‘The Fault in Our Stars’ Banned From Middle Schools in California District

Students of Frank Augustus Miller Middle School in California will have to borrow John Green's 2012 acclaimed novel 'The Fault in Our Stars' from places other than the school library. The book has been banned from the school's library, and other middle schools in the same district.

According to The Press-Enterprise, a committee representing the Riverside Unified School District in California voted on Monday, Sept. 22, to remove the three copies of 'The Fault in Our Stars' from the Frank Augustus Miller Middle School library. The ban also prohibits other middle school libraries in the same district to buy or receive copies of the book as a donation.

The committee voted 6-1 in favor of adding the title to the banned books list due to what they say is inappropriate sexual context for young teens. The book tells of a 16-year-old girl named Hazel who is afflicted with cancer, and falls in love with a teen boy named Augustus whom she meets at a cancer support group.

A parent first brought up the book to the committee when her daughter brought it home from the library. “I just didn't think it was appropriate for an 11-, 12-, 13-year-old to read,” the parent said. “I was really shocked it was in a middle school.”

The one person who voted in favor of keeping the book, a parent and committee member, explained that she interpreted the material as seeing what an angry and depressed 16-year-old girl might do when it comes to love if she thought she wouldn't live to see 17.

Since 1988, 37 other books have been challenged in the same district, but only one other title has been banned: 'The Chocolate War' by Robert Cormier.

'The Fault in Our Stars' was turned into a movie this year starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, and has enjoyed a resurrection in interest as a result of the movie's popularity.

What do you think, PopCrushers? Is the school district committee overreacting?

Next: See 10 Things You Might Not Know About 'The Fault in Our Stars'