Why is the pact by jodi picoult banned

But a local detective has doubts about the suicide pact that Chris has described. The profound questions faced by the characters in this heart-rending novel are those we can all relate to: How well do we ever really know our children, our friends? What if…? As its chapters unfold, alternating between an idyllic past and an unthinkable present, The Pact paints an indelible portrait of families in anguish … culminating in an astonishingly suspenseful courtroom drama as Chris finds himself on trial for murder.

With this riveting psychological drama, Jodi Picoult explores the dynamics of intimate relationships under stress-- from the seemingly inexplicable mind of a teenager to the bonds of friendship and marriage. Few writers have such a gift for evoking everyday life coupled with the ability to create a level of dramatic tension that will keep you up reading late into the night.

The Pact is storytelling at its best : wonderfully observed, deeply moving, and utterly impossible to put down. In my previous life, before I was a novelist, I was an English teacher. The year I was teaching eighth grade, I was 25 years old — the youngest teacher by far in the school. I had a hundred kids…and one little girl was suicidal. We all knew — her parents, her guidance counselor, and her four subject teachers.

It was decided that all of us would work hard to keep her focused, and present. I got pregnant that year, and left teaching to have my first son, Kyle. My husband and I moved out of state; and my first novel was published. I embarked on a new career…but I never forgot about that student. And I knew, when I started to write my fifth book, that my subject matter was going to involve teen suicide. I wanted to write the anti-Romeo and Juliet story: the families that are too close, insteady of enemies -- and that still wind up hurting their star-crossed children as a result.

The boy or the girl? He shrugged. I just stared at him. What if, I wondered, Chris was the one who was alive at the start of the book, instead of Emily? Suddenly I no longer had a character study on my hands…I had a page turner. They say that Chris and Emily are real teenagers, not the phony ones who usually inhabit adult novels. But I hope it would make her happy to know that she is the one who planted the seed in my mind that grew into this garden, and maybe even indirectly was the reason another teenager years later took the time to stop and smell the flowers.

The Pact marked a shift in my career in many ways. Not only was it the book that put me on the literary map as a writer — it also was the first one that made me fall in love with research. I think I became a research stickler because I am a careful reader.

My first foray into research took place in my own home. Sadly, I was no longer a teenager as painful as that is to admit. However, I had a great group of babysitters who came regularly to take care of my three children. Well, I asked the hard questions: How old were you when you first had sex? Why did you do it? Have you ever been depressed? Wanted to kill yourself? Would you tell an adult? Why or why not? Have you used drugs?

How old were you? How many phone calls would it take for you to get a gun? I told him…and he got really quiet. My next stop for research was jail. I went to the Grafton County Correctional Facility, a minimum security jail that Chris would have been detained in, had he been awaiting trial. I remember thinking it was a human zoo — the only real rights that the prisoners have is deciding whether or not to come look at you as you pass by.

I remember it was very warm, and most prisoners wore only their underwear. The remarkable thing about our justice system is that even if Chris were completely innocent, while awaiting trial if denied bail he might still wind up bunking with an axe-murderer. I wanted to explore how a normal, everyday kid might be changed by that sort of experience.

Finally, I spent a great deal of time in court, and talking to defense attorneys. It was the latter attorney that really intrigued me — that hard shell put up against any emotional connection to the client — and that ultimately became the template for Jordan McAfee. One of my favorite little tidbits of legal information actually changed the course of the book. In America, I would never be asked to testify against my husband, if he were charged with a crime. It was this odd loophole that made me want to write a scene in which a mom Gus is forced to either incriminate her child…or to lie on the witness stand.

Bottom line: Picoult's deft touch makes this her breakout novel. A moving story, mingling elements of mystery with sensitive exploration of a tragic subject. Like everyone, I've joked about my seven-year-old son growing up to marry the daughter of my best friend… which led me to write this book. It's the story of the Hartes and the Golds, two families who've been neighbors and friends forever, and who are thrilled when their eldest offspring begins to date.

But then a terrifying phone call comes that makes the parents reevaluate whom, exactly, they can trust… and how well they know their children. He covered her body with his, and as she put her arms around him she could picture him in all his incarnations: age five, and still blond; age eleven, sprouting; age thirteen, with the hands of a man.

The moon rolled, sloe— eyed in the night sky; and she breathed in the scent of his skin. He kissed her so gently she wondered if she had imagined it. She pulled back slightly, to look into his eyes. When the telephone rang at three in the morning, James Harte was instantly awake. He tried to imagine what could possibly have gone wrong with Mrs. Greenblatt, because that was his most potentially emergent case. Harte, this is Officer Stanley of the Bainbridge Police. James felt his throat working up sentences that tangled around each other.

The moment the receiver was back in place, he had a thousand questions to ask.. Where was Christopher hurt? Critically or superficially? Was Emily still with him? What had happened? The hospital, he knew, would take him seventeen minutes to reach. He was already speeding down Wood Hollow Road when he picked up the car phone and dialed Gus. Busy day at the library. Guess HS kids have never seen a Viagra ad Picoult said in a statement that she gave a talk to Gilford students in when the book was published, when she spoke about research she did with survivors of school shootings.

I would encourage any parent to read whatever books are assigned, and to use them as springboards for discussion with their children. The Gilford school board has since apologised in a statement for "the discomfort of those impacted and for the failure of the School District to send home prior notice of assignment of the novel", and said that it will now revise its policies "to include notification that requires parents to accept controversial material rather than opt out".

This article is more than 7 years old. William Baer held at New Hampshire school board meeting, saying Nineteen Minutes is 'triple X' reading and unsuitable for his daughter.

The novel delves into the ethical issues of the right to life and suicide. In , it was adapted into a motion picture starring Cameron Diaz and Abigail Breslin. The novel has been challenged and banned repeatedly, accused of having inappropriate displays of drug, violence, suicide, offensive language, sexually explicit behaviors, and homosexuality.

In , the novel was challenged in Clawson, Michigan, for being too racy for middle school students. The specific case involved a mother who found the book inappropriate for her daughter to read for an assignment.

Mainly concerned about the offensive language and sex education, the mother brought her concerns to a committee who removed the book as an assignment. As a result, the novel was banned in all schools in the Clawson area and was removed from the classroom curriculum.