Book Banning

As a teacher and a parent, I do not believe in book banning. Jason told me the other day that books 2 and 4 of the Twilight series have been banned at his school. This bothered me a lot. I believe that only a parent should be able to tell their child not to read something unless it comes in a brown paper wrapper or is criminal (how to build a pipebomb, etc). After talking to several people, I now think that the books are banned in his classroom but not by the school. One parent told me her daughter's teacher (different teacher, same grade as Jason) sent a note home saying the children could read the book in her room but that she thought parents may want to check the book out first before allowing their children to read it. Vampire romance is definitely not a genre I'm really into but I am reading the first book now and I will read the rest of the series so that I can give an informed opinion about it. One of my friends doesn't believe it's appropriate for kids up to high school to read and wants to know what I think after I read it. She said some of it is violent. Considering I've given Jason permission to read The Shining, I don't think she and I will see eye to eye on what's appropriate. Basically, if it doesn't come in a brown paper wrapper or from a store with blacked out windows or details how to do criminal acts, I'm okay with him reading it. This allows him the ability to talk to me about what he reads rather than hide it. If a book does get his attention that I feel is inappropriate, I will deal with it - ME, NOT the school.