Lisa reads: Banned Books
In preparation for Banned Books Week (September 26-October 3rd), the American Library Association has released their annual list of the books that the pro-censorship crowd tried to pull from library Shelves. You can read the list here, as well as get prepped for the holiday with t-shirts and posters.
“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.”
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Now, I understand a parent wanting to know what their kid is reading, I really do. I have a little sympathy (still not much, to be honest) with parents who are concerned about books in their schools. I mean, I might agree that The Joy of Gay Sex is not suitable for a middle school library – but that isn’t where people tried to censor it. They wanted to remove it from the public library, where adults also check out books. So they didn’t just want to make sure their tween son or daughter didn’t have access to it, they wanted to make sure that NO ONE had access to it — and you haven’t seen cranky until you try to take my books away.
There are some old favorites on the list: Cathcher in the Rye, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Go Ask Alice and the newest regular on the list, And Tango Makes Three — because really, what could be more threatening than gay penguins. There are also some books I’ve not seen before that show up, mostly books about dealing with being a teenager. For example, Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya, is described this way:
The book is about a boy maturing, asking questions about evil, justice and the nature of God.
Well, that certainly isn’t anything we want! Kids asking questions? Thinking about justice? Stop them, I say!
There are all the usual complaints: dealings with the occult, sex, “cuss words” and other graphic language. I was particularly amused by the folks who wanted to ban To Kill A Mockingbird because the racial issues might upset black students. Honestly, if you are not upset by the racial issues in that book, no matter what color you are, you must have been reading something else.
So, check out the ALA website for more information on Banned Books Week and how you can get involved. Personally, I plan to add The Book of Bunny Suicides: Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don’t Want to Live Anymore to my Christmas shopping list for the nieces and nephews. (Count on Auntie Lisa as a corrupting influence). I also plan to check my local library — I have no idea what the procedures and policies are there for restricting a book and how that is communicated to the public. As a Frequent Patron, I ought to know. But most of all, I plan to read Banned Books and encourage others to do the same.
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No books have been banned in the USA for about a half a century. See “National Hogwash Week.”
Lisa,
The very first thing you need to do is check out South Beach Diet or something similar—–use it and get on with your life. It interests me to no end that you have NO children and the rest of America should value your opinion on how to handle their children – don’t make me laugh. Your “cute” caustic sense of humor is NOT effective…drop it. As long as the taxpayers are supporting the public school system in America – you figure out the rest because you are such a smart, smart woman with a cat.
“As long as the taxpayers are supporting the public school system in America – you figure out the rest because you are such a smart, smart woman with a cat.”
I’m a smart, smart woman with 2 cats and 3 dogs and 3 children, so let me give it a shot:
As long as the taxpayers are supporting the public school system in America, taxpayers, all of them, not just the ones who happen to have a child currently in school, are entitled and OBLIGED to keep an eye on the system that is educating the next generation. Your child is not just yours; he or she is part of the nation. The way the nation is educated makes a big difference to the way the nation is run. Restricting access to books and opinions and thoughts that might not be completely in line with your own is a lousy way to educate anyone.
I’m not a big commenter on blogs, but something like this is important for all of us. It’s so sad to that people like Eugenia, who is obviously so proud to be a parent, really can’t man up and take responsibility for raising their own children. If you don’t want your children reading things that you and your values deem “inappropriate” how about paying attention to what your kids are doing?
Shutting of the free flow of information is about the most effective way to damage our Republic. But I’m guessing Eugenia already knows that.
Eugenia, I *am* a parent, of two elementary-school-age children, and I have to tell you, I agree absolutely with Lisa, and not with your passive-aggressive attacks. (South Beach Diet? What the…?) My kids can read *anything* they want. If it’s something I don’t want them to read, I’ll discuss it with them, and tell them why. But I am absolutely *not* going to censor their reading. Kids are pretty good at self-censoring; if something is too violent, or too scary, they’ll set it aside.
Excellent article, Lisa! Brava for your funny, smart response to something that is more reflective of the intellectual fascism we should be trying to avoid.
So we need to list our parenting cred? Oh my. I have no children of my own but spent nine, almost ten years cleaning up the messes other people made of their children. Having visited many of their homes, I can tell you there were, more often than not, no books there. In fact, I was often the person who gave those children the first book they could call their own and almost invariably took them to get their first library card.
Their parents were sometimes sad, small, frightened souls like eugenia. A good response to common sense and intellectual growth was beyond them, so they would resort to random, personal cruelty. Part of me is glad that people like that want to stay curled in their own little corners, but it is tragic that they want to keep their children huddled in there with them.
Wow, eugenia! Is that the best you can do? Seriously? That’s not even insulting, just petty, asinine and childish.
Trust me that I could do a much better job of insulting you. Granted, there’s a lot more material to work with in your case…
It doesn’t matter one damn bit how many children I do or don’t have – I am a citizen of this nation, and my well-being ultimately depends on making sure that your puling, no-neck brats are raised to become free-thinking, productive members of our society. I pay taxes, I vote and I work in my community. What, pray tell, do YOU do, eugenia?
Thanks for this column, Lisa! I agree with the person upthread who called Eugenia’s “solution” to things “intellectual fascism.” Yes, let’s raise good little pliant, obedient blogs who will NEVER ask questions, NEVER think for themselves, NEVER be anything but dull clones of their dull parents.
Or rather, let’s allow children to learn to THINK, by exposing them to things outside their own heads. At some point, mature adults HAVE to come out of their own heads and notice the world around them. And relate to it in a non-hostile way, instead of believing that everyone who has a different opinion from them is somehow a “deadly enemy.”
No book banning!
Ahem. I meant “blobs,” upthread, rather than “blogs.” But I think what Eugenia wants is also “obedient blogs,” where everyone says and thinks the same things and nobody ever questions “the right way of doing things” — which sounds, not surprisingly, like it’s exactly the same as “Eugenia’s way of doing things.”