Banned Books I Enjoyed #3

As part of Banned Books week, I will be doing a series of posts promoting books that I enjoyed but were challenged and/or banned. You may recognise them.

 Title: Vampire Academy Series
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Read In: August 2009 - December 2010

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger...
Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

I owe a lot to this series. I read the first three Vampire Academy books back in August 2009 and afterwards wanted to talk about them. None of my friends had ever heard of them so I went online, and discovered Goodreads. From then on my book obsession sort of exploded. And it all started with one little book called Vampire Academy.

Unfortunately not everyone shares my enthusiasm for, what I believe to be, an amazing series. This book was banned Henderson Junior High School in Stephenville, Texas. The whole series was banned for sexual content and nudity. The reason for the ban I am in acceptance off. Some of the themes running through this book are not the best for Junior High students. However the whole series was banned. The WHOLE series. This included all the books that had not even been published yet. Not all of the books have sexual content in them. Sexual references yes, but not content. What I find annoying is the fact that this assumption was made. Yes all the books, ultimately, have some form of sexual reference but this was not known until the books had been published. Rose could have become a nun for all we knew before all the books were published. Richelle Mead never fails to surprise me.

What are your thoughts?

Becky