Why Should The Lovely Bones Not Be Banned

Argumentative Final Paper: Unit 3 The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold has been challenged three times in school libraries. What is the reason that this book has been challenged? The Lovely Bones is a book about a fourteen-year-old girl telling about her life and death. Susie Salmon was raped and murdered by her neighbor in a structure that the neighbor built in a corn field. She watches down on her world from heaven as everyone copes with her death. Alice Sebold herself was brutally raped as an undergraduate, similar to Susie. Many have challenged this book because its explicit contents such as sexual abuse, violence, false heaven, and sexual contents. This book is also considered “too mature” or inappropriate for children’s understandings and

The novel contains many explicit contents that are unnecessary for middle school students; however, its educational values to high school students are more important and outweigh these hesitations. The Lovely Bones should not be banned for 9th grade students due to its literary and philosophical values. The amazing, descriptive writing style of the novel with the incredible vocabulary makes this book very educational to 9th grade students; it teaches students many other values including forgiving, compassion, loving, and forgetting. According to Punchnels website, “Books are amongst our best teachers. They teach us vocabulary, and social skills, and new ways of thinking… Research also shows that good, old-fashioned reading is still the best way to improve intelligence.” This proves that books can teach students many things, from great writing skills to great life lessons. For example, Susie says, “In that way the line he had begun seemed

This specific novel has been challenged many times for religious reasons. Parents considered this book dangerous because their religious beliefs differed from the book. According to Word Press, “The book involves the main character being in heaven, not just a generic heaven but one personalized to her tastes and personality. Many considered the heaven describes in the book to have no God and to have no kind of judgment for those entering heaven.” This is considered dangerous for young student which makes the books dangerous for school libraries. However, high school students do not change their beliefs with one book. They normally read to enjoy the book and see different ideas. Based on Word Press, “Sebold came back at the readers who criticized her heaven with this, ‘“To me, the idea of heaven would give you certain pleasures, certain joys – but it’s very important to have an intellectual understanding of why you want those things. It’s also about discovery, and being able to come to the conclusions that elude you in life.”’ Books don’t always have to be politically correct; if they were, every book would be practically the same.” The heaven in the book is different so that readers can enjoy reading something completely different. The Lovely Bones has also been challenged due to