Books you'd never let your kids read....

[SevenWritez]

i am sorry, but this may be a RANT. about the oh so "sacred" harry potter. the one and only. *thank goodness* ok here we go! for one thing, some of these comments are dumb. no offence to anyone of course but does this make any sense? "im gonna let my kids drink cuz if i make rules they'll just get more curious and drink anyway. im gonna let my kids smoke...porn...etc" just whatever that philosophy can be used as an excuse for basiclly anything. its basiclly an excuse not to have rules. i wouldnt let kids read harry potter books. its not just the thing about witchcraft, though that is a big issue and stands as reason alone not to let them read them. so many people say "oh well, its gets them reading." so you give your kid something dangerous JUST because, it gets them doing something good? :O uh huh. one thing i noticed about harry is that he lies, cheats, sneaks around, is disrespectful and on and on...his "family" is seen through his eyes, and yes in the book they are mean and stupid and all that. but with kids, a lot of times they dont understand grown-ups, and when they read this some may think that if their parents do something they dont like, their parents are like harry's family, mean and unfair. so HEY! they henceforth shouldnt have to obey them! harry is rewarded at the end of the books for "saving the day" and sure he did. BUT, how did he do it? not honestly. this teaches kids that the end justifies the means, and that as long as they get what they want in the end, and if they think its a good thing, its ok to lie cheat sneak around disobey and basiclly do whatever to get it. and ive heard that part of voldemort is inside harry. oh that makes it even better doesnt it. AH....that felt good. rant over! and for all you harry potter die-hards who just live and or breathe harry potter. i. dont. care. if. you. hate. mail. me. or. not. cuz im right. but so many ppl are blind and in love with this kid that no one wants to see or admit it. there. and if this is offensive or anything well...no more offensive than everyone elses opinion! LOL oh and ps...as some ppl have said stuff about the Bible...well..thats because the Bible is offensive and ppl dont want to hear about it. its because its right. many evolutionists say that they only believe in evolution because they dont want to believe in God. sure the Bible has violence. thats because a lot of its about HUMANS. very violent creatures you know. but it also has love in it too and i laff when ppl call It hate literature cuz they dont wanna believe it. ahem. very off topic. but youve probly quit reading by now and well. yeah.

Not sure if this is an old post or not, since I just happened upon this thread and was reading for fun. I'd like to post a little rant of my own, if you don't mind.

You're an idiot. So are the books you read. I read the bible through once. The plot development was horrible, and the author of the God-damned thing better be proud of himself for making such a nifty cliffhanger. When does Bible 2 come out? The final chapter had me on the edge of my seat.

 

[Anamnesis]

i wouldnt let kids read harry potter books. its not just the thing about witchcraft, though that is a big issue and stands as reason alone not to let them read them. so many people say "oh well, its gets them reading." so you give your kid something dangerous JUST because, it gets them doing something good? :O uh huh. one thing i noticed about harry is that he lies, cheats, sneaks around, is disrespectful and on and on...his "family" is seen through his eyes, and yes in the book they are mean and stupid and all that. but with kids, a lot of times they dont understand grown-ups, and when they read this some may think that if their parents do something they dont like, their parents are like harry's family, mean and unfair. so HEY! they henceforth shouldnt have to obey them! harry is rewarded at the end of the books for "saving the day" and sure he did. BUT, how did he do it? not honestly. this teaches kids that the end justifies the means, and that as long as they get what they want in the end, and if they think its a good thing, its ok to lie cheat sneak around disobey and basiclly do whatever to get it. and ive heard that part of voldemort is inside harry.

I take it you don't like the books .
Well I'm not too crazy about them either. I'm not offended by the content or how moral/immoral the characters are... I just think people who want a good fantasy series should look somewhere else . If I had kids who wanted to read the books, I'd let them read it but not without letting them know that there are better books than anything JK Rowling can produce.

 

[jcsoblonde]

lol to sevenwritez...hahaha as for calling me an idiot...well. i dont see why you cant discuss something with more maturity. everyone has different beliefs and opinions, without resorting to calling names...at least i dont stoop so low. my post must have made you mad, which makes me laugh. and the Bible was not written to entertain. the Bible is a book of truth. but if you arent viewing it the right way *cough cough* well then of course you may think like that. maybe you read some of the same books i read, so i wouldnt be so rash as to say what you said because you dont even know what else i read. its funny how ppl can critisize the Bible and no one says anything but if someone stands up for it ppl get pretty offended. anyways as this is very off topic and ive already posted here im out.

 

[SFG75]

lol to sevenwritez...hahaha as for calling me an idiot...well. i dont see why you cant discuss something with more maturity. everyone has different beliefs and opinions, without resorting to calling names...at least i dont stoop so low. my post must have made you mad, which makes me laugh. and the Bible was not written to entertain. the Bible is a book of truth. but if you arent viewing it the right way *cough cough* well then of course you may think like that. maybe you read some of the same books i read, so i wouldnt be so rash as to say what you said because you dont even know what else i read. its funny how ppl can critisize the Bible and no one says anything but if someone stands up for it ppl get pretty offended. anyways as this is very off topic and ive already posted here im out.

jcso-I think that you have raised a number of interesting issues. The vast majority of members with the notable exclusion of myself, are rational folks who enjoy a mutually beneficial and respectful dialogue. While Seven and a few others are very blunt, I think you should create a thread or two where some of the discussion can be a bit more focused and perhaps less personal and rambling as the present one is, something that isn't thefault of anyone really.
Good to see you and others posting-keep it up!.

 

[rvgeek]

There are lots of books I wouldn't let my children, even teenagers, read. I think that there are certain kinds of books which need some maturity and a knowledge of the world before you can read them. Otherwise, reading them could cause emotional and psychological disturbances. To my mind, parents should definitely be aware of what their children are going to read and censor their choices.

IMO, if the children are old enough to pick up the book and think "Hey, this sounds interesting," then I believe that they are old enough to read it. Plus, I do not believe, in the slightest, that reading a book can cause emotional and psychological disturbances.

Books, even history books, help to expand your thinking and your mind. They help you to see that there is more than one point of view, even if you only agree with one. That is not, in any way, a bad thing.

When my boys were growing up, I tried to keep up with what they were reading, so that we could talk about it. That actually wasn't hard because I introduced them to most of the books that they read. That, and I read really, really fast.

Most of the problems that I have found are that people confuse reading a novel with agreeing with what it says. It's not the same, at all.

 

[rvgeek]

I think it is very hard to talk in absolutes and I hate blanket generalizations about things. Books can be very mind-opening, or they can be an excuse or babysitter just as much as TV can. I remember my Mom's talk to me about sex when I was about 9 consisting of "Here is a book, and if you have any questions about it, I can arrange for you to talk to someone about it." TV can also be a very educational and liberating thing. I don't know if any of you are familiar with the Degrassi series, a teen show that has been around in Canada for ages. There was a plotline on the original series involving teen pregnancy and I know more than one Canadian my age who has sheepishly admitted that this plitline prompted the first conversation they ever had with their parents about sex. The character became pregnant after her first time, and one of the plot points was a bathroom session where a friend reasures her that you can't get pregnant your first time. I know at least two people who watched this show as kids and immediately went to their mothers to confirm this information when the character turned up pregnant. My own little sister had a transformative experience with the current iteration of the show when they tackled homosexuality. She has been having some issues with my older sister's sexual orientation and was very angry about it, You could not have a meaningful dialogue with her. What really changed her mind was the plotline on this show, because she had literally never thought of the issue from the point of view of someone her own age before. Yes, the show can be a bit heavy-handed with the morals sometimes (drurs are bad!) but that is with our adult filter. Kids can really connect with something like that. As for me, I watch little tv but tend to get really involved in the shows I do watch. Anyone who thinks tv cannot stimulate the imagination has probably never heard of fanfiction before (most of which is terrible, but all of which does demonstrate that people ARE capable of intercating with a television show on more than a passive level).

It is just impossible to generalize. Some "crap" is harmless. I know kids (and adults) who read a lot of trash and enjoy it, but that does not mean they are not capable of reading "better" books too. Mom mom buys trashy romance novels to take to Florida with her every winter because they are so thick she can buy one book and it will last her the whole week But she also reads good stuff. And tv can be watched passively, but it can be a bonding experience and learning tool too.

I would like to point out that "trash" is in the eye of the beholder. That is why there are so many different types of books and authors.

 

[SevenWritez]

I have to admit--Jesus was a very creative author, and it was wise to have his fanbse write up the rest for him. But seriously, Jc, the last chapter in Bible One was awesome--I really would like to read the sequel.

The Horses, the Crowned Dragon, the Plagues...DAMN, imagine when we get to see the action. Now, hopefully the climax isn't like Harry Potter, where we waited six books only to see some cruddy final battle where Harry says, *SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT FINISHED HP7* "Come on Vold ol buddy..be a man...show some remorse...I LOVE you..."

Also, Jc, when you provide a post that is a bit more organized I will be a little les blunt. But only a little.

EDIT: Woopsy, I forgot the main reason I made this post--I had too much fun up there.

Jc, people are offended by the "Bible Crazies," like you (please finish reading this before making a comment off that one word), only because in your earlier post it was obvious how self-righteous you are when it comes to the differences between those who choose to read the Bible and those who don't. Now, you want a fun plot twist? I believe in God--Holy shit right?

What I don't believe in is people such as yourself, who, when speaking of it, sodden it with blind praise such as, "IT IS THE TRUTH, THE ONE AND ONLY TRUTH, FOR GOD IS GREAT, BIBLE IS GREAT, THIS IS TRUTH!" You want to know why so many strongly felt athiests out there stand their ground in their convictions? Because some who love the Bible and Jesus (And I have nothing against them, so don't assume--some of the people dearest to me read the bible daily and wouldn't harm one damn thing on this earth, living or non; not to mention some of the time they cut out of their own life to help others), tend to be tactless and forget a little sumin sumin known as subtlety. Back when I went to church weekly and tried to tell others of the "greatness," I had discovered, I never talked down to them or dribbled on with long praising speeches with a weird glint in my eye. You may think, "You have not been touched by the spirit of GAWD!" but no, I knew what I was doing--speak to them like their friend, not some eccentric teacher.

The ironic thing? My two closest friends, who went there due to my persuasion, are now the ones trying to bring me back. Life's a funny circle, ain't it?

 

[member 737]

I do not believe, in the slightest, that reading a book can cause emotional and psychological disturbances.

Have you read "Don Quichote" by Cervantes? He gets crazy by reading silly romances
Seriously, from my own experience, I tend to appreciate those books which make me think and re-live them again and again for a week. And there are some books I haven't finished because they were too cruel, full of blood and flying body parts (and intended to carry a message by this).

Books, even history books

Why even? History books are also books
I have a feeling that you treat: a book I don't agree with = a book my children should not read. I guess it would be hard to find any book (or any man, for that matter) you would agree with in 100%. The children (or anyone) should not read books which are: written in awfully bad style (unless they have other merits), very gory, or advocating hatred, evil and mass-murders. Not those their parents don't agree with.

 

[eyez0nme]

Harry Potter.

 

[PhilW]

Harry Potter.

What, so that's it? No reason why? (the OP did ask WHY as well as WHAT).

So if your 9 or 10 year old who never showed any interest in reading before came to you wanting to read HP, and you said no and they went away and carried on flatly refusing to read anything else, that would be a 'good thing' would it? Whatever the literary merit, or otherwise, of HP, it's hardly the spawn of Satan. Let 'em read it and who knows what they might move on to in the future.

 

[Dharma]

I don't there's any kind of book I wouldn't let my kids read. If my kids decided to read something I wouldn't appreciate, I would probably also read the same book to discuss some of the parts with them. I think that if we interact with our kids, there isn't a great "danger" to have them influenced by the books (I don't even think they influence that much, at least in the bad sense).

When I was a kid, I read some book from Manara, erotic books, and it hadn't turn me into a sexual pervert or anything. Sometimes we see our kids as little people with no perception of reality or little people who are easily influenced and maybe that's not exactly true. I, for once, wasn't a bit influenced by Manara books, although my mother would probably not like having her 13 year old daughter reading erotic comics...

Dharma (hope my rambling made sense, my brain is really slow today and English is not my mother tongue)

 

[jcsoblonde]

okaaayyyy...I've been at camp for the past 5 weeks so I've missed a bit of the action here. Hi Seven! Sorry, I really am NOT trying to be self-righteous, I'm just saying what the Bible says. And no, I don't go around shouting that the Bible is truth and believe me, I don't drool. I've had enough of that kind of thing. But honestly it seems that what really happens, is people attack the Bible first, I never went shouting in anyone's face. If it seemed in my earlier post I was self righteous, I apologize, because I despise that sort of thing, and I am not that way. As for what you believe about the Bible, believe away. But, oh, your gonna love this...you just MAY, be wrong. Because what everyone believes should be judged by the Bible, because, oh yes, the Bible IS TRUTH. Why? Because its God's Word. Complete. as in no Bible 2. So you can sit back. And um...I don't believe in being "touched by the Spirit of God" as your talking about. And yes, I know...there are christians out there who are tactless and pushy...etc. And no matter if people are considerate of your beliefs, you have to be considerate of them, and I try...but also, I believe in standing up for the Bible, and HP is against the Bible, and to say its great for kids, is wrong, because its not. But anyways, this is really off the topic so I'm going to stop though I would LOVE to say more...you know us Bible crazies...once we start talking about Jesus its hard to stop. As for athiests well...they can be nice people. I'm not saying they aren't. Many of them can be moral people. But sometimes they make me ashamed...because it takes more faith to believe God isn't real than to believe He is.

 

[letterHead]

I'm only half-way through my bible, but I'm not a heavy smoker.

 

[SFG75]

This reminds me of a similar topic elsewhere, just wanted to share some great tubage.

Morons attempt to ban book

Provincial yokels ban What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

 

[kaza_kingsley]

I wouldn't limit kids too much. There are some hard hitting non-fiction books that I think are too rough for the younger set, until they get to be early teens. This includes some books I've seen about the Holocaust, Hiroshima, and other huge tragedies that are painful for anyone. As a kid when I heard about this stuff it just hurt too much for too long, and didn't help me at all. I think a little maturity is helpful for these concepts...

Kaza Kingsley
Author of the Erec Rex series
erecrex.com

 

[booklover85]

I don't understand the Harry Potter "ban them now" argument. In my opinion (notice, my opinion), they are like any other fantasy book out there. We have a problem with them reading about witchcraft (does anyone notice that we have a problem with having them read about witchcraft but then dress them up in witch costumes for Halloween?), but then we say "oh Lord of the Rings was so good." Uh..same thing basically but instead of having witches we have wizards, practicing magic and sorcery and using it for good and evil.

I also don't understand banning books in itself. Who are we to decide what someone else can read? If we don't want to read it, fine..don't read it. Make your own decision, but don't make a decision for me or someone else.

If a parent doesn't want a child to read a book, instead of saying flat out "no", explain what it is about the book that makes it a "no". (I say this because there are books out there that 7 year olds should not be reading...but then again that is the parent's job to make sure that their children don't read those books. I don't think the right thing to do is to say "take all those books off the shelf, no one can read them").

 

[nomadic myth]

I don't think the right thing to do is to say "take all those books off the shelf, no one can read them").

Me, too. It just encourages the eating of forbidden fruit.

 

[n_maw]

I believe that each parent knows their own child individually and what their child can handle and what they can't handle. What may be appropriate for one child, may not be appropriate for another. The imagination can be a well, for lack of a better word, very imaginative. I do believe that books should be basically age appropriate and that parents should know what their children are reading. I remember when I was a preteen reading a book that got pretty graphic and I was so embarrassed. I sure didn't let my mom know what I was reading (who by the way, my only sex education from her also was the giving of a book, we never even discussed it).

It is my opinion that just because someone wrote the written word down and managed to get it published does means that it's "worthy" of my or my childrens' time. I'm not arguing that literature in itself isn't great, because it is and I love it, but frankly, not every single piece of published work is great That's why we are all so different with different reading styles and interests.

Even as an adult, there have been many a book that I felt uncomfortable reading because of it's language and graphic details. For me that's personal. To each their own.

Just as I wouldn't let my children watch not age appropriate movies, I would think twice about allowing my child to read a book that has language too harsh or scenes to graphic. But it would come with a discussion about our family values and what our belief system is.

 

[SFG75]

I believe that each parent knows their own child individually and what their child can handle and what they can't handle. What may be appropriate for one child, may not be appropriate for another.

This is an excellent summation of the entire thread, I concur entirely. Last night, I had a reading session with my 3 year old, who likes to pick book after book to read with daddy. One of the books he picked was one that I purchased at Goodwill, evidently not paying much attention, which was clearly my fault. The book was Chuckie has a new mommy. In it, Chuckie feels anxious about having a new mommy, but in the end, accepts it and they hug. O.k., now maybe that book will be a good one for people in blended families, and I can't knock people for divorcing as there are a wide variety of reasons why that is acceptable. At the same time, that type of relativism and impernancy, the idea that you can have a new mommy to replace your old one, which is the tacit summary of the book if you think about it, is something that I don't want around my child. I did modify the story a bit and at the age of 3, my son thought dad was one heck of a narrator.

Maybe I'm getting old, but I've definitely re-thought my previous views in this thread that I've posted. For people that the book would be relevant for-more power to them. For the rest of us, or at least, my family-no!. The book is gone.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go outside and yell at the neighbor kids to get off my lawn.

 

[Sybarite]

Ban children from reading the Bible I say.

All that rape and child abuse, sanctioned and ordered by Yahweh – who'd want their children reading that sort of stuff?

My (very religious) mother heavily monitored my reading, well into my teens. I remember once bringing home a copy of Arthur Hailey's Airport from the library, having seen the film on TV. She sent me straight back to the library with it – apparently there was S.E.X. in the book. My teenage/early adult reading was pretty much limited to Agatha Christie, Alistair MacLean, books about WWII such as Reach for the Sky and some really tepid romance-thrillers of my mother's (Mary Stewart etc). Yet as a child, it was apparently A Good Thing for me to attend Sunday school and extra Monday evening church events for children, where I could hear my father telling us all how wonderful it was that Abraham was actually prepared to murder his own son because God told him to (child abuse is fine if it's in the Bible). Why is it that violence is more acceptable than sex? I could read books about war but not anything that might have an iota of sex in it. You see it clearly in terms of popular culture and Hollywood, where violent films often get lower certificates than ones with sexual content – and it's even better if the violent film in question is religious (The Passion of the Christ). How perverted is that?

In retrospect, I don't think I had any real choice in my reading until I'd left home in my early twenties, although it might have been a telling point that, when I went away to college for a year, the church gave me a book token. I spent it on an anthology of erotic verse, which I still have, although it was hidden out of the way for a period when I lived with my parents again.

The one blip in all this was in my teens, when I earned a little money by babysitting for some neighbours; a smart young couple with two small sons. Those Saturday nights were extraordinarily liberating ones; I'd be five minutes walk from home, but the children would have been in bed and I could sit in the living room with a can or two of cider they'd left for me, their record collection (Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water is a favourite from that time) and their books. Right there, in the open, were the Emmanuelle books. Oh wow. Perhaps it's no wonder I'm kinky – the only sex education I had was from those books.

So, be wary of what you censor – the irony has not missed me that, in spite of my mother's best efforts to keep me virginal and 'pure', I am now a published author. Of erotic fiction. I like to think that the irony hasn't passed my parents by either.