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John Green's novels will stay in Wisconsin, Florida schools

Parents complained about Green's books 'Looking for Alaska' and 'Paper Towns,' but a school committee in Wisconsin decided not to remove 'Alaska.' Meanwhile, 'Towns' was taken off a reading list in Florida, then restored.

John Green is the author of 'Paper Towns' and 'Looking for Alaska.'
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

“The Fault in Our Stars” writer John Green’s novels were recently challenged by parents in both Wisconsin and Florida. 

In Waukesha, Wis., the parents of an AP English student complained about Green’s book “Looking for Alaska” after “Alaska” appeared on a list of recommended reading and their daughter selected it. Ellen Cox, the student’s mother, said there was what she believed to be inappropriate sexual content and language, according to local news station WISN, and she didn’t think it was suitable for middle-schoolers or high school students. 

The issue was discussed at a school committee meeting on July 25 and the school committee decided not to remove the book.

Another of Green’s novels was recently restored to a reading list after parents’ complaints in Florida, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Green’s book “Paper Towns” was taken off an eighth-grade list for John Long Middle School in Pasco County in June after the mother of an eighth-grader objected over what she described as language and sexual content, according to the National Coalition Against Censorship. The mother, Joanne Corcoran, said she wished she had been notified about the book’s themes, and the title was taken off the reading list. However, it was later put back on.

“Alaska” came in at number seven on the American Library Association’s list of most-challenged books of 2013 and 2012. 

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