The Fault in Our Stars gets labeled "adult fiction" at two Hamilton County libraries

The multi-award-winning young adult novel The Fault in Our Stars was removed from the Young Adult section of Fishers and Noblesville libraries and no one's happy about it. 

The Fault in Our Stars, spurring the sick-love genre, is a novel of young love amidst the crisis of two characters battling cancer, Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters.

This transfer of The Fault in our Starts to general fiction sparked an outrage with local author John Green defending the YA classification writing, "It is about teenagers and I wrote it for teenagers."

Green's novel even serves as a love letter to Indianapolis as the characters visit Funky Bones, an exhibit Green's wife curated. 

After Green's initial post to X stating, "This is such an embarrassment" to the city of Fishers, he posted screenshots of his letter written to board members of Fishers and Noblesville libraries. 

Fans have given their opinion as well. 

"It is most definitely a story for teenagers. I don't understand the problem. Do these people think only adults encounter the story's subject matter," wrote ThatViolinChick. 

The Board of Trustees of Hamilton East Public Library published a collection policy in April 27, 2023, detailing their criteria for novels not suitable for children under the age of 18.

The library staff will develop the collections keeping novels with profane language or incitement to violence classified as adult literature. 

According to their policy, novels for Middle School and High School age kids need to address "unique emotional, intellectual and social maturity." 

However, since the outrage of removing The Fault in Our Stars from YA literature, Laura Alerding, the board president of East Hamilton Public Library, claims it was a mistake-according to 13News. 

"Upon reviewing the page(s) of 'The Fault in Our Stars' book that were the basis of the Director’s and review staff’s reason to move the book out of the Teen section, I believe there was an error in implementing the Collection Development Policy and that this book should be moved back to the Teen section immediately.  The Board of Trustees will discuss further what went wrong with the review process at the next public board meeting."

There is no comment on whether other novels moved to general fiction were also "errors."