High School considers banning a Stephen King book over a rape scene
Rocklin High School is considering banning a book from its library due to a graphic scene.
“Different Seasons” is a collection of four Stephen King stories including the well known “Shawshank Redemption” and “Stand By Me.” But the page and a half graphic scene in “Apt Pupil” is what could get the whole book banned from Rocklin school libraries.
“Basically they’re judging entire book on one story,” said Amanda Wong.
Rocklin High School senior Wong is outraged her high school pulled the book after a parent complained.
“I thought it was completely wrong of them to do that. I was really upset,” said Wong.
The school pulled the book off its library shelves after a school committee decided a detailed description of rape in “Apt Pupil” was too much for students.
“Although I understand this parent’s concerns, I wouldn’t want my little brother readying this. I don’t believe it’s the school’s right to take entire book out of library just over that,” said Wong.
Wong was also on that committee and was the only one opposed to pulling the book. She was outnumbered, but it didn’t stop her from being outspoken, especially because she’s the only one who read the entire thing.
“The instant you do such an action, it opens a big door up. A door where, what will we be banning next,” said Wong.
She decided to take her concerns to the school board meeting, where she made a plea to board members to take another look.
“It should be up to parents and students to make this decision on whether they want to read it, not the district or school,” said Wong.
The book is back on shelves while a district committee looks at a possible ban.
“Whether it gets banned or not, I’m happy people know,” said Wong.
The first meeting is Tuesday, and they have 30 days to make a decision.
CBS13 reached out to Stephen King about the ban.
“They stand with Amanda Wong on the issue and admire her principled and passionate plea. We hope she and those who share her views are not disappointed,” King’s agent said.
i'm happy my parents let me read whatever i wanted, even though they disapproved of gore-y/racy stuff.
Edited at 2012-10-13 02:40 pm (UTC)
As I got older I started choosing more books on my own and my parents never once stopped me. In fact, when I was about 15 they started recommending some more adult/imappropriate books (some of their faves which they couldn't talk about when I was younger, lol). And I was (and still am) really into horror fiction so they would have reasons to ban some books tbh.
So book banning to me is just incomprehensible.
both of my parents are way into reading too (my dad's way into non-fiction/history and my mom's all over the fiction genres). when i was little, and even now lol, my mom would read a lot of the books i brought home just to check out what i was into and she lmao really hated the gore-y horror stuff i adore (she just thinks it's gross), but never once tried to stop me from reading them. <3
EXACTLY.
As soon as I could read on my own my parents let me take whatever I wanted off the shelves and read it. Of everything they did for me that's the single one I remain most grateful for.
the whole "talking about this stuff makes me uncomfortable" pisses me the fuck off. we're all human beings, like isn't a technicolor film of rainbows and bunnies.
I was all psyched about it, finally studying material I could get excited about, writing fun essays for once etc, and then our teacher was like "oop, turns out we can't do that, back to the normal books it is". Apparently, a parent who did not even speak English complained to the school principle because on the cover of that book there was a "scary-looking candlestick holder".
No, really. Because our precious 15-year-old souls could not deal with that. Yeah.
For the record, reading that book (because of course I read it) was the first time I came across The Monkey's Paw. It was awesome.
/csb
Banning books is bullshit. Even 50 Shades shouldn't be banned (though whether it should have been published in the first place is debatable...).
But srsly I do not get these people. Stuff like that makes my blood boil, I can only imagine how you feel. Ugh.
And I think it's a good thing you are teaching your kids the right words. A penis is a penis is a penis.
JFC, how incredibly inappropriate and false.
idk how i didn't get in trouble for that bc i got full access to my dad's textbooks on human development. uncensored pic of a vaginal delivery? i was in 6th grade and wrote some horror story based on the facts i found in there.
thank you for teaching your child properly and not shielding her from the facts of life and instilling body shaming in her. ugh, this is why i refuse to work with older grades bc i don't support not telling kids the age appropriate truth!
also, do these parents not think their kids can just go to wikipedia and type in penis or vagina and get the full rundown? i would rather the dictionary!
Edited at 2012-10-13 04:44 pm (UTC)
The part when he puts the cat in the oven made me almost put the book down : (
That story man, I break it out at least once a year and read the whole book all the way through. I remember thinking they needed to make it a movie and six months later, there it was.
But, seriously, book banning for *that* book? I'll admit that scene in particular can be a little much and Apt Pupil as a whole can, too, but I read it in 10th grade and was not horribly scarred for life. And there are many more books with content just as disturbing. Like the scene near the end of The Grapes of Wrath with the lady breast-feeding the old man? That squicked me out when I had to read that in high school. But I'm not up for banning it. No one is going to read Apt Pupil and then go live that lifestyle unless there is something wrong with them in the head.
/has spent waaay too much time in a law library this past week doing research for a Freedom of Information Act paper for one of my library science classes
I just don't get book banning, kids will get into shit regardless, banning a book is meaningless.
althout vonnegut, good stuff. we read harrison bergeron in 7th grade but i am sure that got replaced nowadays with some standardized testing BS.
revoke her credentials asap, that is so disgusting.
I'm surprised it's this and not It, though. Preteen gangbang is something else, even if it's not overly descriptive, so far as I recall. Took me forever to break down and read It all the way through. I had the same problem with The Shining.
.