A California teacher reportedly banned one of her fifth-grade students from reading Stephen King’s Cujo and recommended The Hunger Games instead.
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Last Thursday, Kaia Alexander received a text from her 11-year-old son’s teacher after he brought the book to school. The message reads: “Hi, are you aware that Atticus brought a copy of Cujo by Stephen King to school today? This is the Goodreads write-up: ‘This book deals with mature themes, contains a decent amount of strong language, depicts pretty graphic violence, and has fairly explicit xesual acts. Definitely a book intended for adults.”
The teacher continued to tell her that Atticus is free to read any book during his free time at home but didn’t feel comfortable with him reading the book in her classroom. She said she recommended another book that was age-appropriate, to which Alexander found out it was The Hunger Games. The mother explained to the Daily Beast that she was puzzled by the teacher’s recommendation as the novel also depicts violence among children.
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“How is this more appropriate? This is a book about children murdering children.”
After reading the novel as a bedtime story, Atticus reportedly thought it was too dark and preferred King’s writing style. He became interested in the author after reading Tui T. Sutherland’s Wings of Fire Series and Neil Gaiman’s Coraline. Alexander said her son loves reading scary books and was thrilled that her son loved Stephen King since she read the books during childhood. She took him to a local Barnes and Noble to pick out a “least scary” book.
“We spent about an hour going through all of Stephen King’s books and finding the ones that were maybe the least scary for his age level,”
After choosing between four books, Atticus settled on Cujo, and Alexander said she was more upset that she brought the book to school without her permission when replying to her son’s teacher.
“My issue is more with that he deliberately disobeyed me and went against my thorough explanation as to why this book is not an appropriate choice for school. Thanks for telling us.”
Why is Cujo a controversial book to use in schools?
Cujo is a horror novel by Stephen King that was published in 1981. The story follows a St. Bernard named Cujo, who is bitten by a bat and contracts rabies. Cujo becomes increasingly aggressive and eventually attacks and kills several people.
The book has been banned in several schools and libraries due to its graphic violence and disturbing content. Some people believe the book is too frightening for children and could promote violence. Others argue that the book is a well-written, suspenseful story that should not be censored. Despite the controversy, Cujo remains a popular book. It has been adapted into a film and a miniseries. Critics have also praised the book for its suspenseful plot and well-developed characters.