PVLF 2025

John Green blasts the public library for pulling his book from the young adult department.

According to the policy, "the Library will work to ensure that collections are age appropriate in terms of topic and placement of materials" for children and teenagers.
on Aug 10, 2023

Author and YouTuber John Green spoke out against the decision of an Indiana library to remove his novel "The Fault in Our Stars" from its young adult (YA) section.

Green described the removal as a "embarrassment" in a tweet on X, which was once known as Twitter.

"In the Indianapolis suburbs, The Fault in Our Stars has been pulled from the YA area and is now considered a 'novel for adults.' This is absurd. It's about teenagers, and I wrote it specifically for them. Reading TFIOS does not hurt teenagers," he added.

The Hamilton East Public Library Board of Trustees produced a list of YA books that it intends to move to the general fiction department of its libraries in Fishers and Noblesville, Indiana.

"The Fault in Our Stars" depicts the love story of two young cancer patients. The novel "Looking for Alaska" by John Green is also on the list.

The list is a continuation of the library's collection development policy, which provides rules for selecting books for its holdings.

According to the policy, "the Library will work to ensure that collections are age appropriate in terms of topic and placement of materials" for children and teenagers.

The library considers nudity, drinking and drug use, recurrent use of profanity, portrayals or incitement of violence, and sexual content when evaluating what is "age appropriate."

As a result of this policy, staff members have started assessing books to see if they are appropriate for the children's or teen's sections. Young adult books that do not receive positive reviews are moved to the adult area.

Green tweeted in response to the library's policy, "I only have a small voice in these decisions, of course, but you won't catch me alive or dead in Fishers, Indiana until these ridiculous policies are revoked."

Since the announcement of the new collection development policy in April, the Hamilton East Public Library has faced criticism from members of the community.

At the time, critics told WISH that the policy encouraged censorship and wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

The Board of Trustees anticipated that the restoration would cost more than $335,000 and take 8,000 hours to complete. The children's and teen section of the library contains approximately 18,000 items to peruse. According to meeting minutes dated July 27, 74.4% of the project remains.

The collection initiative at Hamilton East Public Library comes at a difficult time for libraries across the country. In 2022, the American Library Association reported a record number of attempted book bans, with LGBTQ issues accounting for more than half of them.

Fisher, Indiana neighborhood members invited the author, who lives near Indianapolis, to attend the next library board meeting to assist protest the project in Green's X responses.

"We could use your assistance at the next HEPL board meeting." "We need as much attention as possible focused on this board's actions," one individual wrote.

"I know you're going to boycott Fishers. However, I believe the next HEPL board meeting will be on August 24th. I'm sure many of us would appreciate it if you could express your feelings to them. "Many of us in Hamilton County think their policy is ridiculous," stated another.