Why Do Children Inappropriate Books?

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Between 1990 and 2000, there were 6,364 challenges to remove certain publications according to the Office for Intellectual Freedom. Some claim that this interferes with our freedom to read. But if you think about it, don’t you think that we should be striving to shield our children away from controversial ideas? The American Library Association (ALA) states, books are often banned "with the best intentions—to protect others, frequently children, from difficult ideas and information." Forbidding titles with objectionable content is the direction we should go on for there are benefits! By censoring works of text, anxious parents will be able to prevent their child from learning inappropriate information, following in the footsteps of an atrocious example, or from creating unnecessary confusion about concepts that their minds cannot yet grasp… …show more content…
For instance, a first grader may not be able to “hit the hay” after reading about how Hitler became notorious for brutally murdering thousands of Jews during the Holocaust! As the library of Butler University writes, “Age Inappropriate: These books have been banned or censored due to their content and the age level at which they are aimed. In some cases children's books are viewed to have “inappropriate” themes for the age level at which they are written for.” A book about the Holocaust would probably be aimed for a pre-adult audience interested in the history of the second world war, not for a clueless, unknowing child who could be scared easily. Not only that, but some texts may have “...content that include sexual situations or dialog...”(according to the library of Butler University). This is obviously unsuitable for children because...they are just too young! We must limit what they read to stop repetitive predicaments from