Dad forbids his 14-year-old daughter from reading dystopian novel, scolds his 20-year-old niece for having it in her bedroom: 'He said it was careless to leave something she is too young for out on the shelf'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
May 31, 2025 8:00 PM EDT

I've never understood parents who heavily censor the content that their teenage children read. There's a big difference between ensuring your 4th grader isn't reading Danielle Steel novels and telling a kid who is Carrie's age that "Carrie" by Stephen King isn't appropriate for them. There are many worse things kids could be doing than reading a book that's a little out of their age range. The internet is full of insane fanfiction on Wattpad and AO3 that is written and consumed almost exclusively by teenagers and young adults. Teens could be scrolling through short-form video content all day, every day, and get a lot more inappropriate messaging than they would from an Ottessa Moshfegh novel. Censoring reading materials will only lead to kids reading less challenging and less interesting books, and eventually, will discourage them from reading for pleasure altogether. In an increasingly post-literate society, that's not what we want.

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  • The uncle/dad in this story takes the exact opposite stance as I do. He does not want his 14-year-old reading anything that is even slightly inappropriate, like the novel The Handmaid's Tale. He asked his niece to lock up her inappropriate books so his daughter couldn't find them, but she didn't lock up the Margaret Atwood classic.

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    Cheezburger Image 10512142080
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    AITA for not putting away my copy of The Handmaid’s Tale?

    My(20) uncle and cousin (14) are currently staying with us since their house is going through some repairs. Cousin sleeps in my room. Mom told me to put certain books away since they are inappropriate so I put them in a small locked drawer. I didn't put
    via u/EfficientWest871
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    via Lesly Juarez

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    The Handmaid's Tale and some of my other dystopian novels there, though. Barely any space left so I had to pick which ones to lock up. The way I figured it, she probably wouldn't be interested in them and the book in question
    via u/EfficientWest871
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    full of my distracting, barely legible to anyone else annotations(I studied it for A Level English Literature when I was 16-17 and my handwriting was atrocious back then).
    via u/EfficientWest871
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    But she did end up getting interested in it. I came home one day to find out that she had been reading it and my uncle had found out and was telling her she is too young. Then he turned to me and berated me, saying it was careless to leave something she is too young for out on the shelf
    via u/EfficientWest871
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    Cheezburger Image 10512151552
    via engin akyurt

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    The-Comfy-Chair NTA Your uncle is exactly why she should read it.
    via u/The-Comfy-Chair
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    pootinannyBOOSH If she's able to read it, she's not too young. Edit* like I said in another comment, I meant it in this particular situation, fair enough that it's not a good blanket statement. But I was responding to THIS post, about a teen reading it and seeming to comprehend it and enjoy it. Any rational person could assume that obviously I'm not talking about letting a 5 year old watch gore, like one person argued.
    via u/pootinannyBOOSH
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    Puzzledwhovian Exactly! I was 12 when my teacher had us read it for English class. 14 is beyond fine!
    via u/Puzzledwhovian
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    Thess514 My mother had me read that at about that age. She said she thought it was an important book for anyone, especially a woman, to read, and also she wanted to take me to the film when it came out (the 1990 movie, not the series) and figured I'd keep up with any time skips better if I read it first.
    via u/Thess514
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    Impressive _Rain_4834 Nta it's kinda ironic a man getting mad about a young girl reading a book about men oppressing women lol
    via u/Impressive _Rain_4834
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    Groovy_Decoy It wasn't just general oppressing. It specifically included forbidding reading and writing for women.
    via u/Groovy_Decoy
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    smugrainbow NTA- Fourteen is definitely old enough to read that book, and her dad is the reason why she should be reading it.
    via u/smugrainbow
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    likeusontweeters That's probably the reason she was so interested in it! She probably understands the feelings of being controlled/suppressed all too well by now.
    via u/likeusontweeters
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    ScarletAndOlive ΝΤΑ The Handmaid's Tale is recommended reading for grades 9-12, so totally appropriate for your cousin.
    via u/ScarletAndOlive
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    Midwest Normal Should be required reading.
    via u/MidwestNormal
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    Royally-Forked-Up In Ontario, when I went to high school in the late '90's/early '00's, it was. Every friend in my age group read it for grade 9 English in different cities across the province.
    via u/Royally-Forked-Up
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    Madam UnicornOfDoom Getting mad about kids reading is weird. I read way crazier stuff by that age. She's of the age where some of that could I guess be beneficial to know?
    via u/MadamUnicornOfDoom
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    peachesfordinner Right? What book loving kid hasn't read a vc Andrews book by then? And those are much worse and with less educational value
    via u/peachesfordinner
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    Chequered_Career Hasn't your uncle ever let her go to a library or bookstore? They are notorious for not hiding books in drawers.
    via u/Chequered_Career
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    HeySteven50reasons Your Uncle should have told her not to touch your things. It's not your job to censor your own room for someone else's kid.
    via u/HeySteven50reasons
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    wolf_genie I was thinking that, too. If I was hosting a younger relative in my room, I would not put ANY of my books out of reach, because I was fully expect them not to touch any of them without asking first!
    via u/wolf_genie
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    Imaginary-Style918 NTA She's 14, not 4.
    via u/Imaginary-Style918
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    Ok_Pass_Thx So you're telling me I should not be reading this to my kindergartener?? Lord of the Flies it is then.
    via u/Ok_Pass_Thx

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dystopia family dynamics family drama reading fantasy novels teenagers novel niece raising teens books dad fatherdaughter uncle family daughter Father
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