An Analysis Of Gayle Forman's If I Stay

The Catcher in the Rye. The Scarlet Letter. Huckleberry Finn. Harry Potter. The Diary of Anne Frank. Animal Farm. To Kill a Mockingbird. The Da Vinci Code. The Grapes of Wrath. These literary classics have been vital to the education of many, especially children and adolescents (Banned Books). These great novels both teach important values and educate children about world affairs and classic themes. Unfortunately, each of these novels has been banned at one point in time. In a country where freedom is so adamantly advocated, it is a wonder that an issue like censorship would even come up, that such a controversy would sink its claws into the minds of states’ boards of education across the nation.

Because of offensive language and ideas that are represented in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, it has been banned in many school libraries and lessons. One of the main reasons that it was banned in school is because of offensive words like the n-word and also because of the fact that the plot is centered around rape. One of the school board members, Kenny Holloway, said, “We can teach the same lessons with other books.” Many people agree with Holloway’s opinion, saying that the same ideas that are represented in To Kill A Mockingbird could be taught with a less controversial book. However, other people say that students are tough enough to handle the story. While many people don’t think that this book is appropriate for school, some people

The main reason for the banning of this novel is because of the profanity according to NCAC. NCAC states that this novel has " been challenged or banned due to objections to profanity." Therefore this novel should be banned from high schools and libraries. The use of profanity causes a sense of disproportion for the youthful minds reading this publication.

High School students are mature and they had experience of uncensored books and movies. Alexie’s novel remains in high school libraries available for the students to check it out by their own choice. Students should have the right to choose what they want to read. The main character Junior in Alexie's novel shows

If a controversial book will be read in the classroom, it is the teacher’s responsibility to prepare the student for it. The teacher must ensure that the book is age-appropriate for the student, and is appropriate for the subject matter that the teacher is covering. Reading books such as Catcher in The Rye without discussion can be more harmful than helpful to a student. The Catcher in The Rye has obscene language, violence, occult practices, and sexual references (Doyle 2010). This book should only be read by a mature age group with a

In one particular instance, a bill was passed in Tennessee stating that teachers cannot encourage “gateway sexual activity” (Nazaryan). This bill resulted in Sumner County officials banning Looking for Alaska from the curriculums of all schools due to the book’s single, brief oral sex scene. The Tennessean covered the news of the ban in their newspaper and quoted parents who agreed with the ban, stating that the school board was right in banning the book from the young and impressionable minds of children, who could possibly be so influenced by this blip of a scene in a book, that they might go and immediately engage in the same, or worse, sexual behavior. The newspaper, did however point out that there were alternate ways to address concerns regarding the book, such as offering alternate books to students whose parents were against it. John Green’s YouTube channel, “vlogbrothers”, features a video, “I Am Not A Pornographer”. In it, Green, referring to the ban, states that “there is one frank sex scene. It is awkward, unfun, and wholly unerotic.” (Green). Green goes on to say that the only reason for the existence of that scene is show a contrast between a very physical scene that contains no emotional intimacy and a very non-physical scene that is full of emotion. In another video, “On the Banning of Looking for Alaska”, Green says “text is meaningless without context” (Green) . Green is speaking to his opinion that books are banned most of the time because a parent decides to show a school principal or administrator a single excerpt or page of a book. Without proper context, that excerpt or page can appear to represent a very inappropriate book. Alternatively, if a reader were to assess a book in its entirety, while keeping an opening mind, they could glean important and valuable lessons from

According to the American Library Association (ALA), young adult novels are challenged with the best intentions. In most cases a parent will read a book that their child might be reading in class to find out if the book is hazardous to their child’s well-being. If the novel seems problematic, the parent then challenges the book. Even though the purpose of challenging a novel is to keep children from reading about issues that may not be seen as appropriate for their age group, censoring children from difficult subject matter is not always the solution. There is always controversy when difficult issues arise in adolescent geared novels. Even though there are many concerns with Lois Lowry’s The Giver,

The main reason was because the book mentioned discussions of being drunk, smoking cigarettes, profanity, and using God’s name in vain. Criticizer Diana Verm stated "The book had a bunch of very bad language in it. It shouldn’t be in there because it’s offending people.” Altom Verm also said "It's just all kinds of filth.” Just because you find “offensive” terms in the book, doesn’t mean it has to be barred from everybody. Alton Verm has stated he hasn’t read the book. (yourhoustonnews.com Kassia Meck) His only reason for wanting it to be banned is because he finds it “too offensive.” I find it nefarious that a book can be banned just because it doesn’t fit someone’s ideal opinion. The ALA states “The ALA promotes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinions even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular” (ALA mission statement) This just goes to show that what you believe, shouldn’t have an impact on others. I don’t believe a book should be banned from a school district for those

“A banned book is one that has been removed from the shelves of a library, bookstore, or classroom because of its controversial content...A book may be challenged or banned on political, religious, sexual, or social grounds” (Lombardi). According to Esther Lombardi, banned books are specific types of books that are not allowed to be read because they are considered dangerous or harmful in some way. Even though content such as depression, drugs, sexual activity, and violence in books is viewed as problematic or inappropriate, real life isn’t all fairy tales and unicorns. Life is hard, and there is bad in the world just like there is good in the world. Students should not be shielded from the bad of the real world. Instead, they should learn about those situations through books in the safety of schools. Crank is a book about a gifted junior in high school named Kristina Georgia Snow. Her parents are divorced, she lives in Reno with her mother, and for the first time in eight years she visits her father in New Mexico. However, this visit leads Kristina into many difficult life experiences. Students should be able to read Crank because it shows students how small decisions could impact people's lives, how drugs become a need, and how communication between a family is important.

“Hell!” the operator’s cigarette moved in his lips. “We got these cases, nine or ten at night. Got so many, starting a few years ago, we had the special machines built,” is a quote from the book that shows a bit of mature language that not be okay for some children. Another quote from the book gives an example of the same thing, “I’m afraid of children my own age. They kill each other. Did it always used to be that way? My uncle says no. Six of my friends have been shot in the last year alone. Ten of them died in car wrecks.” Those are not even the worst parts of the book. I believe some components would definitely be not okay with some parents.

On the other hand, parents fear that reading this novel will give their children ideas to rebel against them, and consequently cause them to lose control of them. Ultimately, it is the counter-culture attitude and the distaste for any kind of authority that governs the novel that leads many to shy away from exposing the material to teenagers.

In today’s modern world the world being changed in the matter of fact everything has being changed Computers, Phones, Entertainment and so much more. Kids and Students are learning from this. Kids are watching, listening to what there are not supposed to be listening and copying things of the internet. Kids and Teens are not even respecting you they give attitude and also disrespect. This novel has the same connection that ideal with parents and teens Smack. Smack should be banned due to the misconception in the novel. The novel contains foul langue and sexual references that are not appropriate for your adolescents, it has a very negative and depressing influence showing teens how to escape problems by running away and doing drugs. Who wants your adolescents to know how to run away and learn foul langue as a young age? This is the reason why the novel should be banned.

I read If I Stay by Gayle Forman. The book is told from the point of view of Mia. Mia is a girl who loves playing the cello; frankly she is very good at it. She is in high school, but she is preparing to go to Julliard, a school for gifted students. Her family consists of her mom, her dad and her little brother Teddy. Sadly on her way to her parent’s friends for a snow day a truck hit the car with Mia's whole family in it. Mia is experiencing an out of body experience the whole time in the hospital but sadly the mom, dad and little brother Teddy perished, but Mia is stuck in a coma. She tells the story from her perspective and what she experiences while in a coma, plus many flashbacks along the way.

If I Stay is a young adult fiction book by Gayle Forman. On a snow day with her family, Mia gets into a car wreck on the way to a farm. She faces everyone's worst fear, death. She is put into the hospital and is in a coma. Her family starts to die off until she is the only one left. As

Children’s literature has always been marked by its darkness. From Perrault’s fairy tales to today’s classics, stories for children have themes of violence, sex, and even cannibalism. It seems that darkness is introduced to acclimate young kids to the ways of our often times very dangerous world. A book like Bridge to Terabithia has many of these dark themes at its core, but uses them teach adolescent children. This book has been banned many times for its truly sad ending. Death is one of the major themes, and readers see the protagonist Jess Aarons deal with his best friend Leslie’s death. This is the most recognizable dark theme, but a more troubling one is the suppression of children and their thoughts and actions. In the story, we see Jess