Recently, the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom released its list of the top ten most challenged books in 2015. Author John Green's first novel, "Looking For Alaska", was number one on the list, ranking higher than "Fifty Shades Of Grey". While I understand the intent behind banning books from places like school libraries (the desire to protect kids from bad influences), I disagree with the ban on "Looking For Alaska".

Yes, the book contains teen drinking, smoking, sexual content and language, but let's face reality for a moment. Whether right or wrong, these things happen, especially in today's culture, regardless of if a book containing them sits on the shelf in a school library or not. Furthermore, in "Looking For Alaska", these elements serve to give context to the characters and their life situations but are not the main focus of the book.

Additionally, according to a response statement issued by John Green, the scene mentioned in one challenge calling for a ban was completely taken out of context. Green acknowledges that there is a scene containing explicit details of an emotionless oral sex encounter. However, he points out that in the next scene, there is a much more passionate encounter containing simply kissing and no sexual content at all. He concludes by saying, "So in context, the novel is arguing, really in a rather pointed way, that emotionally intimate kissing can be a whole lot more fulfilling than emotionally empty oral sex." Basically, the bigger picture sends the opposite message of what people banned the book for. If I were a parent, the message Green intends through these scenes is exactly what I would want my children to read.

Still, the book is not about sex, drinking, smoking, or swearing. It's about depression, suicide, friendship, forgiveness and, ultimately, hope. It's about, as the characters would say, learning how to navigate and survive the labyrinth of suffering that is life, something we all must do. Instead of turning to suicide (rates are on the rise in young people), which is often romanticized in our culture, "Looking For Alaska" serves as a reminder that life will go on. How? Through forgiveness. As people, we must forgive each other, and we must forgive ourselves. As the characters Pudge and the Colonel discover, we are still alive. In fact, Green concludes the book with Pudge saying "we need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think we are invincible because we are."

Banning "Looking For Alaska" will not solve the problem of keeping bad influences out of schools because it is not a bad influence. Rather, it teaches that every person has a purpose, a "great perhaps", as Pudge would say. It teaches that life is a beautiful thing, struggles and all. As the Colonel says, "After all this time, it still seems to me like straight and fast is the only way out- but I choose the labyrinth."

"Looking For Alaska" doesn't encourage kids to have sex and drink. It encourages them to live.

So, before condemning this book for a few minor offenses, please consider the bigger picture. As Green says, "If you have a worldview that can be undone by a novel, let me submit that the problem is not with the novel."

You can find John Green's full response here.