This week was Banned Books Week. From the I Love Libraries web site,
Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this initiative of the American Library Association reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2007, marks BBW's 26th anniversary (September 29 through October 6).
The ALA site has a list of the 100 most frequently banned or challenged books. Check it out and see how many of them you have read. I set a goal to read every book on the list a couple of years ago. An interesting, but not surprising, phenomenon is that some of the books were just not that good from a literary standpoint, but being challenged elevates these books to a different status. In other words, if the challengers would simply ignore them, some books would probably filter down to the lower stacks sooner rather than later.
But the real point is, there are people in every community, including yours, who would suppress public access to reading materials. And that is a scary thought.
Challenging children's materials strikes me as more insidious, because it can be cloaked in "concern" for children's wellbeing. I've taken a lot of online classes for school library media specialist certification (a different process than getting a Master's in Library Science.) I have been shocked and dismayed at the number of fellow students who think that censorship in collection development and at the circulation desk is A-OK. That's one of the reasons I decided to get into a master's program at an ALA accredited school, where intellectual freedom is valued.
What do you think about all of this?
Note: And Tango Makes Three -- a true story, coauthored by respected children's science writer Peter Parnell, about 2 male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who were given an egg to hatch and raise -- was the most frequently challenged book of 2006.
13 comments:
Interesting post. I went to the ALA site and found that the Harry Potter series was one of the most censored collection of books in libraries. I posted the op-ed piece on my blog because, as you know, I am very concerned that this well-written series of children's literature might be banned by mean-spirited people who don't know excellent children's literature when they see it. But seriously, I'm glad you posted this and I enjoyed the site you mentioned.
It's downright scary how some people want to control every darn thing they don't like or agree with.
Long live Harry!
Thanks for this post.
"Long live Harry!"
Well ... I wouldn't go THAT far. Tee hee. I'm just not a Harry Potter fan, but that's not to say it should be banned.
Just back from Spain and struggling with the political reality that his our country...
Banned Books. Wow. This is a great post, as usual. I will be sharing it with many of my non-blog friends who I know will want to read this.
This makes me grateful oddly- I grew up in a very nutty home. My parents were...well they meant well, but parenting was not their skill.
However, I have come to learn to see and appreciate the gifts they did give me.
Not the least of which was a great love of reading and books and encouragement to read whatever I could get my hands on.
And Tango makes Three -- add That also to my must read list. I love banned books.
Huck Finn
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Wrinkle in Time
Fahrenheit 451
were all banned, weren't they?
(oh, wait, 451 is about banning...)
Also find it ironic that Katherine Paterson, wife of a presybterian pastor, is up there a couple of times.
Re: Katherine Paterson -- Jacob Have I Loved is outstanding, as is Bridge To Terabithia.
Fahrenheit 451 was both banned and about banning. That's actually one of the books that I thought was not that well written, although the topic is important. Ray Bradbury figures prominently in "The Hollywood Librarian" movie, by the way.
I have to say, I found it ironic that Ray Bradbury wanted to sue Michael Moore for copyright infringement over the movie title "Fahrenheit 911." I don't know what happened with that case.
that IS ironic, he's supposed to be against censorship...
I've been thinking about doing an essay called "Theological Themes in Children's Literature" -- I'd include Jacob Have I Loved, Holes, Because of Winn Dixie. (I have acouple more, but can't think of them right now.)
What I loved about Holes was all the great conversations I got into with 10-12 year olds after reading it.
I resisted reading Holes for a long time, largely because it was introduced to me in a really stupid way -- at a professional training, where small groups were given a piece of the book (literally a piece, the leaders tore apart a book) to read and summarize.It was supposed to be community building. I felt like it was the ultimate spoiler. When I finally got around to reading it, it was fantastic. (I should have known: Louis Sachar is such a good writer.)
I saw the movie first. I read the book because every child I talked to said "the book is better." so I read it. They're right.
In the movie, I got to the scene when Stanley is carrying Zero up the mountain, and suddenly I turned to my dad (sitting next to me) and whispered, "he's breaking the curse."
my husband always liked the sideways schools stories
I am VERY proud to say that at least three frequently challenged titles are on our reading list at school: Of Mice & Men, Fallen Angels, Warriors Don't Cry. And when I tell our kids that these books are frequently the targets of censors, they are curious at first, and then outraged.
Then they get to write about it!!!
having grown up in countries with rigid and ridiculous censorship (Zimbabwe and South Africa) I am firmly against censorship. For many years our newspapers had blatant gaps in them where articles were removed, because we might find outsome incriminating fact about our repressive government or one of their many enemies. In post-democracy South Africa, I am enjoying catching up on the other side of the story, from the perspective of the anti-apartheid activists. That said, I do believe there is a lot of evil, violent, sexually exploitative material around that young minds do not need to be exposed to, and some sort of filtering to protect kids is necessary, although I am not sure how it should be applied.
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