It's not just a FAYZ discussion

These books are published by HarperTeen Press but they can be very disturbing. What's your opiniuon as to whether they're suitable reading for kids of "an impressionable age"

Well it depends on their maturity level and their parents.

Catherine wrote: "Well it depends on their maturity level and their parents."

I'm of two minds about this question. I think that it's good to have folks thinking about the issues raised and the violence is no worse than what's shown regularly on TV but actually thinking about these things in depth does tend to leave scars on the soul.

I was about12 when I read gone. I think it has to do with wether or not you read books like this regularly, which I do. I think I am old enough to truly understand it, and it does freak me out sometimes, and that is what has made me love it, actually.

Catherine wrote: "Well it depends on their maturity level and their parents."

Catherine, I was wonderingif you expand upon your answer. I'm not challenging it but would love to foster some discussion in this regard. Is it the violence/sense of menace, the langauges, or the sex aspects that would concern you most?

I find it strange how Americans tolerate so much in the way of violence but are more censorious about sex and language. I have a number of British friends that are just the opposite.

Part of my reason for wanting this group is to have some cheap group therapy for the PTSD that this series gave me.

And I've had the distrurbing thought that if the characters in GONE were to read books like these about a different group of kids, Drake would be the one to enjoy them the most.

Can drake even read? Lol I don't know if he'd sit through an entire book.

I agree, I think it depends on the maturity of the reader but personally I think this series should probably be 13 and up. I think 12 is an okay age for the first 2 books (I started reading the series when it first came out so I was 12 myself) because besides violence nothing else too inappropriate happened. But now in the most recent book Plague, it's started to have more serious themes...spoilers kind of right there for those who still need to read Plague, sorry!

Also that's very true, in America we really are picky about sexual themes and language but when it comes to violence we're totally okay with it. How ironic.

I am a sixth grade reading teacher, and I was introduced to this series by one of my students. I have been able to talk with him about how it is to be so young and read such scary stuff, but he scoffed my concerns and pointed out that "a good story is a good story". It helped me remember how the young mind works. They are not nearly as disturbed by things as we are. I wonder if he will ever read this again years later and feel differently. I, for one, am excited by the prospect of a novel that creates such differing opinions.

weeeeeeell i honestly dnt kno about the age thing but i was about 12-13 when i read lies....confused i'l explain
i was staying at my nans and i woke in the middle of the night couldent get back 2 sleep, then i saw lies on the bookshelf and started reading i got rly in2 it and was utterly mezzmerized by a cirten charicter who would later become my fave who was it? orc.
later that month nan lent me her copy of hunger a month b4 i got gone in hunger i found out more about hinted events and in gone it all made more sence
but i think that the order in wich i read them affected my opinion on the charicters

I read GONE,HUNGER,LIES and PLAGUE and I'm 13 i think its the maturity level here is what counts . I loved the books with all my heart and it is an amazing story

My friend Zoe read theese books when she was 9 and didn't get freaked out . Though she was used to books like this and was very mature for her age so i agreee 13 and up even though i'm 13

Im 15 and thats when i started reading Gone. Te first book didnt freak me out. The second not much either. But in the third book where Caine admitted that they at someone, that kind of freaked me out. But it passed. Im used to gore and blood in books since ive read books like that before. But not cannibalism. That was something i had never come across until now. But now im not freaked out.

I started read these books when I was 11. My friends read them 2 and we don't really care about the "appropriateness" as long as it's a good book!

I started read these books when I was 11. My friends read them 2 and we don't really care about the "appropriateness" as long as it's a good book!

My zoe , please have a moment of silence (as she has passed away )read this book in fourth grade around age 9 but she was very mature and seemed to argue the same thing .

I think it's suitable for older teens, and younger ones with parent's discretion.

It depends on what you mean by children. I started these books when I was ten and they didn't both me. But, that's just me. This is the way I think of it: What's the worst that can happen when you read these books? You throw up from all the gore? (If that does actally happen, you should stop reading, at least for a little while......) But, honestly, I think that if you want to read a book, you should read it. I guess it could be for pre-teens, or just wait until your a teenager and I think you'd be completely free to read these books. But, then again, some people get disturbed by these books when they're, like, 34...

Madeleine wrote: " This is the way I think of it: What's the worst that can happen when you ..."

Folks can be changed and sometimes traumatized by what they read and what they watch. How many of us STILL remember (view spoiler)[Bambi's mother being shot (hide spoiler)] or (view spoiler)[Travis having to put down Old Yeller (hide spoiler)]?

Specifically as to the GONE series... thinking about the issues raised in these books can leave scars on one's soul.


Of course many children won't think of the issues that troubled me the most when I read these books.

Yeah, I can definately see what you mean......for me, these books have inspired me.......they've left scars, too, but.......good scars. These books mean a lot to me.