Books Your Parents banned

[fatpony]

This topic came up recently between a group of friends, and I saw this article today. Did your parents ban you from any books? Will you prohibit your kids reading choices?

bookriot.com/2017/06/19/parental-inadvisory-books-parents-banned/

[bearfootz]

No, they didn't. I'm guessing that had they seen me with one of those trashy romance novels with the half naked man and woman on the cover they might have questioned it. Thankfully, Danielle Steel had tasteful book covers. Somehow I transitioned from the Little House series into The Thorn Birds, North and South, and other books that appeared to be historical fiction but were probably a little advanced for 12 year old me.

I don't know that I'd ban anything from my kids but would want to make sure it's age appropriate. They recently discovered some books about puberty that my sister gave me to set aside for them and we told them they have to wait a little longer to read those. DD informed me that on the morning of her 8th birthday she's reading about the birds and the bees first thing.

[somesay]

bearfootz I was reading North and South at 12 years old as well. Pretty sure my mom let me watch the miniseries as soon as I finished the books.

Patrick Swayze was something to look at😍

[cdnfroggy]

My parents were pretty chill about what I read, but my principal called them once because I was reading a Danielle Steele book (Wings) in grade 5. My mom had looked through it and it was pretty light on sex scenes, and figured I wouldn't get it (which..I didn't really) and told my principal it was fine.

[tatorhead328]

Funny enough, my parents were crazy strict about television and movies but never books. I think they just assumed I was always picking decent stuff. Btw, if you read those Sweet Valley High books as an adult, you might see good reason for not letting kids read them because YIKES. There's drugging and rape and murder, oh my!

When I was a little older, I would sneakily stand by the trashy romance novels and read the sex scenes while my mom was across the room because she probably would have been like UMMMMM if she'd seen me trying to check them out at 15 lol.

[briarrose]

My mom was not always savvy enough to figure out what I was reading. For a present when I was like 18, I asked for this book that was like, The Savvy Girls Guide to Life or something like that that was all like practical life advice for a young woman. It had a sex chapter in and she told me she would prefer I not read that section and she really should rip it out. I was like, seriously, I am 18 effing years old, and she left it alone. In my head, I was like dude, how naïve do you think I am. My mom was so lucky that I was a rule following goody two shoes because if you looked at the books I read and music I listened to you would not have thought so.

[CestLaVie]

Nope. My parents didn't really care what I read! I remember reading some true crime at a younger age and they really couldn't be bothered to censor it. They never did have strong religious beliefs though. It was kind of like, if you're going to go ahead and take the effort to read it, then sure.

[bearfootz]

Jun 19, 2017 8:51:04 GMT -6 cdnfroggy said:

My parents were pretty chill about what I read, but my principal called them once because I was reading a Danielle Steele book (Wings) in grade 5. My mom had looked through it and it was pretty light on sex scenes, and figured I wouldn't get it (which..I didn't really) and told my principal it was fine.

It seems like most of the sex scenes were pretty tame in her books, right? Considering my mom never talked  about sex perhaps she figured that was how I'd learn about things.  And thankfully my sister supplemented with books about puberty, birth control etc.  (yes, the same sister that's right there with the books for my kids - she also provided copies to all of the nieces) 

[spooko]

My parents weren't really well read enough to be able to gauge what I was reading. I wasn't allowed to read Teen or Seventeen when I was in that 10-14 or whatever age group, but I still did--just at the school library or hid copies my friends gave me. I read plenty of weighty stuff besides that, mostly about WWII, though.

I won't outright ban things from my kids, but I do try and kind of keep tabs on things and have told DS once or twice that he needed to hold off on some of the graphic novels he found in the teen section of the public library. It's a hard thing to navigate when he's always been an advanced reader. He needs a higher comprehension level book, but the content needs to be reasonable. I let the teachers guide me for the most part. I expect it to get harder in fall when he goes to the middle school and they have books that are for up to 8th graders.

[Hotcoconuts82]

There was a book for sale at our school book fair (4th grade maybe?) "There's a boy in the girls bathroom". my parents didn't care that I bought it. But I remember there being some parents causing a scene about it. I don't remember what it was about but it was an innocent book.

[jewel]

My parents weren't strict on anything like that... I self regulated horror bc I am super scared of everything. Lol but I was never really into the "teen" books until I was older anyway... I tended towards stuff from the 60s that was definitely not age appropriate but my parents bought them for me and never said anything. I think I tried to read Naked Lunch when I was like 12... lol I still don't understand that book now. A lot of Kurt Vonnegut and stuff like that. I was always a reader, my parents never questioned any books I had/read.

[betches]

My parents never censored what I could read but there were times that they would ask if I wanted to talk about a book or if I had any questions when I was reading something they thought might be a little mature for me. This was probably a calculated move on their part though since if they ever told me I couldn't read something I would have become obsessed with it

[tatorhead328]

As to my kids, I don't think I will censor a lot. But I do think if they're reading something like Twilight, that I will want to have conversations about consent and abuse and things that happen in those books that are good conversation topics.

[billyhorrible]

My parents didn't censor books, but my mom was really well read, so she was able to talk to me about any questions I had when reading something like "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" at age 11.

But I also didn't read romance novels or adult horror. I did read the trashy teen horror series (Christopher Pike/RL Stine) which my parents didn't love just because trashy. But they never told me I couldn't read them.

[CeeBug]

My parents didn't want me to read Harry Potter. I remember calling my mom in college and telling her that I was getting ready to watch the movie. I got an, "oh" response from her. She laughs now about it.

I also wasn't allowed to watch Scooby Doo or the Smurfs because of the witchcraft and monsters.

My school wouldn't let us read Anne Frank because of the very minor sexual scene. My parents didn't have a problem with me sneaking in the school book room and stealing a copy, though.

[silverspoon]

Mine never banned anything for content.

I was all about Babysitter's Club books in elementary school and my mom strongly encouraged me to pick something else because I would read them too fast.

[olenka]

The only thing I remember my mom taking away was a copy of Cosmo when I was maybe 11 or 12. She was all "good girls don't do the things they talk about in this magazine.". Heh.

[bearfootz]

Being the cool kid that I was, I had a Newsweek subscription in middle/high school. If my dad didn't like whoever was on the cover he'd tear it off - didn't actually prevent me from reading the magazine though.

[raelynn]

When I was in 5th grade my mom started loaning me her V.C. Andrews, Sidney Sheldon, and romance novels to read. So, no, no books were banned in my house.

[Peekaru]

Nope, never. I wasn't really reading any smut or anything, but I was reading some stuff that I now think may have been questionable.

Like Hannibal at 14 or Jurassic Park/lost world at 10.

like silverspoon,my mom wouldn't allow me to buy babysitters club or sweet valley twins/high books because I would go through them so fast.

[August Blooms]

I read a lot as a kid, my mom never restricted content but would definitely let me know if she thought the book was 'garbage', her phrase for a book having no redeeming value.

I was 12 when I started with Anne Rice, I remember skipping over the sex scenes because they were boring. She did however not let me read Cosmo/Teen/Seventeen/Jane until I was 13 but I still had access from my friends.

I won't prohibit DD and future baby from reading anything but depending on the topic, I think it would be a good jumping off point for some good discussions.

[adelbert]

Jun 19, 2017 10:27:17 GMT -6 raelynn said:

When I was in 5th grade my mom started loaning me her V.C. Andrews, Sidney Sheldon, and romance novels to read. So, no, no books were banned in my house.

Awesome.

[loves2read]

My parents didn't ban any books or even censor what I read. I'm 1000% looking forward to being able to discuss books with my kids so if they have any interest at all in reading my books I will share so fast, really regardless of age or appropriateness. My mom and I still share books back and forth and it is something I've always loved with her. I really hope I can share that with at least one of my kids.

[reginaphalange8]

Banning HP is so weird to me.

My parents didn't ban any books but they didn't really have to. Most of the books I read were bought by them or relatives. I was also more into adventure stories and such.

I did buy Game of Thrones for my 14yr nephew and kind of feel that was too young now. Neither my parents nor his were privy to the content.

[Jesslfar]

My mom used to buy my Danielle Steele books when I was in school. Other than full on porn my mom let me read whatever I wanted.

[rach7170]

My parents didn't censor. I was reading a ton of stuff that was questionable. Mostly horror books. A bit of romance here and there.

[emma]

No. After struggling for years with dyslexia my parents were just happy to see me reading and encouraged any and all books. There were definitely questionable choices, like Dracula when i was 12 but mostly i read a lot of teen trash (Sweet Valley, Fear St).

I will not sensor or ban anything for DS. MH was really into comics and graphic novels as a kid and a teacher once told him they were not real books and he shouldn't be reading them. It put him off reading for life

[shitsngiggles]

My mom and her friends frequently did book swaps. I remember in middle school I asked my mom if I could go get some new books and she told me to just read something of hers. They were all Danielle Steele books. She didn't care.

[McBenny]

No banned books here. I didn't even know people did this.

[ktg]

Nope. I read as many of the Earth's Children series as were available at the time (Clan of the Cave Bear is the first in the series) starting in maybe 6th grade. My mom was very pro-sex talk with her kids, but those books added quite the knowledge of things.

I won't censor books. I'll annoyingly talk about them instead.