Books You Shouldn't Be Allowed to Read (But Can Anyway)

In a world where you can binge-watch true crime documentaries about serial killers and scroll past graphic violence on social media, the real threat to society, apparently, lies in books. Yes…books! The paper bound villains corrupting the youth with their subversive ideas and gasp: unflinching truths. While some schools are practically sweeping their shelves clean of any remotely “controversial” literature, the Blacksburg High School Library offers a bit of a rebellion. 

Ms. Christle, the school’s librarian, revealed, “This library offers books for all students that some libraries in other parts of the country have chosen to remove from their shelves.” Her words are calm, but there’s definitely a bit of defiance in them. A subtle stand against censorship.

The banned books list itself reads like a guide to literature worth actually reading. Titles like All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky have been pulled from shelves in other states. Their crimes? Tackling mental health, sexuality, and identity, topics that are apparently too “mature” for teens, despite teens living those realities literally every day. Even classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men aren’t safe. Never mind that these books are taught specifically to encourage critical thinking and empathy. Better to keep students in a sanitized bubble, right?

But what makes a book actually dangerous? Is it the uncomfortable content, or the fact that it makes people think? That distinction is often blurred by the people pushing for bans. The result is a growing list of books removed simply because they make someone, somewhere, uncomfortable. “I think it’s a really good demonstration of how close-minded people are,” said Alex Conrad (12). “We should be open to all interpretations.” She raised an eyebrow at the irony of schools shielding students from books that reflect their own realities, while offering little resistance to the disturbing content that floods their phones daily.

The reasoning behind most bans is flimsy at best and laughable at worst. Parents clutching their pearls over The Hate U Give claim it promotes “anti-police sentiment,” despite the book being about systemic racism and a teen’s personal grief. Animal Farm is accused of being “politically divisive,” even though its entire point is to critique totalitarianism. And then there’s A Clockwork Orange, hated for its violence and explicit content. Never mind that it’s a brutal (and disturbingly relevant) exploration of free will. Somehow, it seems that if a book makes people squirm, it has no place in a school, as if shielding students from complex ideas will prevent them from encountering complex realities.

But at least some students see through the hypocrisy. “If a book presents information that could truly be psychologically harmful to someone, then sure, ban it,” said Eli Lasprugato (11). “But often, books are unnecessarily banned based on other people’s personal beliefs, which I don’t think is how school boards should be going about it.” 

He’s right, banning books based on subjective morality is a hard topic. When personal taste and discomfort determine public access, literature becomes collateral damage.

The entire situation would almost be funny if it wasn’t so alarming. The same adults terrified of books exploring sexuality or violence often turn a blind eye to the endless stream of explicit content on places like TikTok or YouTube. They’ll ban The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison for its frank depiction of abuse but won’t bat an eye at high schoolers participating in the “devious lick” videos online for clout. It’s selective outrage at its finest.

But here’s the thing: banning books doesn’t protect students. It only makes them more curious. Telling a teenager they “shouldn’t” read something is the surest way to guarantee they will. And honestly? Good. If a book makes you uncomfortable, then it’s doing its job. The best books are meant to challenge, disturb, and sometimes even offend. Shielding students from them doesn’t make them safer--it makes them softer. It denies them the very tools they need to navigate the real world: empathy, critical thinking, and the ability to wrestle with conflicting ideas.

So, if you’re feeling rebellious (which you should be), take a walk down the BHS Library aisle and grab one of these forbidden tomes. You can even crack open Fahrenheit 451, a book about the dangers of censorship that, ironically, has been censored. Or dive into All Boys Aren’t Blue and let the words make you uncomfortable, or maybe understood. Because the most “dangerous” books are the ones that leave a mark. The ones that make you think, make you feel, and make you question. And those are the books worth fighting for.

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Written by Asher Mercier

Photography by Miles Johnson