Book fans warn parents not to buy Wicked novel for kids due to graphic scenes –including bestiality
The 1995 Gregory Maguire book ‘Wicked’ is the source material behind the recently released film adaptation. (TikTok/Amazon)
Following the successful release of Wicked, people are looking for the book that’s the source material for the musical movie – but parents have been warned not to buy it for their kids.
The 1995 book of the same name by Gregory Maguire might have been the inspiration for the stage musical, and now the movie, but it contains a lot of explicit and disturbing scenes including rape, bestiality, and murder.
BookTokers have been doing a public service in warning parents who are unaware of what the book contains to not buy it for their Wicked-obsessed kids this Christmas.
They have also criticised publishers for re-releasing the book with a new cover image of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, who play Elphaba and Glinda in the movie.
Several book-loving content creators have called the front cover misleading, as it suggests the book has the same themes as the film and is therefore acceptable for children to read.
One BookToker, who posts under the username @enchantednanny, said in a video: “This is a serious warning for parents of children who’ve loved the movie Wicked. Do not buy them the book. It is not a children’s book, there are explicit scenes that are heavily detailed and very adult themes that run through them.”
“I would not want my children reading it. They would be traumatised,” she added.
Another said the book should be labelled as 18+ due to the content it features.
A third BookToker, who posts as @unlicensedtomom, said: “For the love of everything that is good and holy in this world, do not buy this for your kids when you see the newly-released version with Ariana [Grande]’s face on it.”
“The movie may be PG but this [book], my friend, is not,” she added.
Even the author himself agreed that the book is not for children, saying in a video: “It’s completely not for children. I purposely put some somewhat raunchy material in the first few pages of Wicked the novel to show what people were getting into.”
“My novel is a tragedy. Things are not quite as happy on the pages of my book,” Maguire said.
Wicked is a reimagining of the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West, who he renamed Elphaba, and who first appeared in Frank L. Baum’s The Wizard of Oz.
The film has already become a global phenomenon, breaking box office records to take $164 million globally in the week since it was released.
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