Ttyl by Lauren Myracle

  To continue my Banned Books Week reviews, I decided to write today's blog post on Ttyl by Lauren Myracle, a YA, "coming of age" novel that's written all in IMs.
  It's such a unique and relatable series! You don't hear very much about it; it's kind of ignored because of all of the other amazing YA series out there. But it's truly a great series that speaks to many young adults going through tough and troubling times. (Which I'm convinced is the reason they banned it.) For some reason, the people who decide to ban these books are the ones who want to try and protect young adults from issues which- I'm sorry to say- they actually go through in every day life. You don't want young adults to read about violence? Tell that to the teen who lives in a violent neighborhood. You don't want teens to read about sex? Try to take a sexually active teen's book away from them. It's just common sense, you can't take reality away from teens who...live in reality.
  Ttyl follows three sixteen year olds, Madigan (mad maddie), Zoe (zoegirl) and Angela (SnowAngel) through their school experiences, their relationships and their hardships- together and apart.
  Ttyl taught me a lot about friendships and how to deal with tough situations in every day teen life. I think Lauren Myracle is actually quite brilliant and brave to put such intense subjects in a YA novel/series. I don't understand why it would be taken away from teens to read. I only benefited from what those books taught me.
  Ttyl was repeatedly banned on several occasions, between 2007 and 2011 because of its "sexual content," "foul language" and "questionable sexual behavior." Now, this may be a bit of a spoiler, but what everyone is so freaked out about is the "relationship" that one of main characters has with a teacher. If you READ THE BOOK, you would know that the relationship got out of hand, was stopped and had consequences- obviously not promoting and encouraging illegal relationships.
  It reminds me of when John Green's book, Looking for Alaska, was banned for its "inappropriate sex scene." (Note: I put all of these accusations in quotes because I don't believe them one bit, and as Zoey from Marked would say, "It's all a bunch of bullpoopie.") The scene that's so controversial in Looking for Alaska is incredibly awkward and embarrassing, but it's honestly not something to be all uppity about.
  But I digress...if you don't like a book, or don't deem it appropriate, don't read it. It's that simple. Please don't try to take it away from others.

Book