Read a Banned Book!!

[Kermit]

I've read most of those books. Every time I see a list like that, I have to wonder if the books were pulled from high school libraries. I wouldn't object to many of those books being pulled from elementary library shelves, but I'd be outraged if they weren't available to high schoolers. IMHO, it is a good thing to have some say in when little kids are exposed to certain ideas. They may lack the discernment necessary to understand that just because something works okay for a character in a novel, it may not work so well for them.

 

[skuttle]

I read A LOT of those books in high school and college (i was an english major)...and I still have most of those books and they are sitting on my shelves right now.

All the "PC" crap really gets me angry sometimes...some people just take it too far! If I had children, I'd much rather my child read those books instead of listening to some of the stuff on the radio/tv nowadays!

It seems like the only thing that's okay to teach in school is math.

 

[mrsv98]

We read our DD The Lorax before bed tonight! I am appalled at the books that are banned. If you don't like them, don't read them, tell your children they can't read them but don't tell ME I can't read them!

 

[Goofy Dad]

It never stops amazing me at how people that have never read a book will join in on a censorship campaign.

I have read many of the books on these lists, most notably, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Catcher in the Rye.

I went to high school in the early 80's when Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority group was at it's peak, and they tried to get our high school to remove some books. They sent our schools librarian a letter listing the books they didn't want us to have access to.

She went out and made sure that we had any book that the school did not already have, and put up a display titled "This is what they don't want you to read!" and posted the letter.

I had not particularly liked her before this, but my respect for her shot way up after this incident.

 

[WDW2002]

OMG!! I just clicked and read the titles of some of the books and can not believe some of the titles.

 

[honeywolf7]

I've probably read about 50 of them (most of them in Catholic school.)

 

[glo]

I have read 31 of the 100...Some I would not want in a middle school or elementary library, but see nothing wrong in regular libraries or highschool and college ones.

I know that Grapes of Wrath by Stienback was banned also as Communist propoganda....funny how opinions change.

 

[mickey65]

I have read 67 of the 100

 

[Geoff_M]

I have mixed feelings every year when the ALA holds this event. On one hand fully understand there are "Nazi cows" (to quote Anni Kinsella in "Field of Dreams") out there that don't have a leg to stand on when challenging a library holding or school reading assignment. BUT, it bothers me when any attempt to question such things is viewed as inherently bad or "un-American". It also bothers me that the details and context of the challanges are overlooked. No doubt most challenges are silly and the fears of those pressing the case are unfounded, but I think it's equally silly to assume that ALL challenges are groundless and merely attempts to supress the free exchange of ideas. Several people in this thread while pointing out questionable challenges have also found one or two examples of books they feel are inappropriate in various school settings or age groups... They too would seem to run afoul of the spirit of the ALA celebration.

There's an implication that if a book is "banned", it must be worth reading. Should I go out and buy a copy of Hustler because it's "banned" from my local high school library? I also question the ALA use of the term "banned" in this celebration. It's a hot button term used to evoke Nazi German style book burnings. Simply not stocking a work on a school library or it not appearing on a class reading list is not banning. No one is lighting bonfires or smashing printing presses. The free exchange of ideas is alive and well in America, with or without the ALA.

Bottom line... If you hear that a work is being challenged and you disagree with that challenge, I encourage you to speak out and support the work. Apathy and indifference is probably a worse sin that challenging a work. But at the same time, don't assume that all challenges are without merit.

 

[Goofy Dad]

I for one am very happy that the ALA sponsors this event every year because it brings out the fact that this happens all too often, and most people simply don't believe that it happens in the good old USA.

As you say, there is nothing wrong with a library making choices on how to spend it's money, that's not censorship, it fiscal necessity.

Having said that most of the books that these groups try to get removed from the shelves (an act which cannot be construed as fiscal necessity) have certainly had proven literary value.

There is no doubt that some titles are inappropriate for an elementary school library, fewer in a middle school, fewer yet for a high school. A non-school library should have the freedom of carrying any kind of book or magazine (including Hustler if they wish), but may have certain titles in restricted adult sections, or may require parental approval for a child to be allowed to take out certain types of material.

Censorship belongs at the personal level not the governmental level. In the case of children, their parents should have the final say on the whether their child reads a certain book, but just because they don't want their children reading something that doesn't mean that they have the right to prevent my child from reading that title.

The problem with these challenges is not that these parents (many of whom have NOT even read the books in question) don't want to just prevent their children from having access to these books, but they don't want anyone else's to have it.

My personal belief is that absolutely no work of expression should be banned, with the exception of works that require hurting a person in order to create. An example of this would be child pornography depicting real children. Since the child depicted is being hurt this overrides the creators freedom of expression.

Banning a thing usually gives it more power, which is bad enough for some of the garbage that is created, and worse yet it can prevent a society from knowing that trouble is brewing.

 

[Geoff_M]

I agree that the government should not engauge in censorship. But little, or any, of what the ALA is decrying is censorship. No governmental group is prohibiting the production or distribution of any of these works. If we think our school's or library's administration are a bunch of pin-heads for not putting a book on the shelf or on a reading list, we are free to obtain that work for our kids outside of those institutions (as the "Read a banned book" program proves). No one is preventing anyone's kids from reading any of these works.

As for age restrictions in public libraries... Seeing as "age appropriateness" is one of the most common reasons cited for challenges, you and the ALA would seem to be at odds
over whether or this this is a good thing and is a form of censorship or banning.

I don't mind the ALA publishing this list annually, I think that's a good thing and helps prevent apathy in this area. I just have a problem with the generalization that any challenge is bad.

 

[Zurg]

Read Books

Buy Books

Give Books to the Libarary.

 

[Goofy Dad]

Originally posted by Geoff_M
I agree that the government should not engauge in censorship. But little, or any, of what the ALA is decrying is censorship.

We will have to agree to disagree here. These groups are typically petitioning a governmental body, i.e. local school boards, to remove book from a public school library, such removal would therefore be governmental censorship.

I really seriously doubt that the ALA is suggesting that Catcher in the Rye (just one example) be available in elementary schools. I am not aware that the ALA has ever indicated that there is no such thing as Age Approprateness. Can you site a case where the ALA has stated that a 5 year old should have access to the every book ever written? From what I have seen they are opposed to having groups dictate to a library what they can carry on their shelves, not that they can't have restricted sections.

 

[Geoff_M]

In their breakdown of the reasons for recorded challenges ( http://www.ala.org/bbooks/challengesbytype19902000.pdf ) they cite "Unsuitable To Age Group" as the 6th (out of 20) most common reason for a work being challenged. Since they view challenges as a bad thing, then to them questioning access to a work based on the age of the reader is a bad thing.

Here's some more from the ALA's web site on the topic: Free Access to Libraries for Minors, An Interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights

Article V of the Library Bill of Rights states, “A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.” The “right to use a library” includes free access to, and unrestricted use of, all the services, materials, and facilities the library has to offer. Every restriction on access to, and use of, library resources, based solely on the chronological age, educational level, or legal emancipation of users violates Article V.

So, in a nutshell.... The ALA thinks a 5 year old should have access to A Catcher In The Rye if the library owns a copy. I will give them a little credit however... They do cede the right to parents that it's OK for them to tell their kids not to read or check out certain things, they just don't want libraries to enforce those requests.

True story on a personal note. When I was in High School a friend of mine discovered that the library at our local university carried Playboy in the periodicals section. Though it was a university library, it was open to the public for reading. The copies were kept behind the counter to control theft and vandalism, but all I had to do was go to the counter and ask for it. It made a great study break when I was doing school work there. This was in the early 1980's. Assuming it wasn't successfully "challenged" (which would have landed it on the ALA's tally) since then, the ALA thinks any teen-aged boy interested in the opposite-sex should be able to get ahold of it like I did.