At last, Steph revealed the reason he had brought them there. He had a joint. “Where’d you get it?” Wingnut asked in a hushed whisper.
How horribly scandalous that something like this should appear in a novel, right? It’s because of the intolerable scandalousness of these and similar lines that the novel containing them was banned by New Zealand’s Film and Literature Board. It is the first novel to be banned in the country in 22 years.
Now the tender sensibilities of New Zealanders will not be wounded by such traumatizing books.
Clarissa's Blog 
The article you linked to gives misleading information. Sales of the book have been temporarily blocked until the NZ censorship board determines the rating under which the book can be legally sold. It with either get an R14 rating (to be sold to minors at least 14 years old) or an R18 (restricting its sale to adults).
I’m not condoning this silliness, but that how the censorship laws in NZ work. The censorship board applies similar rating restrictions to the movies shown in that country, and has done so for years.
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The first time in 22 years, though. Have they really seen nothing more hard-core in all this time?
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It’s probably because the book is aimed at the YA market, and “Young Adult” is code for “teenage minors.”
The YA publishers in America aren’t bound by legal restrictions, but they self-censor so they don’t run into trouble from PTA boards and other do-gooders.
The author is acting like it’s the end of the world (per his article in “The Guardian”), but this will probably ultimately triple his sales.
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