Violence in the classroom

After reading the Hunger Games I began to think about the types of books taught in classrooms. Every book that I remember reading never seemed very controversial, and all of the people who went to school around me read books that were similar. I am now just learning that some of the books I read in school are now banned. When I was reading these books in school I never thought that they were inappropriate in any way, but as I am analyzing literature I realize how it could cross lines. While reading the Hunger Games I kept thinking to myself how this could be taught in a classroom, and what age group it could be taught to. This book is very intense and covers issues that would be hard for some kids to grasp. If I was teaching this book I would be concerned about how the kids respond to this book, and what they internalize. When I was reading this book I found myself sad at different parts of the book, and as a teacher you have to be careful what you teach your students because it may impact some more than others. I was thinking about the type of stories that are appropriate to teach to kids. It made me wonder how much violence, or other controversial issues would be considered okay to teach. The Hunger Games would be a hard book to teach to a class because there aren't many things in the book that would educate a student, it would be a book that could be read for pleasure, in my opinion.