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| An excerpt from Americus, a wonderful graphic novel about banned books |
There's a difference between banning books and parenting.
As a child, I was not allowed to read Harry Potter. This was because my parents didn't believe it was proper reading material for me("witchcraft" and all that). Admittedly, they were operating out of ignorance, but they were operating with my best interest at heart and that is their job as parents. (Since then, each of my siblings and I have become steadily addicted to everything Harry Potter and my dad has finally started reading the books as well. He loves them.)
The censorship we are talking about when we discuss banned book week is the kind where a person (almost always someone who hasn't actually read the book in question) tries to get a particular book banned from schools and/or libraries because they happen to find that particular book objectionable and carry a twisted belief that it is their job to keep every other person from reading it as well.
For example, Rainbow Rowell (author of Fangirl and Eleanor & Park) was slated to speak in the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota. Though the speaking engagement had been planned months in advance (to take place this week-during banned book week), as the event drew closer, the author began getting the silent treatment from everyone in that area. It wasn't until the National Coalition Against Censorship became involved that she found out a ruckus had been made about the fact that she was invited and a parent had become upset over the profanity in Eleanor & Park, even going so far as to demand that the librarians who set up the original speaking engagement be disciplined.
You can read more about this very interesting (read: appalling) ordeal here: "Talks Cancelled for YA Authors Meg Medina and Rainbow Rowell." You can also check out this lovely interview with Rainbow Rowell herself, in which she discusses her books as well as censorship and gives a bit more detail concerning this ordeal in Minnesota. The interview can be found here: "Talking With Rainbow Rowell About Love and Censorship."
When we ban books, we band knowledge and ideas. That's not fair to the person who is banned from reading it, to the people who ban it, or to society in general. So much can be found through access to good books, whether they are controversial or not.
Everyone deserves access to the knowledge and information hidden within the pages of our favorite books. That's what libraries and schools are designed to do: introduce us to new ideas and information we never would have accessed otherwise. If we are constantly knocking those books out of the hands of students, what can we expect but that they'll eventually stop picking books up altogether? And if they stop picking up books, they will forever doom themselves to ignorance.
I could go on and on about this, but I won't. Instead, I'll leave you with a few lovely resources I've managed to come across in the last couple of days. I won't leave you with a list of banned books you ought to read, because you can find that with a quick Google Search. (Though I do hope that you'll pick up a banned book this week in honor of the occasion, which is exactly what I intend to do as soon as I finish reading American Gangster by Mark Jacobson. If you need help finding one for yourself, I do have a "Banned Books" tag on my book reviews that you can search.) Instead I'll leave you with some other lovely pages about censorship that you can check out for yourself:
You can read more about this very interesting (read: appalling) ordeal here: "Talks Cancelled for YA Authors Meg Medina and Rainbow Rowell." You can also check out this lovely interview with Rainbow Rowell herself, in which she discusses her books as well as censorship and gives a bit more detail concerning this ordeal in Minnesota. The interview can be found here: "Talking With Rainbow Rowell About Love and Censorship."
When we ban books, we band knowledge and ideas. That's not fair to the person who is banned from reading it, to the people who ban it, or to society in general. So much can be found through access to good books, whether they are controversial or not.
I'd rather my daughter approach a tough topic for the 1st time in a book, than in the MS cafeteria. #NCTEchatFor me, personally, books have always been my lifeline. They are how I thrive and grow, how I find inspiration to create and understand the people around me. Books are everything to me. So when you censor my favorite book, "Perks of Being a Wallflower" because of its drugs, sex, and violence, are you guarding me from harmful material or leaving me defenseless in a world where those very themes run rampant? Are you cutting me off from the things that will harm me or from ideas that scare you? And what if those very ideas are the ones that help me make it through this unforgiving world we live in? What if those themes that run along the border of obscene or offensive tell me exactly the things I need to hear to get me through from one day to the next?
— Donalyn Miller (@donalynbooks) September 23, 2013
Everyone deserves access to the knowledge and information hidden within the pages of our favorite books. That's what libraries and schools are designed to do: introduce us to new ideas and information we never would have accessed otherwise. If we are constantly knocking those books out of the hands of students, what can we expect but that they'll eventually stop picking books up altogether? And if they stop picking up books, they will forever doom themselves to ignorance.
I could go on and on about this, but I won't. Instead, I'll leave you with a few lovely resources I've managed to come across in the last couple of days. I won't leave you with a list of banned books you ought to read, because you can find that with a quick Google Search. (Though I do hope that you'll pick up a banned book this week in honor of the occasion, which is exactly what I intend to do as soon as I finish reading American Gangster by Mark Jacobson. If you need help finding one for yourself, I do have a "Banned Books" tag on my book reviews that you can search.) Instead I'll leave you with some other lovely pages about censorship that you can check out for yourself:
- 11 Quotes from Authors on Censorship & Banned Books
- A Word on Censorship
- NCTE Banned Books Week Twitter Chat 2013
- Ten Books About Censorship for Kids & Teens
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