According to an Australian news site, the “Twilight” book series has been deemed too racy for children, and have been banned from elementary schools.
Librarians have stripped the books from shelves in some junior schools because they believe the content is too sexual and goes against religious beliefs, reports the Australian Daily Telegraph.
One Aussie school even ran a special class for young students explaining the “racy and supernatural themes” in the books.
Australian Catholic Education Office spokesman Mark Rix told the newspaper that “individual schools had to decide whether the books were suitable.”
Librarians have pulled the book from shelves, and parents were told not to allow their children to bring the books to school.
“It comes down to the discretion of the school to keep an eye on what the kids read,” said Rix. “Some primary students are not ready to read Twilight. That said, some secondary students may not be either.”
This article is misleading and immature. The books have not been ‘banned in Australia’, it is at the discretion of individual schools to decide what is appropriate for their students. This may shock you, but virtually all schools in the Western world do this.
Your article even contradicts itself: you say ““Twilight†book series has been deemed too racy for children, and have been banned from all elementary schools.”
Then go on to say: ““It comes down to the discretion of the school to keep an eye on what the kids read,†said Rix. “Some primary students are not ready to read Twilight. That said, some secondary students may not be either.—
What a horribly sensationalistic article.
No, Mike is right – the news.com.au and dailytelegraph.com.au reports both say that the books have been stripped from shelves in “some junior schools.”
The schools mentioned in the article are Santa Sabina, Queenwood Girls and St Anthony – all private, Catholic run schools (ie not government schools). And that is why the quote is from the Australian Catholic Education Office, not a government education board. Rix is talking about Catholic Private schools under their office.
You guys did really sensationalise and misrepresent this. Sorry.
Australia is a shitty country now i say this as an aussie girl moving out of it. people there seem to hate all the time what other people do or do not do. no one can mind their own business
Funny you say that, when you’re butting into the school libraries’ business.
hahah agreed.
It seems to me like the schools are banning “Twilight” for the wrong reasons. Lots of books feature the supernatural, or even “racy” romance plotlines. “Twilight” should be banned because it is anti-feminist and because it glorifies an emotionally and physically abusive relationship. If I had a preteen daughter, I certainly wouldn’t want her fantasizing about controlling, socially aloof, sexually domineering Edward Cullen as the perfect lover, especially not after the scene where he leaves her bruised and aching on their wedding night and she tells him “it was perfect and wonderful.” What kind of message is that sending to young girls? Bad writing aside, “Twilight” is incredibly inappropriate.
Jess, you are my hero. I couldn’t agree more. But I feel that aside from the aspect that you’ve already addressed, Twilight should also be banned for it’s bad writing. Why should a society promote a book which is not even literature in the lowest sense? A book/novel has structure, while Twilight is simply a mess (introduce a villain in the last ten pages and some how resolve this road block? Doesn’t seem well thought out). Twilight is nothing more than a glorified blog post, printed out by publishers who would market anything, and promoted as a book. While people should always have the right to do what they want, this trash is an insult to quality literature.
Thanks David. And though I strongly agree (as a writer and editor, the books offend me), it’s really hard to get people to see how poorly written Twilight is. Why? I have no idea.
This article is incorrect. The book is not being banned in all of Australia, only at some primary Catholic schools.
The Twighlight books were also banned in some California schools. That never justified an article titled “Twighlight books banned in The United States”.
Whoever wrote this title needs to be given a few tips on professionalalism in Journalism by their boss.
im 14 and i am a hugeeee fan of twilight
i understand that it is fictonal,
i understand also that they are banning it from primary schoolers because i think that it is ubnsutable for them to be reading the sort of things that are written for mid teens/young adults .
i do not ‘fantisise’ of edward cullen and i do not expect and edward cullen like person to come to me at all.
i feel that that the twilight books being banned in australia is stupid, in primary schools yes. but not all of australia,
I would just like to say that I’m a huge Twilight fan and a mother of three children. I have allowed both of my daughter’s to read Twilight, if schools want to ban them, that is thier choice, but as a parent I’m the one who gets to decide if my child is mature enough to read a certain book. As for the bad writing, I guess everyone is entitled to thier own opinion, but I do not agree..I found the books to be quite entertaining.
Hey genius who wrote this,
In Australia we don’t even HAVE elementary schools!
This article is incorrect.
But I do think there should be a worldwide twilight ban.
carzy. that is stupid. don’t ever forbid the teens .
This is hilarious. Thank ‘God’ that some schools are seeing sense. I read the books to see what the fuss was all about and I finished them, horrified and a little bemused.
Get the kids hooked onto Harry Potter, that’ll sort them out. 3D characters, plotlines (see that, PLURAL, not singular), good writing makes them pretty damn enjoyable to read.
BAHAHHA, wow oh wow.
I think they should be banned because they are creating an epidemic among children that makes them believe in these one dimensional characters. There have been reports of some young women dumping their boyfriends because they weren’t like ” Edward”. Edward is a character. It’s alright to like him, but to base him on something real seems somewhat silly. The same goes for Jacob. Neither one of this men know what it takes to be a good man. Edward is so dang confusing and overbearing, and Jacob is desperate and is a homewrecking and pedophile. He claims a child as his soul mate. Seriously? Is that the role models we want for children these days?
Another thing I found disturbing is the undertones throughout the ideas. You have Edward showcasing ideas of mental and emotional abuse. You have him pushing a woman away and leading her to suicide. I think there may be some form of blackmail as well. And lastly, this is, and never will be love. What they showcase as love in this series is nothing more than a superficial crush. You can’t sit there and fall in love with a guy that doesn’t even make you comfortable. When they first met, he pushed her away and begged her to stay. How is that invitation to stalk him?
As for the vampire and werewolf ideas. Considering there is no real indication of vampires or werewolves in this book, there is no need to ban it for that. Most of the vampires go against the rules of vampirism and those so called ” werewolves” are basically shapeshifters with the look and appeal of a wolf.
in my opinion not every body is the same and i think it depends on how you can take it and how mature you are i read all of them and im only 13 and i see no difference in my life