Banned Books Week: Paper Towns and The Fault In Our Stars

For day 5 of Banned Books Week I wanted to pick a more modern book and ended up choosing 2! The books I chose are Paper Towns and The Fault In Our Stars both by John Green. Both are very successful and have their own movies!

I'm going to start off with The Fault In Our Stars. We all have come to love the book and storyline of TFIOS so to see this on a list of Banned Books might be surprising to some. However, I think it's on there for valid reasons. TFIOS is a Banned book because of its storyline. Two teens with cancer and a tragic love story is not easy to swallow. Especially if you have known someone who has died of cancer and have gone through of the ups and downs as well as the grieving. This book is also banned because of teen sex and offensive language. These reasons are also the reason why it is a PG-13 movie. I would recommend it to people because it is one of the most impactful books of the century.

Next to Paper Towns!

I classify Paper Towns as a teen mystery novel because of how all of the teens are trying to find Margo and solve her mystery. I enjoyed Paper Towns and would recommend it because it is a short and fun read, but not quite as deep as TFIOS. If TFIOS is too much for you I would suggest this first! I have to tell you that Paper Towns is a Banned book for similar reasons as TFIOS. The book has some explicit language and conversations about teen sex. This has been made into a movie more recently and I would suggest watching it even if you are not interested in the book.

John Green is a great author, not only because he is from Indiana, but also because he writes from unique perspectives that are engaging for the reader. He is like a new teen Nicholas Sparks in a way with his tragic love stories. 

I hope you go pick up a copy of either book or go rent the movie to celebrate the rest of Banned Books Week!! Happy reading!!!!