Alaska-Phobia

Posted on by scott

So, you’re a parent of a 9th grader in Depew, NY, and you hear that the 11th graders in your school are reading a book. The parents of those children have to sign a release, because the book is “edgy.” If the parents don’t sign, their kids won’t have to read the book.

So you decide to read the book, even though it has nothing to do with your kid. And when you don’t like it, you try to prevent the older kids of those other parents from being allowed to read the book. That’s just how awesome a citizen you are!

John Green gives the details here:

John sums up what we all should try to remember about book banners: They aren’t trying to protect their children, they’re trying to protect someone else’s children. They aren’t wishing other people would make better choices, they’re trying to prevent every choice they disagree with. They know what everyone else should and shouldn’t read. And yet, overwhelmingly, their readings of the books they protest are flawed and simplistic.

Just remember: Book banners are not as smart, wise, or important as they think they are. And you’re much smarter, wiser, and able to deal with complexity than they think you are.

They are the junk mail of literary discourse.

Click here to see John’s post.

190 thoughts on “Alaska-Phobia”

  1. aaaa… i hate those ppl trying to ban books….
    not many kids read, and now they try to prevent further reading?
    aaaa

  3. nicley said scott-la.

    though i like mj’s openly stating “John is Not A Pornographer”.

    although you may sound alittle biased as you yourself are an author..hm. i agre with you regardless.

  7. Okay, that is a bit messed up. If the 11th graders parents actually ALLOW them to read the book then they should be allowed to. It’s absolutely NONE of those peoples business, it’s not like their own kids are reading it. Plus, besides the fact the students reading it are practically already adults and I’m sure that this book would not be close to the worst thing they’ve ever read or watched, by a wide margin. I saw this book at Borders and was planning to buy it on my next trip(because I’d already blown $40 that day there) and I’m in the eighth grade.

  10. this whole banning books thing is hurting my brain
    unless they are telling you to get drunk and other stuff they shoudnt be banned

  11. when i think about book banning, my thoughts jump to book burning, like, back in the Holocaust when Hitler censored all books and burned those which showed Jews in a positive light. It’s horrible and it irks me.

    alot.

  12. oh poor, poor misguided people.
    see, they don’t NEED to read the book.
    they have magic psychic porn-sensing senses!
    they place thier forehead to a book’s cover in a manner similar to a Vulcan Mind-Meld and decide “my god! i sense content of emotional signficance and symbolic themes!”
    then they make that pointing-and-screeching gesture/noise like the the 80s Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake.
    they screech “BAN! BAN! BAN!”
    and then they write an angry email accusing said book of “sexual free-for-all/being pornographic/homosexual sex/drug use” as the case may require. they have form emails saved for each.
    then, they start thier domination, which may or may not enclude hiding details of said banning from the public, screaming over opposition at board meetings, burning all copies of said book, or sending tiny little small-minded slugs into the ears of whatever comittee this falls to to ensure they don’t actually, like, read the book.

  15. i think this case also more than vaguely amuses me, in the assumption that 11th graders—that’s juniors, 16 and 17 year olds—are going to be tramatuized by mentions of sex, which they have obviously never heard of before and are completely ignorant of.

    *shakes head*
    book banning…stupid people.
    don’t they know that after book banning comes book burning? and that once they start burning books, it’s only a short time before they start burning PEOPLE? come on, it’s paraphrased from that famous quote!
    moral = book banning BAD.

  16. but it’s like, say what? you don’t think we can think for ourselves? you think we might get “immoral” ideas from this book? geez, if you think that, i feel really sorry for your kids, because they are probably the most illiterate people on the planet!

    if they’re banning this book, then they’ve gotta ban a WHOLE LOT of YA fiction to be fair. i mean, they teach us John Marseden’s tomorrow series in like, year eight. and gee, let me see, it contains war, violence, sex, drugs, alchohol, blood, guts and gore. i don’t see anyone banning it!

  21. or or we could make an operation where we turn everyone into these beautiful people so everyone is the same, and than we put these leisons in their brains

  28. wow stupid book banners. what gives them the right to control what we read? i mean seriously tv is a lot worse than books will ever be.

  30. Do you think you’ll be writing a fifth book soon? I hope so I loved all the others, I’ve read them all they’re my favorite books ever!!!

  31. I know what you mean, i get a lot of dejavu, but wow, this is overwelming

    so anyway I was thinking of changing my name to Dr.Cable, what do you think??

  32. Okay that is messed up, if it’s only got one sex scene and the parents are signing a wavier first, why are some parents getting in such an uproar over it? Seriously, two books that I was required to read my freshman year of high school (Clan of the Cave Bear and it’s squel) had a heck of a lot of (long! 5 pages long!) sex scenes and that book isn’t banded for some reason.
    And I seriously doubt that someone is going to go “Oh, I read a book with one sex scene in it, I wanna have sex now!”

  34. hmmm…tali, I think Dr.Cable would be a bit extreme for a name, I hated her for what she did, but yeah, maybe someone from the nsc.

  40. I read ‘Snow Falling on Ceders’ in 7th grade.
    I’m not horribly damaged, or morally corrupt.
    I think adults need to try to understand that by the time a child is 16, the only part of their brain that isn’t fully developed is the part that peices together reasons to do something, or not do something.
    Anyone can find something wrong with a book.

  41. My English teacher gave us a lecture the other day about how fortunate our school is because we are able to read books that are banned elsewhere. If a parent doesn’t want their child reading a certain book at my school, the teacher will give them a more ‘appropriate’, different book. Sometimes my school has those permission slips when there is ‘coarse’ language and a parent/guardian has to consent. According to google maps Depew is 2 hours and 32 minutes away and is 134 miles from where I live. If I only I could convince my mom to drive me there on a Tuesday.

    I mean the whole point of that scene is to make teens like me NOT want to do immoral actions. To not have an awkward physical relationship, but to have a ‘real’ relationship, with emotions and a real connection. People trying to ban this book make me really pissed off and I want to tell those people that Looking For Alaska is a touching novel that almost made me cry because it was so wonderful. Run-ons happen when I’m angry and I just want to yell and yell and yell that teens can get a message from this book and JOHN GREEN IS NOT A PORNOGRAPHER!!

  42. Okay what I have to say to people (book banners) about that is, I’m 12 and I’ve probably read a book with more sex scenes than that! (I hated that book though lol)
    And secondly, doesn’t it have to have pictures to be concidered porn?

  43. Censorship is bad. Bad bad bad. And though I’ve never read that book, I get the author’s point entirely, especially when he compared it to Animal Farm and Huck Finn. I’m in ALA (advanced language arts) at my school, and we read Animal Farm last year (in seventh grade) and we just finished Huck Finn – our thesis paper is due Friday – and I don’t understand book banning at all, since my teacher this year says Huck Finn is banned because of racism, when I don’t think it’s racism at all. So I believe the author when he says his book is not bad. CENSORSHIP IS BAD.

  44. seriously, 11th grade i think thats old enough for the parents to let the kid read what the kid wants. its really mean to do that. i mean soooo many kids read as little as possible, going to buy cliff notes wen they need to write a book report. (or so i hear)
    y not let them read? i mean im in jr high and am allowed to read whatever the heck i want!!!! i can request to check out a book from the library and my parents are like sure whatever. i m running out of books. soon ill be stuck reading the dictonary or encyclopedias!
    racism? r u serious!!!!! there goes half the great novels!!!! i mean what about to kill a mocking bird? whats next? the giver and uglies because it discourages individuality and insinuates the slightest bit of raceyness that the future might hold?
    eclipse’s awesome and there are some… awkward scenes. not really explicite but u no, just suggesting it. is it going to be banned? i seriously hope not!!!!!!!!!! harry potter because of those certain biased christians (no offence to chrisians im one heck my pastor reads those books)
    this is very very sad making. and it makes me luv my school and parents more.

  47. yeah, i know what you mean about eclipse. and over half the other YA books out there. i mean, if they’re going to go all book-banning crazy, then they’d have to ban all of them, and that would not be happy-making.

    seriously though, you could find an excuse to ban every book in the universe, so to all the book banners (book slammers?!) out there, i have to say you’re wasting your time.

  48. Ah! Book Banners make me so angry!
    Hello, stupid book-banning perverts- you’re the only idiots who see the pornographic material in the book. The rest of the world’s population keeps their minds *out* of the gutters.
    *grumblegrumble*
    <3

  51. Looking For Alaska is one of my favorite books EVER. Way behind your books, Scott, but up there. But whenever I think about this, a lot lately, I can’t help but think of how the only sexual scene in the book is awkward and not at all likely to make a bunch of regularly horny 11th grade guys want to *do it* even MORE. Try, LESS.

    I hate book banners. I hate censorship. And there is, luckily, a place you can go to fight censorship. Email me at missingauthor2 AT gmail.com if you want to help. And if you don’t want to help, just hate censorship from your own personal corner of the world.

  52. So basically parents say that kids should read more books, then they go and say no don’t read this book. Do they realise how much they’re contradictingg themselves?
    Everyone should have the right to read whatever book they want, and if a book was so horrible it would probably never have been published in the first place! Also I hate people who say a book is bad just because they’re too dense to understand the deeper meaning in it. Like when people started complaining about His Dark Materials trilogy, that made me so angry that people couldn’t understand what a literary work of art it is!
    Ohh! I finished Peeps!!! I loved it!! I really liked all the chapters on parasites because it’s really original and not what you’d normally expect to find in a book. Also I used to love science, but this year I’ve just been really bored with it (maybe because all we’ve done pretty much is take notes and have a quiz like every friday), but all the science stuff in Peeps helped remind me why I love science. Maybe my parents will take me to Chapters tomorrow to get The Last Days *crosses fingers*
    Anyways… Night!

  53. Oh so I just noticed that the time on my entry says 6:53 so just incase anyone is wondering, no I do not go to bed at 7. Here it’s almost one in the morning, so Good night.

  54. wow. do you people never sleep?
    i can’t say i’ve ever found anything wrong with looking for alaska. there is ONE “controversial” scene, which isn’t like, ENCOURAGING kids to have sex, and i think it’s a really beautiful story. it’s way better than some books that the book-banners love that yes, might show the world in the way they want it seen, but have absolutely no plot whatsoever.

  57. banning books? haha wow.
    at my friends old school they banned a few.
    thats pretty stupid.
    yeah ok i think that if your at least 16 you’re old enough to handle that kind of stuff.
    i mean, come on its the twentyfirst century.
    lol seriously.
    Because, some 16 year olds can drive, but they can’t read a book with a sex scene it in?
    totally ridiculous.

  58. wow thats stupid. im reading Hiroshima in english right now which is about 6 peoples lives in detail from the second the bomb was dropped on hiroshima and it is toatally nonfiction so you can imigine it can be a little depressing and gross there fore my mom had to sign a sheet saying i could read it but that’s for a good reason cuase some kids might have nightmares from it. but something like this thats so stupid it’s not even those parents kids reading it and they decide to spazz?? you know those kids in middle school who always start the drama and you can tell they like it. i think those parents were those kids

  59. wow…….. i hate pople who banned book and stuff……

    i am like soooo busy with my new puppy…… he is sooo cute….

    Sophie-La
    I am way bored 😉

  62. Okay, I can not believe I didn’t think of this before. Sorry if it’s a bit off topic but you know that song that goes “When will my reflection show who I am inside?” Yeah, the one from Mulan, that song is soooooooooooo made for Tally, it’s just scary. Anyone agree?

  63. Argh. That makes me SO angry. LfA is an amazing book – I tell people to read it all the time just because I know they’ll love it. It makes me mad when ANY book is challenged, but when it’s a book I adore it makes me want to rip my hair out.

    Not only do these people feel the need to take choices away from kids, they think they can take choices away from other parents? To me that’s absurd. It’s like going around and saying “I’m a better parent than you are, so you’d better listen to ME! I’ll tell you how to raise YOUR KIDS!” I’m perfectly fine with the form the parents have to sign, that’s a decision that each parent has the right to make. But then parents whose kids aren’t even going to be reading the book for a class yet decide it’s their job to protect humanity or something, like books are going to turn their kids against them or something.

    Which is also something that makes me angry. To these book banners, teens are puny little sheep who have no idea what they are doing and will trust everyone and live by whatever a book tells them is “right.” Because teens can’t think for themselves! Why would we be able to? That’s crazy! Books are like these Huge Knowledge Givers and when we read them, we live by what they tell us. We are incapable of weeding out themes and metaphors and any deeper meaning from books at all – it’s perfectly straightforward. Because authors really aren’t that creative – just like teens can’t find any deeper meaning in books, authors can’t even make their books have deeper meaning.

    I’m convinced that this must be what book banners think. Really, though, I think they’re the ones who have a problem reading books – not teens.

  64. Totally right, if my book got banned I would be sooooooo pissed off, and if Peeps or Uglies got banned, i would start a war, no kidding

  66. I seriously think that that is such a good point…i mean if they dont want their children to read a certain book then dont sign a permission slip that agrees to that…
    I really dont get people who protest choice…
    i mean people who are against abortion do not want a woman to have a choice to keep or essentially get rid of an unborn child…
    this is the same for stem cells

    The difference between the option to read or the option not to read a certain book is an option of choice…but all the people out there who believe that what they think is right and is the only right option..

    they make me soo annoyed and i kind of feel bad for them…
    and i am pretty sure that if it doesnt affect your child then you should stay out of that business…

    haha sorry i got a little caught up in the moment….

  67. Ugghhh, I have to go to a stupid super bowl party. I don’t even like football, yet I’m forced to go and watch it and pretend to enjoy myself. Boring!

  68. For english this year we had to do book clubs and we were told to choose a classic book off a list and read it. My group hadn’t heard of any of the books that were on the list so we chose a random one called East of Eden. It ended up being about prostitution, suicide, murder, and a bunch of other bad stuff. But we didn’t have to have our parents sign any permission slip. I haven’t read Looking for Alaska yet but i can pretty much gaurente you that East of Eden is tons times worse. But they don’t ban that book. Why ban books that aren’t even that bad? I’m only in 9th grade and in my class we actually had to persuade people to read East of Eden and we had to talk about how Cathy, one of the main characters in the book, is a prostitute. It just doesn’t make sense that they ban books that have really no reason to be banned and yet don’t ban the ones that are all about sex. grrrrrrrrr……..book banners make me mad!

    Wow, think about how the authors must feel. I mean seriously people not letting kids read books that they wrote and that aren’t that bad and that they worked so hard on, and spent so much time on. I would be sooooooo mad if I was an author and they were doing that to my book. Fire would be coming out of my ears.

  70. I have feeling the video tells what Alaska has to do with this post, but i don’t feel like watching it (baby sister is asleep)

    I’m not getting into the book-banning thing. I might start kinda ranting. or something. I don’t feel like responding to this post at all, really. Just want to sleep.

  71. ROTFL. I know this a serious subject, but John Green was very funny.
    I don’t see why people ban books. Its like teenagers and kids are fragile little glass dolls or something.
    I may have to read this book (I have heard its really good too), because they want to ban it. I’m in 9th grade, and for summer homework we had to read Siddartha, which has sex, and there was no parental permission there! Last year we read Of Mice and Men, no parental permission, and I don’t know anyone in my class who has gone and shot there their friends out of pity! I’ve probably read more “edgy” books than that
    (The Song of the Lioness seris? I read those in like 5th grade, true, I didn’t totally get what was going on, but still) sigh.
    I’m sure these 11th graders are mature enough to read this book, which my librarian recommended to an 8th grader last year.

    –rant over–

  72. What I really hate about book banning is that it shows how many adults have lost the ability to just sit down and READ A BOOK. I am one heck of a bookworm, and have only read Pretties and Specials since Uglies is never available at my library. I can burn through practically any book in less than 2 days, and both of those books I absolutely whipped through in a single afternoon. I get all of the content, the plot, characters, (insert plethora of book aspects here) even though I don’t spend a week reading it. They both have multitudes of hidden depths to explore, but this world is so obsessed with speed that only teenagers can make the time to contemplate anything fully. Alaska is an excellent example of this. I will never forget that one thing involving a toothpaste tube, but I also remember how exciting, sad, and thought-provoking the rest of the book was. It held life lessons that are beginning to become scarce these days. I just hope that that snobby idiot John will read the book and try to see beyond the shallow part of Looking for Alaska and see what it truely holds.

  73. Here’s what I learned about bookbanning:

    “Censorship, like charity, shoud begin at home. Unlike charity, it should also remain there.”

    People who try and limit the accessability (I know that’s spelled wrong) of books and other forms of media/literature are just so….frustrating. Sure, my parents hae expressed concerns I’m reading innappropriate lits, but my parents also know that they’ve raised me with enough sense to put something down if I’m bothered/angered by it. But they trust my judgement. I’ve done auditions for shows they don’t want me to be in for whatever their reason, but they still took me to the theatre when I needed to and gave me money if I needed new shoes, costuming, director’s presents etc. With books, it’s pretty much the same philosophy, except I have to pay for them out of my own pocket.

    >.<

  75. I just thought of something. These parents want to ban books because they don’t want their teenages reading that kind of stuff. But when you think about it about a few hundred years ago girls would be married and having children by the time they were 16.

  76. Another thing, this year I had to read a bunch of short stories called Lamb to the Slaughter, Bleeding on the Sidewalk, and Bloodstain. Now why is it that we read stories with such gruesome titles and no one is trying to ban them yet people are trying to ban a book called Looking for Alaska? It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense…

  77. Giants won the super bowl right now.

    Too bad I was to busy doing my lab report.

    Oh Well…. I thought I would come on just to say that.

    Which team were you for Scott? If any.

  79. yeah. we were voting for the patriots. but…yeah. but now the patriots will go down in history as “the winningest team to ever not win the superbowl since 1950…sompthing” quotes my dad.

    -Lizzy-wa OUT! 🙂

  82. banning books ticks me off.
    seriously.
    i call up my friends…and i thought about it.
    and it just…makes me angry.
    like a little fire has burst into a rawring flame
    woah.
    where did that come from?

  83. There’s a lot of stuff out there that is worse than sex. I don’t feel it is ever necessary in a book, because I don’t believe in having sex until you are married, but there is gory violence and other bad stuff out there, too! I feel that everyone has the right to make choices, and I can see why a school would ban a book. Doesn’t mean you can’t read it on your own time, though, so no biggie. Parents do have a right to have some say over their children, though. They shouldn’t completely control them and read every single book before their child does, but they should make sure it is something that they agree with. Like my mom. She reads romance all the time, but she won’t let me read them yet. She said I can when I am married. Fine with me, because she isn’t controlling about ANYTHING in my life. I totally respect her and her reasons. If we are going to ban books, why don’t we ban people from society? There are tons of nasty losers out there who do trashy things and then get their faces plastered all over the news! That is exactly what they want! We need to completely shun them, and keep them hidden away and be loud and praiseworthy of all the good in the world. Shun the evil, raise up the righteous.

  84. I also need to add this:

    Busy-bodies who push into other people’s business need to F off and get a life instead of making someone else’s life a living hell. Like poor John up there! I totally agree with him. Golly, it makes me SO mad. SO SO SO mad. I am going to read that book just because. So, RAWR! What other books are banned? I’m feeling like a rebel.

  86. But that reallly doesn’t make any sense. Why would you try to ban a book so other people can’t read it, but not your own kids? Its just confusing.

    I’d also like to point out that some banned books are good (not saying that ALL of them are good, because some are probably inappropriate)

  87. Book Banners are egotistic morons bent on world destruction. THEY ARE EVIL DICTATORS! And it’s probably their kids, that they think are perfect angels, that are the ones out there doing immoral things! (Wow, I didn’t know I had it in me, to say that)

  88. Yes, what the book banners are doing is wrong, But the really bad thing is that they aren’t giving kids and parents the chance to choose for themselves and we live in America Gosh darnit we should have the freedom to read what we freaking want!!! The book banners should stop trying to control people!!!

  90. Book Banners are very far down on the people I respect list. They’re right down there with Britney Spears, Madonna and Dick Cheney.
    Books were meant to be read. You shouldnt try to get a book banned just because you don’t like it. That would be like me trying to get you arrested just because I dont like you.
    (well not YOU as in the person reading this, more like the general you, you know what I mean)
    You should at least be willing to give other people the chance to judge the book for themselves.
    Dont be a Book Dictator !!!!

    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 :}

  91. LOL.

    That guy makes me laugh. I never read animal farm, but we did watch the video once…Those pigs WERE mean!

    He’s totally right, it’s up to the parent of the child, not some random parent who doesn’t trust their child enough to let them read a book with a mildy sexual scene in it. Disgraceful. They obviously want their kids to live in a protective bubble away from anything and everything.

    Its just a bit silly really!

    And book banners are lame…But i also agree with you Lizzy-wa. They aren’t out for world destruction 😛

    Also, am i the only one wondering who Hank is?

    Cheers for any ideas on this mystery man xD

    Alisha-la xx

  94. Lizzy-wa, that was kind of random but okay
    WHO WANTS TO BE ONE OF MY FIRST SPECIALS
    (he he he you get read all the books you want)

  95. GRRR! stupid overprotective parents! Take care of your own kids before ones that you have no relation with!
    I have serious issues with banning books.
    There is no way to put your kid in a protective bubble.

  96. YEP YEp
    thats why i am going to make everyone equal with an operation that makes them beutiful and we will put something in there brain so there bubbleheads while we read all the books we want!

  97. Well, after a long weekend i think i might be able to shat with u guys a little.

    I have to do horrid work for science. *Blah* Thats what i feel like right now. Blah. Yuck. Ugg.

    My books are going great!!! I lOvE eM’. Hehehe thats fun. I like that.

    Random sentence so i can do the EeEe thing: I hAvE tO lOoK uP a StUpId ArTiClE fOr ScIeNcE!!!!

  100. Kinda
    JK
    im a loser
    so i draw a quarter frozen in the air in the blue time a little astract and my friend coudnt tell wut it was

  106. I want to be Special! What with reading books all day and having all those Special qualities, I would be perfectly content. And the whole lesion thing is brilliant, but I think we should take it a step further. We should give everyone an entirely new body, one that is neither male nor female. No hair, no difference in skin color, features, height, nothing. Make them all EXACTLY the same. No difference. Then we can teach them the exact same things, so they are all equal. They won’t have any Random Bursts of Individual Thought (RBIT) and they can’t Discover Things On Their Own. (DTOTO) It will be perfect! No inequality, wars, or pain. It’s so great!

  107. But then i can’t have random outbursts of RANDOMNESS!!!!!!
    I don’t think i want to be special, being sane is a quality that I intend to keep, but I’m all for the reading all day and stuff like that.

  108. All that I have to say about John is that he is HILARIOUS.
    I subscibed to him on youtube.

    And i’ll have to check out that book.
    No book like that should be banned. So wrong. But the sad thing is that this should be a “duh” .

  109. K so i was watching this agian and when he says that teenagers actually can think critacaly it makes me happy.
    I just had to bring up some awareness of what my english class is doing.
    We are part of an experiment to see if each student should have a laptop in class. We have a class blog and all sorts of cool stuff. We’ve been reading this book called A Whole New Mind. It’s really boring but whatever. We’ve been bloging to all sorts of people around the world talking about how our class room differs and changes that need to be made and the fact that teenagers are not stupid. We can think to. It’s been really cool. We read banned books and stuff too.
    I just think it’s really wrong when people are restricted from what could be a really cool experience.

  110. Could people be more stupid! i swear it like we need to shove books down everyones throat so they digest the content and feelings that you are suppose to feel and experience while it the midst of such books and articles and so they realize the content that the author is trying to get the reader to grasp while realizing and reading the things that go on!!!!! Wow, try saying that without a breather.

    I hate it when a person can read whole book, however long it takes and you ask them “Hey, what was your favorite part?” and they give you something and it that is awfully wrong. bugs me. For example. No names. But here is a convo. with a certain someone…..

    “So, So-and-so, what was your favorite part of Twilight?”
    “I liked the part about the Vampires.”
    I arch brows in confusing manner and tilt head to show complication of understanding.
    “Uh, the whole book is about vampires.”
    “Well you know the middle part about them.”
    Squints eyes and puts hands on head. *Ow Migraine*
    “Oh, uh, ok.”
    “Oh come one! You know, the part where Edward is there and his brother is there too!”
    Still has hands on head and pops open Advil bottle.
    “Right…..”

    Ok so i may have lied on the part where i got a migraine and had to take Advil but you see my pain!!!!

  112. Just to make you feel better my favorite part of Twilight is when Bella has just foud out Edwards a vampire and she accepts that with no problem then freaks out when he starts doing 120 on the way home.

  113. ok so this has absolutly nothing at all to do with the post. but i need to rant. cuz today has been long. and this is just the cherry on top of a suckish day.

    ughhh. i’m frustrated. my tv remote isn’t working. (i have time warner cable with the dvr and stuff) and i traded in the remote i had for an even crapier one 🙁 see my mom told me that if i wanted a new remote she would go and get me one. (cuz they just got these really cool new ones in) and so i gave her my remote and a few buttons weren’t working but it was okay b/c most of them were. and so they ran out of the new ones and so i got an even worse one than what i started with. absolutly NONE of the buttons works. and it’s not the batteries b/c i just put in brand new ones. ugh. plus i desperatly don’t want to go to dance tonight. it snowed all day today but they didn’t cancel school but all the things going on tonight are canceled like conferences and stuff.

    okay. rantings over.

  114. That does make me feel better….

    Ranting can be ok sometimes. Sometimes you just got to dump you yucky load on someone. I hate yucky loads. there…..yucky.

  116. Of course! Ranting is like when you have little minor therapy sessions! there good! They help you let loose an let go! Its is scientifically proven that keeping in stress and anger is bad for you. What there saying in complicated form is, “People of the world. Rant, rant to all and everyone, so that your stress may be forgotten.” That reminds me of a prayer…….

  117. I can’t believe you were in Boston, Scott. According to your other post, you were. I live in Boston. I would have stalked you and finally gained up the courage to say “Um, are you, uh, like…Scott Westerfield-Sama?”
    YOU ROCKK.
    Westerboard.com doesn’t work anymore though. Not just for me, for anyone. It does that annoying-making “404 error” thing. So someone click on my name and add meeee on myspace so I don’t die of having no other fans to talk to.

  119. yep. yep. i love ranting, it just makes me feel soooo much better.

    i might get a snow day tomorrow. cuz it’s still snowing and we have like 30mi/hr wind gusts. which creates blowing snow! *yay blowing snow!* b/c blowing snow means no school! and i was just texting my friend and her dad decides wether or not we have school or not and she says that he will probably call it later tonight! yay! and i ended up not having dance tonight. which was soooo very nice. well looks like things are turing around for me. now i’m gonna go watch House! 🙂

  121. yes. i would too.

    no school for me tomorrow!! 😀 😀 SNOWDAY! 😀 😀 school has been so stressful latly. you have no idea how happy i am right now! 😀

  122. Oh man, that was brilliant. “Do they head out to the pig farms to kill all the pigs because they’re about to become communist autocrats?” Oh, I nearly fell out of my chair on that one.

  124. Yeahh, i want to know when it’s out

    I bet it wont be out in england till nhext year, like everything else!!

    FINALLY

    Am getting Extras on SAturday. And its half term. So nothing can interrupt me reading it xD

    SO EXCITED.

    And im finally getting my haircut. And buying costumes for my schools production of We Will Rock You. Its so much fun!

    Random info for you there. Also, no one answered me before..

    Who is this Hank guy he keeps mentioning??

    No offence, but i think the movie is gunna be really bad. I still wanna see it though xD

    Alisha-la xx

  128. Are most 7th graders suicidal?
    Cuz my friend is, like, cutting her arm (Specials flashback) and getting seriously suicidal and it is freaking me out.
    I’ve been having nightmares and ever since I found out about her arm I am constantly crying, shaking(I’m having trouble typing right now), and feeling like I am gonna barf.
    I’m freaked out.

  129. Really? Well in a way it shows that you care for your friend but it also shows your freaked out.

    OK Here is Bran-las Edition of like An Opera or Dr. Phill show:

    Ok, so if your friend is scaring you there are some obvious signs. Your shaking, your crying. Somethings up. Most likely its because you know her so well and your scared of what she might do to herself (or perhaps others but thats besides the point). If it really scares you that much you should talk to her! Tell her that you dont want her (ok im saying her but if its a guy, sorry, im just gonna use her though, feel free to knock of the ‘r’ when rereading to yourself) to do those things. The best way to get by it is just telling her the truth. Is ‘she’ gets mad or upset just tell ‘her’ that you dont mean it as an offence, you care. And that is what friends do.

    I use to want to be a therapist. Seriously. I’m use to this stuff.

  130. No offense Bran-la, but she told me that if I was that creeped out by it that I should just stop hanging around her.
    Seriously.
    She doesn’t care about anything anymore (except the German band Tokio Hotel).
    She told me that she hated me.

  132. Sometims it is hard to let go. Trust me. I’m in one of your situations right now. I have two choices:

    I can deal with this so called ‘friend’ even though they may dot things that bother the crap out of me
    OR
    I can say “See you later” and try to stay away from them.

    As i realized, it maybe just easier to deal with your friends many flaws but as i have also came to realize (i realized this today infact!) that sometimes……..you just go to let go! Every time i saw this person i said to myself how stupid it was for me to think of letting go but i have dealt with this for 2 years now! I cant take it anymore.

    So remember this saying:
    My life can be far from cool and fun or i can just run!

    Wow. That was lame. and i just made it up! but really, memorize that!

  135. no, Its’s fine. I had to rant about my situation today too! Well, both our days pretty much went down hill……

    Divorces are never the kids fault. I always feel bad for kids who think that.

  136. Oh, gosh Netta-la! Okay, I agree with Bran-la that sometimes you have to let go, but if your friend is really hurting themselves, they seriously need help. Maybe he/she is going through a rough time, and it seems like she’s pushing you away but sometimes sub consciously without actually knowing that they are doing it, when they are pushing you away, it’s a test to see if anyone truly cares about them. Because if they are really thinking in a suicidal manner then the littlest things can help soooooooo much, like making sure they know you’re there for them. If it goes any further, you should make sure that someone else knows, even if your friend thinks your a snitch, it would be better for their well being. And I totally understand why you would feel the way that you do, but try not to take it really personally that she/he said that they hated you, they’re probably just confused at this point in their life, but they need you more than ever. Okay, yeah I’m no Dr. Phil but that’s what I think.

  138. Ok, you guys are right. I was going to say this earlier but forgot.

    You dont have to tell a teacher cause no one does that but you should at least ask your parent how to support her or tell them your concerned. Theres nothig worse then letting no one no. It may seem childish and like your stabbing her in the back but in the long run it helps.

  139. Well, I’ve told my other friends and were all kinda freaked out so we asked one of my friends, who is particularly good at persuading people, to talk to her…
    but she has been avoiding us completely and we haven’t had a chance…so if she doesn’t stop I’ll tell my mom…
    Curse those ’emo’ cults
    Half of my friends have already crossed over to the dark side
    They’re all saying ‘it’s like cutting yourself with a cotton ball’ and then I have to go ask for a bathroom pass so that I don’t puke everywhere…

  140. I think you should tell your Mom as soon as possible, don’t wait until it’s too late. No offense, but cotton ball my @$$ it would not feel like that.(I would never say that word, i had to argue with myself to even write it like that)

  144. Then I would get grounded for telling her or something really weird like the time in 3rd grade when my friends told my other friend that she couldn’t play with us and I got mad and told my mom…I had to sit in time-out for 20 minutes to ‘think about what I had done’ (When you’re 8 that’s a long time!)

  145. lol. I see you let yourself win on that one Tally and Zane.

    And yes, COTTON BALL! Cutting yourself isn’t exactly unicorns and rainbows if you ask me. But i mean if they think it feels like cotton……..we may have to find a new definition for soft and cuddly and pleasing perhaps!

  146. lol!I suppose I did let myself win on that one. I better not do it again though, or else I might make a habit of it, cuz until very recently, say two days ago, I’d refrained from ever using the word crap out loud, but then I got really really angry and let down my guard and said it, and I’ve said it like a million times the past couple days, and so I am stopping now. I know it isn’t really bad at all, but it’s relative to the concept of other words that I dislike to use and if I let down my guard too much, I might slip and say something that I’ll regret. Yeah, I know I’m wierd.

  147. I have emo friends who cut (i hate it) and the cotton ball thing is a lie.
    I have a friend like yours but my friends and I have kept her from cutting and commiting suicide for 2 yrs now (since 7th grade). The most important thing to do is to be there for your friend and let her know that you care. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. I kno thats lame but you can’t handle things this big by yourself.

  148. i have 1 friend who used to cut her self and she olny told me and for like 5 months she hasn’t cause i have like talked her out of it but just make sure ur there for them and make sure they no u care

    Sophie-La

  150. One of the challengers claims that children are foraging their parent’s names in order to read the book for class… but it seems to me that the book is readily available in their library and they could read it if they wanted. Sounds like a sad attempt to garner support from other parents.

    This video was hillarious to me as a librarian. I had to post it on my MySpace even though most people will not understand the humor. We passed it around the library system a few days ago and it had us all in stitches, and up in arms!

  151. Well! That was a good book. Series might i add.

    O God, the talk of suicide and emo people make me want to pray. Its weird cause the book i just finished the girl killed herself with overdose. It was sad but she was bad. She gave this girls bf a pill so he would do bad stuff with her……… and then the girl (who it was her bf) didn’t believe that someone gave him the pill until she saw the girls pill bottle that she killed herself with and they were the exact same ones. Now there back together. Yea!!!!

    Im going to go write now before my friend kills ME for the next chapter!!!

  153. I read the book 13 reasons why by Jay Asher andits all about stuff like this, it’s very sad though.But yeah, after my friends and I read this book I made it explicitly clear that if they ever tried to commit suicide I would take the liberty of bringing them back from the dead, then killing them again for being a mentally incapacitated retard. And if they ever started cutting themselves I would bring it upon myself to rip their tongue out, tie it around their neck and hang them from a ceiling fan until they promised to stop. Yeah, at first they’re all”That’s physically impossible.” And so I said something very specialesque “I can get creative.” Yep yep yep! So its very clear where I stand in this matter. Ha!

  155. Your right. Next thing u no, my boyfriend is going to to cut himself with a plastic spork that cost 25 cents from the lunch line.

    Ok, so i don’t HAVE a boyfriend, but if i did………..

    i like the whole tongue idea, that wold burn. See in my school u cant do stuff like that. We cant write on our selfs with pens for Heavens sake and if the teachers see they make u wash it off. Yep Yep. Cause my school is lame like that. Yep Yep.

  162. yes penguins are pretty fawesome. i spent the night at the zoo once and we slept with the penguins. (okay so we were on one side of the glass and they were on the other. but still. it was pretty freakin fool!) o and when i was younger i use to have this dream where my closet was the norh pole and i raised penguins in it. lol.

    i love how we have like this little community on here. and how whenever one of us is having a bad day or something is bothering us we can rant and talk about it. it’s very happy-making. 🙂

  165. And Netta-la, I definitely think you should tell an adult about your friend. If she’s suicidal and cutting herself, she needs help, and more of it than a peer can give.

  166. I’ve had a friend who was suicidal. Make her feel loved and it’ll be over.
    Is Uglies becoming a movie or no..? I don’t know if Scott had a blog about it or not.

  167. Oh, and to people above:
    I slept at the science museum last year when I was in the sixth grade. It was awesome. Everyone from my school was sleeping at 2 in the morning but me and my friend were just walking around and looking out the windows because theres a big window that has an awesome view of the Boston Harbor and the city =]

  168. hm.
    the english teacher I had my junior year has this bumper sticker that becomes my motto in situations like these: Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.

  169. If someone is cutting themselves, it’s because they are depressed. Netta-la, is your friend depressed over a divorce? Is that what you said? What you can do is tell your parents about her problem. They will hopefully be understanding, and maybe you can have your friend stay the night at your house a lot. She needs to be in a positive atmosphere, and not have the extra time to do something stupid like cutting. She needs to take her mind off of it, and realize that it is NOT her fault. If parents divorce, it’s because either one is doing something hurtful to the other, or they are both too selfish to work it out and change. NEVER is it the child. Never. She needs to know that.

    Just be upbeat, and there for her. Talk with her about stuff. Don’t be afraid to open up and bawl your eyes out. Making yourself vulnerable is the only way for things to be fixed, help her see that you are her friend and love her.

    That’s all I can offer. I don’t have any cutting friends, or I would be able to help more. 🙁

  170. And yes, middle-schoolers are INSANE. It’s that age. The joy of puberty. If you can survive eighth grade, you can survive ANYTHING. ^_^ I swear it gets better in High School.

  174. I JUST finished reading this book, like, five minutes ago. I think it’s a good book that should not be banned. And it’s really good writing, ’cause it made me cry. Seriously, it’s the second book I’ve ever read that’s made me cry. (Only two books, two movies, and one play have ever made me cry, in case you’re interested.) I’m mad. Grrr!!! CENSORSHIP IS BAD!!!!!!
    (ok, i’m done now. had to get that out of my system.)

  176. What do Stalin, Hitler, and crazy Christian Parents all have in common?

    I think you all know the answer to that one.

    Because I’d totally make the Top 100.

  177. Netty-la and Bran-la, for one thing, you can stop calling depressed people ’emo’. Stop trivializing their problems by calling them “crazy emos”. It doesn’t help them one bit and makes you sound like a judgmental idiot.

  178. Totally. I agree. There are a difference between depressed people and emo people. Emo people choose to be emo because they are melodramatic teenagers who have no better way to express themselves than to listen to underground music, conform to their nonconformist standards, dress in black, and not wash their hair.

    Depressed people are mentally ill and are usually not obvious in any way about their current state of health. They do inexplicable things to themselves because they’re seriously hurting inside and have no outlets. You can’t ever tell if someone is depressed. Unless you can read minds. But that would kind of get annoying after awhile.

    Btw, does anyone have any idea why I’m discussing depression on a blog post regarding people afraid of Alaska? I don’t. Oh well. I just figured I’d come in and set something straight. I’m not the kind of person to keep silent about my opinions.

    Because I’d totally make the top 100. 😉

  179. WE always get off the actually topic of the blog in these comments. Tis funny.

    Not all emo’s are depressed. But i dont think its fair to call them ‘melodramatic teenagers who have no better way to express themselves than to listen to underground music, conform to their nonconformist standards, dress in black, and not wash their hair.’ cause to be honest, thats not true at all. Emo is just a click, like Chavs or Goths or anything like that. Sure they were black, listen to a certain type of music. Not all emo’s are depressed though. Sure they may get depressed, but who doesnt?

    Labelling is bull-hockey to be honest, but everyone does it. I do it, but i try not to as much as possible. Its generally only Plastics as i like to call them, and i do call people Chavs sometimes, but thats only cause of the way they ACT, not the way they dress.

    Now. Back to Looking For Alaska. Is it a good book? I may read it..

    xx

  182. you must’ve said something bad, otherwise why would they moderate it?

    I said bullshizz…not that EXACTLY but you get me 😛

    GOSH. No one is noline, but then again, in America Land its like 2am 😛

    xx

  183. All I put was links to websites that describe the Uglies movie. Someone asked and I am always here to help. haha

  184. yeah all this talk about suicidal friends is really sad: i have this friend whos been my BFF since 3rd grade (now we’re freshmen) and she never really got along well with people, but shes a totally awesome person!! and this year i found out that her parent’s marriage sucks, and in ’07 her cat died on her birthday and her other kitten just died this Jan. She’s really depressed and she WONT talk about it…my friends and i have tried to help her but shes so bad, i dont know how its going :'(

  185. Woah, I’ve got to totaly say how much I’m in love with you and John for talking about that. I’m totaly glad that I read this since I’ve got a term paper I’m writing and amazingly enough I wanted to make it on book bannings. Soooo, basically you two are going to get put into my term paper. Anywhoo, I’m totaly obsessing over your books, and basically forcing all my friends to read it. In fact there was this teacher at barnes & noble that happen to ask me for suggestions about books that her students might acctually read and I basically pointed out everything you wrote.
    Whoo! I got back onto blogg related comments.
    And wait, there’s a possible Uglies movie? Say what now?
    I’ll have to google this.

  186. Tee-la do we have the same friend. Your story sounds almost the same as the one I have. Its very sad that a lot of people in this world want to kills themsleves.

  189. Book banners just aren’t smart. Why do they have to control what we read? If the parents, students, and teachers agree that it’s fine, then it is. It just bothers me that anything they don’t think is innocent enough for teens they automatically shut it down without actually thinking about it. They think that hearing about something makes kids want to do it. Well it’s completely untrue. x(

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