You appear to be about the only one posting who hasn’t completely missed the point.
The issue is not one of whether certain books should be “banned.” It is one of whether there are certain books which are inappropriate for children aged 12 and under.
This seems like it should be so obvious it shouldn’t require discussion. For instance, is de Sade appropriate for fourth-graders? If you think it might be, let me suggest you have never read de Sade.
Once we’ve agreed that some books aren’t appropriate for young children, then we can argue where to draw the line and whether the poorly written and formulaic Twilight series crosses that line.
Personally, I’d like to see a great many books restricted for primary school kids, only a few for middle school, and (outright pornography aside) no restrictions for high school.
“Personally, I’d like to see a great many books restricted for primary school kids, only a few for middle school, and (outright pornography aside) no restrictions for high school.”
Your post sums it up best. Don’t take the books off the shelf, but if you’re the librarian, you have a responsibility to not let the book be checked out by anyone under a certain age.
“You appear to be about the only one posting who hasn’t completely missed the point.”
Well thanks Sherman, please point to where I used the word banned. You can’t, so apologize or take a hike.
“It is one of whether there are certain books which are inappropriate for children aged 12 and under.”
And the other posters seem to think its ok for a child under 12 to read anything they can get their hands on, and at taxpayer expense.
Having been an avid reader all my life, I’m not sure I agree. There might be inappropriate stuff out there, but it won’t appeal to most younger kids. And the more mature ones should be able to read it.
As an aside, I remember reading Gone with the Wind in 4th or 5th grade. Everyone was rooting on me as I carried that 1,000 plus page book back and forth for almost 2 weeks. Some people might have considered it inappropriate for grammar school, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I remember asking my mom about the word “bosom”, it was not a word I’d seen before (not bandied about much in 5th grade in the late 60’s) and I had no idea how to pronounce it. She got a kick out of my attempt to pronounce it!
The teacher asked me to give the class a synopsis of the book to the class when I was done. It was years later before I saw the movie on a theatrical re-release. It hadn’t made it to TV and there were no VCRs at the time.