My high school librarian told me 'The Handmaid's Tale' was too intense for seniors, but I just finished it with my 15-year-old daughter and she had more questions than I did.

After Mrs. Carter warned me off it back in 2009, I finally read it this fall and now I see why she was worried, but my kid actually asked if we could talk about the politics behind it. Anyone else have a book that was banned at their school that they read later and thought was actually pretty tame?

3 comments

3 Comments

karencampbell10d ago

My friend Jenny read "To Kill a Mockingbird" with her 14 year old last year, and he asked her point blank why we still have racism after all these years. She said the hardest part wasn't explaining the book, it was answering his follow ups about current events. The book itself felt like the easy part compared to that conversation.

susansingh10d ago

Wait, is that kid already smarter than most adults I know? @karencampbell, your friend Jenny must have felt like she was taking a final exam she didn't study for. I remember reading that book in school and thinking "okay, old problem, we fixed it." Then I grew up and realized nope, we just changed the way it looks. I've had similar conversations with my nephew and they always leave me feeling like a total fraud. The real tricky part is that kids see right through our simple answers. I stumbled through explaining why people still hate and it was the most awkward thing ever. Made me wish I could just hand him a book and call it done.

beth27610d ago

Oh man, that reminds me of when my nephew asked me why we still have pennies if nobody wants them. I thought it'd be a quick answer, then he hit me with like ten follow-ups about the economy. Kids don't let you off easy, do they?