it was easier to give me an adult book that took a few weeks than having to go to the library constantly. I was also always disenchanted with unrealistic things, which sort of ruined most kids books for me. I remember when I was about 9 I went through my mothers books and picked out one by Jonathan Kellerman that contained a lot of adult material (paedophilia certainly came up) but I just enjoyed tha challenge of reading it and liked the main character. I remember going between Enid Blyton books and those with serial killings in them - I was an odd child.
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?Never banned from anything, my library lady never has any issues with loaning me whatever I want and hasn't for the past 5 years
(although there is another that wouldn't let a 12 y/o me borrow Love Lessons because it was a teen book), if I wanted to read it I read it - not that my primary were very impressed with that! They got sick of me reading books that my high school marked with a blue sticker (i.e. 14+) at age 9 (my reading age at that point was 16...at 5 it was 10 and they only let me read the reading scheme books...I took in Harry Potter )
My sister however, I tend to censor certain books for her, mainly based on her likes/dislikes though rather than anything else cos I tend to have read them, never stopped her or been stopped from reading anything if I wanted to read it Good times, good times....
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?No - they're not familiar with authors/books so they just left me to it. They took that attitude with most things for me; they're much more censor-happy with my younger sisters.
I have one friend whose mother would read every book before her daughter before letting her read it (provided she thought it were suitable). It took her a year to get through the sixth Harry Potter - I had to walk on eggshells to make sure I didn't blab the ending by accident. -
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?For some reason we had a load of Malorie Blackman books in our middle school library but the English teacher wouldn't allow us to read them, until one fine day when she told me I had a pretty nifty reading age and let me be the first.
I gloated about that for about a year.
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?The only book I wasn't allowed to read.. was also the da Vinci code(Original post by Poppy_Ki)
The only book I wasn't allowed to read was The Davinci code- I was fourteen when I brought it home from the library and my dad told me to give it back, I have no idea why!
I was a lot younger than 14 though, I think I read it when I was about 11/12, and first asked when I was about 9/10 and spotted it on a bookshelf at home. The reason was they didn't want me to take what I read as truth (I probably would have believed a lot of the history straight away at that age). At 14 though.. you should have been allowed! I was given the box set for my 13th so that's a bit odd.
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?How old is your sister? Goodnight, Mr Tom is a wonderful novel, if your sister isn't say below 12, you really should let her read it. Delicacy and innocence is fine but too much sheltering is not exactly helpful later in life. Plus Goodnight Mr Tom has a pretty happy ending if i recall.(Original post by riotgrrl)
My mum found me reading Tipping The Velvet when I was about 13 and tore it up and put it in the bin lest it make me gay (too late). It was only because she noticed the cover had two women on it, I could read pretty much anything so long as it had an inocuous enough cover because she's never heard of any books.
Nowadays I actually help my parents censor my sister because one time she read A Little Princess and had nightmares about our dad dying for weeks afterwards. She's a delicate soul xD I let them know what will be too upsetting- no way is she getting her hands on Goodnight, Mr Tom! -
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Re: Were you ever banned from reading certain books/authors as a child?She's eleven, but she is insanely sensitive and I think the whole part where he's found cradling his dead baby sister might be a little much for her. I cried my eyes out and I'm the tough one(Original post by Aeonstorm)
How old is your sister? Goodnight, Mr Tom is a wonderful novel, if your sister isn't say below 12, you really should let her read it. Delicacy and innocence is fine but too much sheltering is not exactly helpful later in life. Plus Goodnight Mr Tom has a pretty happy ending if i recall.
Actually, my mum rang me up the other day to ask what I thought about her reading the Diary of Anne Frank. I gave the thumbs up for that one.
(although there is another that wouldn't let a 12 y/o me borrow Love Lessons because it was a teen book), if I wanted to read it I read it - not that my primary were very impressed with that! They got sick of me reading books that my high school marked with a blue sticker (i.e. 14+) at age 9 (my reading age at that point was 16...at 5 it was 10 and they only let me read the reading scheme books...I took in Harry Potter 
I was a lot younger than 14 though, I think I read it when I was about 11/12, and first asked when I was about 9/10 and spotted it on a bookshelf at home. The reason was they didn't want me to take what I read as truth (I probably would have believed a lot of the history straight away at that age). At 14 though.. you should have been allowed! I was given the box set for my 13th so that's a bit odd.
