Title: Banned Books - Top 3 Pros and Cons - ProCon.org
Headings: Banned Books – Top 3 Pros and Cons
Banned Books – Top 3 Pros and Cons
Should parents or other adults be able to ban books from schools and libraries?
Pro 1
Parents have the right to decide what material their children are exposed to and when.
Pro 2
Children should not be exposed to sex, violence, drug use, or other inappropriate topics in school or public libraries.
Pro 3
Keeping books with inappropriate content out of libraries protects kids, but doesn't stop people from reading those books or prevent authors from writing them.
Con 1
Parents may control what their own children read, but don't have a right to restrict what books are available to other people.
Con 2
Many frequently challenged books help people get a better idea of the world and their place in it.
Con 3
Books are a portal to different life experiences and reading encourages empathy and social-emotional development.
Discussion Questions
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Sources

Content: 11] Another study found that reading narrative fiction helped readers understand their peers and raised social abilities. [ 12][ 13] A study in Basic and Applied Social Psychology found that people who read a story about a Muslim woman were less likely to make broad judgments based on race. [ 14] Neil Gaiman, author of the frequently challenged novel Neverwhere, among other books, stated that fiction “build [s] empathy… You get to feel things, visit places and worlds you would never otherwise know. You learn that everyone else out there is a me, as well. You’re being someone else, and when you return to your own world, you’re going to be slightly changed. Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.” [ 15]
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Discussion Questions
Should parents or other adults be able to ban books from schools or libraries? Why or why not? Have you read any of the Top 10 Challenged Books of 2019? Should those books be banned or restricted?