15 Books That Parents Read In School Which They Don’t Think Are Suitable For Their Own Kids
As kids, did you ever get a new book and read it almost obsessively? Every chance you get, you can be found speed-reading and absorbing as much as you can devour. Ebooks, hardbacks, paperbacks, and sometimes even multiple books at a time.
While we were voracious readers in our younger days, it’s possible that we exposed ourselves to too much and it may have had a scarring effect. So we want to do things a little differently when it comes to the mini-versions of ourselves. That’s why when someone asked online what books they read in school that they would never, ever want their own kids to read, the adults spilt the tea with opinions and reasons galore.
More info: Reddit
#1
Maybe this isn’t the question, but I read A Child Called ‘It’ as an elementary aged child. I bought it at the school’s Scholastic Book Fair, and was maybe 9 years old. Why on earth they thought that was an appropriate book for small children to be purchasing and reading, I will never know. The 90’s were a trip.
#2
The Kite Runner….my dad saw me pick that up at a book store when I was in the 7th grade and he said no, I wasn’t allowed to read that till I got older. Me being the rebellious little s**t I was convinced my friend to buy it and we took turns reading it. Yeah that book is not for kids….I learnt some things that day :(
#3
My mum used to use The Giving Tree to guilt me. That book is too easily weaponized
#4
I know it’s weak, but the ending to Of Mice and Men really messed up my 13 year old brain.
#5
Lord of the Flies. I hate that s**t.
This isn’t about censorship, if my kid wants to read that dogshit book, of course they can. But I’d never recommend it to anybody, or encourage anyone to read it if they were on the fence.
#6
I read a book about King Arthur, I think it was just called “Arthur The King”. I enjoyed royalty, Knights, and historical fiction, so it looked like a great pick for me for this book project. It was in my teacher’s classroom on a list of approved options.
Y’all, I was not READY for the amount of rape and sodomy in there. It was absurd. I think the book was actually meant to be an erotic novel, it’s the only reason I can think of for that much adult content. I’m positive the teacher had never read it herself.
I’m all for kids being exposed to a variety of topics, and teens can be exposed to sexuality, and I was sixteen or seventeen at the time. But this was just beyond anything.
#7
Was given The Things They Carried in HS and had nightmares for weeks because I had a brother overseas in combat at the time. Part of me never wants my kids to read it because of how much it negatively effected me, which I know isn’t a good reason. I do think it is a worthwhile book but it will always, always make me uncomfortable.
#8
Les Miserables. Sophomore year. Just too long. I failed English because of it. It was just a basic English class not English Literature. I read it years later and it is long but, one of the best endings of any novel ever.
#9
The Scarlett Letter that s**t was a grind. I love to read, but I wanted to claw my eyes out so I could stop reading it.
#10
I was supposed to read Night John in 4th grade. We stopped when parents complained about the vivid description of a slave being ripped apart by dogs. I’d definitely let me kids read it but not in 4th grade.
#11
Gone with the Wind. Not because it’s offensive (it is) or because it has rape scenes that portray the main character as liking them (it does) or because it depicts slavery from the wrong side of history (it definitely does). No, because it’s a 900+ page book that ends and begins without really doing anything, and it doesn’t even attempt to show one battle of the Civil War. It’s basically Waiting for Godot, but instead of God it’s a prissy Southerner who never loved the main character anyways, while the real lover has to rape her to show how much he loves her. It’s utter trash.
#12
“A Day No Pigs Would Die” was pretty rough in 6th grade. Basically Charlotte’s web with HAUNTINGLY graphic depictions of animal husbandry and slaughter. I don’t remember getting a lot of value out of it at 11 years old, just pig-blood soaked nightmares lol
#13
Where the Red Fern Grows- I wept like a baby when I read that book. I don’t want to subject my little one (who loves dogs) to that heartbreak.
#14
I don’t have or want kids but Flowers In The Attic by V.C. Andrews. I was maybe 11 or 12 when I saw it in my school library and remember my mum mentioned she’d read it in school. Holy hell that was not a book that should have been in a primary school library, the fact it was required reading in my mum’s school when she was 14 is even more messed up.
#15
Shakespeare. Not because it is bad but because it’s not really meant to be read. It’s a performance your supposed to watch it.
Shanilou Perera
Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.
