The Hunger Games... Banned?!

I was reading some articles about The Hunger Games when I came across an article about this book included in the list of Top 10 Banned Books. In the United States, there have been more than 300 attempts to have the books banned or removed from school libraries. September 24 to October 1 was the Banned Books Week where The Hunger Games is in the list of Top Ten Banned Books or Challenged Books of 2010.

Most of you know that I am a very big fan of these books. I wasn’t shocked when I saw the title of the article. But I was really shocked when I read that one of its reasons is because it was “sexually explicit”. Let me get a few things straight.

Violence? Yes, that’s the point of the book…

Drinking? Yes.

Kissing? Yes.

Nudity? Yes. (Does anyone remember chapter 19?)

“Inappropriate scenes” for teenagers? Nah… Don’t think so….

The only things they do are kiss and snuggle together for warmth in a sleeping bag.

A mother from New Hampshire in the US called for the books to be banned from her daughter’s school library because it gave her 11-year-old daughter nightmares. The only reason her daughter read it is because of her grade seven class. The Hunger Games is a book for “Young Adults”. It was written for children 13 and up. I can’t believe that one of its reasons is “unsuited to age group”. I honestly didn’t want to read it because the cover was “boring”. (The only reason I read it is because of Ciara and Anastasiya.) I don’t think children below 13 would really want to read a book with a “boring” cover. Children below 13 can read it if they want to but they shouldn’t blame other people because they were warned that it was a book for young adults.

“Kill, or be killed.”

When it comes to the third reason which is “violence”, I completely understand that a lot of people would want to burn this book because of the death scenes. However, this is the whole point of the book. I’m sure that there are books out there that involve killing as well. Most of them say it’s not good because children are the ones who kill each other. To me, this is my reason I love it. Violence.

This is a dystopian novel for young adults like me. I’ve read other dystopian novels and to me, this is the best…yet. I used to read books about mystery, fantasy, but never violence. But when I read this book, I was amazed at how it totally changed my life. It’s a tough world out there. Who knows, this actually might happen. We all have different opinions. If you are one of the people who haven’t read this yet, try to give this book a chance. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Oh, and by the way, have you guys seen the theatrical trailer? If not, here’s the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S9a5V9ODuY