People Explain Which Books They Read In School That They'd Never Let Their Kids Read Today

The Horror

"My 5th grade teacher read the Stephen King short story Survival Type to the class. For those who haven’t read: the narrator / mc is a drug smuggler who crash lands his plane on a deserted island. He ends up doing all the heroin he recovered from the crash and cannibalizes himself. We didn’t know at the time our teacher had early onset dementia..."

– iamtommynoble

"Holy sh*t! I was in my mid 30s when I heard that story(was listening to the audio book) and was cooking dinner. Had to save all of the food for later, no way I could eat after listening to that. I can't believe a teacher read that."

– pop_skittles

Obsolete

"“Microsoft Publisher 98 for Dummies”"

"Seems kinda pointless at this stage."

– CuppaMatt

"imagine dragging your tik tok watching kid trough that today"

"lmao 💀"

– TheVoidKilledMe

Questionable Choice

""A Day No Pigs Would Die" was pretty rough in 6th grade. Basically Charlotte's web with HAUNTINGLY graphic depictions of animal husbandry and slaughter. I don't remember getting a lot of value out of it at 11 years old, just pig-blood soaked nightmares lol"

– BizarroBuffalo

...*Shudders*...

"I recall being in 6th grade and a fellow student writing a book report on an erotic novel she had read about an extremely overweight man collapsing on a sex worker while mid intercourse and she rips off his jaw and uses it to sever off one of his limbs and get out from under him."

"I remember being 13 years old and thinking “this is pretty f*cked up for a 13 year old.”"

– Silvertongued99

"Holy crap. Yes, that’s a bit much. In that vein, Flowers in the Attic and the rest of the series."

– Pinkbeans1

Too Early

"Maybe this isn’t the question, but I read A Child Called ‘It’ as an elementary aged child. I bought it at the school’s Scholastic Book Fair, and was maybe 9 years old. Why on earth they thought that was an appropriate book for small children to be purchasing and reading, I will never know. The 90’s were a trip."

– YaBoyfriendKeefa

WAY Too Early

"I was in a gifted class and we read 1984...in the fourth grade. Great piece of literature, but maybe a titch intense for nine-year-olds, y'know?"

– Bratbabylestrange

Father Knows Best

"The Kite Runner....my dad saw me pick that up at a book store when I was in the 7th grade and he said no, I wasn't allowed to read that till I got older. Me being the rebellious little sh*t I was convinced my friend to buy it and we took turns reading it. Yeah that book is not for kids....I learnt some things that day :("

– Severe-Experience333

Unrecovered

"I read The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns in high school, they were trauma in paperback form."

– bananaphone92

"A thousand splendid suns BROKE my heart. Beautiful book, but traumatic."

– bakedNdelicious

"Same. Read it in college undergrad actually and was destroyed and cannot imagine how my emotional maturity would have been affected had it come out a few years earlier. Still one of my favorite books and authors of all time. Haunts me to this day."

– abeshius

Bonded

"I know it’s weak, but the ending to Of Mice and Men really messed up my 13 year old brain."

– usernames_are_danger

"My English class read it together (taking it in turns to read aloud) when I was 16 and it was a lovely experience - we hated it at first, and then by the end we were invested, and a bunch of people cried - including the cool girls who usually sat at the back giggling. My friends and I read ahead and knew the ending. We didn't spoil, but we were smug about knowing what was coming!"

"Probably a bit heavy for a 13yo though."

– Lornaan

"We read the stage version at my high school, not as homework but as a sort of "table read" where we went around the classroom with everyone taking a turn to read a line/lines."

"I don't think I'd ever seen the entire class so invested in something. Not just kids approaching my own level of nerdiness, but everyone - even the troublemakers and barely literate kids. It kinda blew my friggin' mind. And then, when we finished the story (over the course of a few classes, I think), we all suffered together through the ending. Trauma bonding, yaaaay!"

"Honestly, that book was probably the only worthwhile book in our curriculum, as far as I can remember."

– Eleventy_Seven

Easy As 1, 2, 3

"Advanced Mathematics."

– SamuelVimesTrained

"A lesson book on calculus now that's hell"

– ToruMiz

"There are 3 kinds of people in this world:"

"Those that understand math, and those that don't."

– edlee98765

Personal Battles

"Was given The Things They Carried in HS and had nightmares for weeks because I had a brother overseas in combat at the time. Part of me never wants my kids to read it because of how much it negatively effected me, which I know isn't a good reason. I do think it is a worthwhile book but it will always, always make me uncomfortable."

– readyplayer_zero

The Wrong Message

"Hear me out, this is a weird take:"

"Cyrano de Bergerac"

"Not because it isn't a good story, it is. But because I think high school boys get the wrong message from it and it fuels this incel, neckbeard fantasy of "I am truly special, and I will pursue this woman until she realizes how special I am. She only likes that other guy because he's cute, it definitely isn't that I'm an a**hole." I don't think that's healthy for them, I think a lot of them don't get that it's satire because it's in middle english."

"I'm not saying they can't read it, but it shouldn't be required as part of the curriculum either (it was for me at least)."

– Nik_Tesla

"I’d go nose to nose with you about this one. (Not really, you’re right and make good points.)"

– tasareinspace

Not A Kid's Book

"I still wish I hadn’t read Where the Red Fern Grows though…cause I haven’t stopped crying and it’s been 25 years."

– jdino

"I was assigned this as a first grader. Apparently the teacher hadn't finished the book to know how truly traumatic the last chapter is. Plus the boy that bleeds out (that blood bubble on his lips always stuck with me). I reread it recently and cried so f*cking hard"

– gallopingwalloper

"I remember in I think my freshman year (hs), one of my friends who isn't a reader wanted a book suggestion when we had to pick one from the library. One of the first I looked at was Where the Red Fern Grows, I recalled it being good and gave it to him. Teacher refused it because it "was a kid's book.""

"I mean yeah, but f*ck you, no."

– Rectal_Fungi

Oof! Yeah, that one was a hard one to get through.