Posted: March 4th, 2021

Banned Books

According to Dosomething. org, more than 60% of teens are doing or have done drugs at one time. Go Ask Alice should be banned from middle school and elementary libraries and only permitted at the high school level because of the use of vulgar language, the use of illegal substances, and the explicit descriptions of the activities being done throughout the book. One reason this book should be banned is the use of vulgar language. The foul language used in this book is not appropriate for middle school nor elementary ibraries, but acceptable to more mature audiences like high school.
An example of this occurs toward the middle of the book when, the main character, Alice and her friend are at a party that gets out of hand and she’s talking about it the next day, “Last night was the worst night of my shitty, rotten, stinky, dreary, f*cked up life. ” (Sparks, 58) Another example toward the beginning of the book when she’s expressing her feelings about that day, “l feel awfully bitched and pissed off at everybody… I Just want to puke all over the shitty world. ” (Sparks, 82, 83) Next, nother reason Go Ask Alice should be banned is the excessive use of illegal substances.
The drug use written throughout the book is not appropriate for middle school or elementary, but should be permitted for high school level. In Go Ask Alice there are many illegal substance references throughout the entire book. An example happens toward the beginning when she’s at a small hang out and is unknowingly consuming a spiked drink. “Then I noticed the strange shifting patterns on the ceiling… I watched the pattern change to swirling colors, great fields of reds, blues, ellows. (Sparks 25) Another example toward the middle is when she and her friend are roped into selling drugs to young kids, “… so Chris and I have both had to push pot… I convinced Richie that it would be easier to push acid than pot… ” (Sparks, 45) This usage continues throughout the book. A third, and final, reason why this book should be banned is because of the explicit descriptions. The explicit descriptions used are not acceptable for middle school or elementary libraries, but can be deemed appropriate for high school.

This whole book is very detailed and explicit in its descriptions. One of the many examples is when she is waking up after a wild party, “Well last night it happened. I am no longer a virgin! ” (Keep in mind she is only 14) (Sparks, 27) Then she talks about her boyfriend, “Richie is so good, good, good to me and sex with him is like lightning and rainbows and springtime! ” (Sparks, 44) Still talking about her boyfriend, “He teases me and says I am oversexed because I have been bugging him to let me try sex without being stoned first. Sparks, 46) A final example is toward the ending of the book discussing the death of her grandmother, “Gran died in her sleep last night. I tried to tell myself that she’s gone to Gramps, but I am so depressed all I can think about is worms eating her body. ” (Sparks, 115) This book has sparked controversy in whether or not it should be banned to middle school and elementary. Go Ask Alice should be banned to middle school and elementary because it is not appropriate to expose them to the contents in the book.
But reasons it shouldn’t be banned for high school libraries is because they are a more mature most worldly things that this book shouldn’t corrupt them too much. So this book should be banned for middle school and elementary but permitted to high school because of the usage of vulgar language, the use of illegal substances, and the explicit descriptions written throughout the book. Just think, would you want your young child exposed to this type of literature and have it possibly have an influence in their behaviors?

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