By a 6-1 vote, a committee for the Riverside (Calif.) Unified School District banned The Fault in Our Stars from the district’s middle schools. Those who voted to remove the book from its shelves were troubled by the story’s mature content and themes of mortality.

Fault author John Green said he was happy and sad about the banning. “I am happy because apparently young people in Riverside, Calif., will never witness or experience mortality since they won’t be reading my book, which is great for them. I am also sad because I was really hoping I would be able to introduce the idea that human beings die to the children of Riverside, Calif., and thereby crush their dreams of immortality.” (Time)

Paul Asay has written for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for PluggedIn and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He recently collaborated with Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, on his book The Good Dad. He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Check out his entertainment blog at Patheos.com/blogs/WatchingGod or follow him on Twitter.