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#258450 09/22/14 08:27 PM
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It's Banned Books Week, so I set up a display of banned books in the library. The kids promptly wanted to know what Banned Books Week was about, and why they weren't supposed to read some books. I gave the histories of each banned book, making it as snarky as possible. Unsurprisingly, a large quantity of the books immediately got checked out, even books that most kids wouldn't have touched before (telling kids they aren't allowed to do something is an open invitation for them to do it, especially if they think they're sticking it to the man when they do it).

I wrote this snarky bit on one banned book and posted it on Facebook this morning:

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Did you know that one version of 'Little Red Riding Hood' has been banned? Yep ... and not because of violence or fear of wolves. It's because of ... you guessed it ... wine. Yes, the bottle of wine that Little Red Riding Hood carries to Grandma. You see, at the end of the story, Grandma eats the food and drinks the wine and feels better. Oh, the horror, the horror! If children read about an elderly woman, presumably well past 21, drinking wine, they'll turn into alcoholics! A whole generation lost to alcoholism because they read a story that's been making the rounds for hundreds of years!

Frankly, if I'd spent most of the day inside the gut of an anthropomorphic wolf, I'd want something a little stronger than wine, but that's just me.


"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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Do you have the list? As I've gotten older I've taken an interest in the literature that I didn't read in public school. Not that things were banned from the reading list--more that there was no reading list. (Though I did read Catcher in the Rye in school and it didn't do the cause any favors.)


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Wow. I just looked this up and OMG this is ridiculous. It's one thing if you don't want yourself (or your child) to be reading a certain subject matter-- settle with your own conscience. Also, if there's sensitive or thematic subject materials, it's a teacher's decision to gauge what the class is ready for (i.e. we read Romeo&Juliet freshman year, but Hamlet didn't come along until senior year, because of the incest-y vibes). There's some novels I've read that I wish I hadn't, same as anyone. But to try and get books BANNED because of your own personal opinion? That's ridiculous. Don't prevent someone else from having an experience simply because you didn't like yours. (For example, I couldn't get through "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath in high school, because of personal reasons. It's the only book I actually didn't read. However, I wouldn't stop anyone else from reading it-- just because it was a bit triggering for me doesn't mean it might not be cathartic for someone else to read.)

But from what I've seen of the "banned books list," I owe my English teachers a big thanks. Because I've read at least half of the books on there. Also, I think it's the height of irony that "Fahrenheit 451" is on some of the lists I've seen. Just sayin'.

Like you said though Annie, just knowing there's a list out there makes me want to comb through and read them all. grin It's the rebel in me.


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I've started reading my kids the Harry Potter series this summer. I know it's on the list (having seen it there before). Some people who haven't read it think that because the main characters are witches and wizards, they are anti-religious. If they read it, they'd realize that most of the main characters in it are Christian, who celebrate Christmas and Easter. The books are about finding the good in yourself and others, while fighting against bigotry, elitism, child abuse, bullies, and the other evils in the world.

I could see not letting elementary school kids read some books which were more age-appropriate for middle or high schoolers, but banning a book without having read it says more about the banner than the book being banned.

"The Music Man" musical was performed in my town recently and one of the topics in that play is about the naughty books Marion the librarian has on her shelves. By the end of the play, those women who were saying what horrible books they were had actually read them and were spouting off how good they were. wink


VirginiaR.
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Originally Posted by Mouserocks
Wow. I just looked this up and OMG this is ridiculous. It's one thing if you don't want yourself (or your child) to be reading a certain subject matter-- settle with your own conscience.
When I was a teenager, my mother tried to keep me from reading the Earth's Children series because she felt it was too sexually explicit. Then she left the books in the bathroom where I could get them. (To be honest, I found the descriptions of the uses of plants far more interesting than the rather repetitive sex scenes. One can read sex scenes in any Harlequin romance, but good descriptions of plants were something special.)

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Also, if there's sensitive or thematic subject materials, it's a teacher's decision to gauge what the class is ready for (i.e. we read Romeo&Juliet freshman year, but Hamlet didn't come along until senior year, because of the incest-y vibes).
A lot of the English curriculum hasn't changed in California over the years. I also read Romeo and Juliet as a freshman. The teacher taught us all the naughty things from the play, which meant that we learned it very well. I didn't take a literature class as a senior, though -- I took something called Advanced Composition (aka Advanced Decomposition, since the teacher quit halfway through the year), so I didn't get to Hamlet until I studied theater in college.

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There's some novels I've read that I wish I hadn't, same as anyone. But to try and get books BANNED because of your own personal opinion? That's ridiculous. Don't prevent someone else from having an experience simply because you didn't like yours. (For example, I couldn't get through "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath in high school, because of personal reasons. It's the only book I actually didn't read. However, I wouldn't stop anyone else from reading it-- just because it was a bit triggering for me doesn't mean it might not be cathartic for someone else to read.)
I like your attitude. I've also found books that I couldn't get through, sometimes because they just didn't interest me, or sometimes because I found the material distressing. I didn't tell anyone else not to read those books, though -- just because they didn't suit me (or didn't suit me at that moment) didn't mean they weren't good for someone else.

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But from what I've seen of the "banned books list," I owe my English teachers a big thanks. Because I've read at least half of the books on there. Also, I think it's the height of irony that "Fahrenheit 451" is on some of the lists I've seen. Just sayin'.
It is definitely ironic that Fahrenheit 451 has been banned. About 5 years ago, I had a principal who thought the idea of filling the library with banned books was great, because kids tend to want to read anything they've been told they aren't allowed to read, and gave me actual money to buy books with (rather than telling me it was a great idea and then expecting me to scrounge for what was needed).

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Like you said though Annie, just knowing there's a list out there makes me want to comb through and read them all. grin It's the rebel in me.
Here are the top 100 banned/challenged books from 2000 - 2009. Here is a page on frequently challenged books. I have to laugh at some of the challenges, since it's abundantly clear that in some cases the challengers didn't bother to read the books at all.


"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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Thanks for the list. I'm not familiar with many of those titles and some of them have been on the list since they were first published decades ago.

I'm surprised that the Percy Jackson books never made it to the list. They are much more violent and, since they center around a group of kids who are children of the Greek gods, I could see people considering them as more anti-religious than Harry Potter (even though neither of the books are). I stopped reading them once Percy reached 18 as I didn't know where his relationship with his girlfriend might go in the next series. Plus, I was ready for something a little less violent. So my daughter checked out the next book and is now reading it on her own. lol

My son got bored with the Captain Underpants series, so we've only read the first two. (Same with the "How to Train your Dragon" series which he said was too much talking and not enough action.)

I do have to say that when I tried to read Tom Sawyer to them this summer (not having read it myself), I was shocked at the graphic nature of the murder scene and both my kids voted not to read more of it after that scene. (Then again, my daughter said the same thing about Laura I. Wilder's "House on Plum Creek" - I think it was - because of the leeches. I keep hoping to get back to that one. And the violence of the pirates in Treasure Island -- I kept asking them how they expected pirates to act.)

On our road trip this summer, my daughter and I listened to books on CD: the Secret Garden, Little Women (only covered the first half though), Swiss Family Robinson (my daughter had fun trying to guess where in the world such an island could exist with such a variety of animals and plants AND snow), and Pride and Prejudice (which my daughter couldn't really understand due to the heavy accent of the reader).

I remember vaguely reading "A Wrinkle in Time" as a kid, but not enough to tell you anything more than the title. I recalled that I liked it, I think. smile

How can an Eric Carle book be banned? huh That would be like banning "Goodnight, Moon" for occultism.

"Fahrenheit 451" was the book chosen by the City of Los Angeles's "everyone should read a book" book club about... 10-12 years ago now. It's amazing how many things in that book have come to pass (into existence) since Ray Bradbury wrote it. Combine it with "1984" and you've got a pretty good description of what life is like in America today. (Sadly.)

I find it interesting that "Twilight" series started falling off the list once the movies came out. (Ditto with Harry Potter.)

Sad that parents were upset and (tried to) banned books about puberty from the library. If your parents don't talk to you about what's happening with your body (and other things covered in such books) a book from the library is a much better source than your friends (don't you think?). Thank goodness for libraries and librarians. clap

FYI: My son is 7 y.o. and my daughter 9 y.o.


VirginiaR.
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I'm surprised by many of the titles on the list. I'm with you, Virginia. I'm more concerned about elementary kids being exposed to age-appropriate topics. And some of those decisions may vary, depending on your child. When I first started reading the Harry Potter series to my kids, we had to take a break when the ghosts at the Halloween party got too scary. And even when we picked the series up later, they were very upset when major characters died.

I was also surprised that my kids read books about the holocaust in 4th grade but they seemed to do okay.

Joan

Junie B Jones banned? What's with that?

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Originally Posted by scifiJoan
I'm surprised by many of the titles on the list. I'm with you, Virginia. I'm more concerned about elementary kids being exposed to age-appropriate topics. And some of those decisions may vary, depending on your child. When I first started reading the Harry Potter series to my kids, we had to take a break when the ghosts at the Halloween party got too scary. And even when we picked the series up later, they were very upset when major characters died.
We're currently reading book 3. I thought my son would have trouble with the spiders in book 2 because he has a fear of spiders (like Ron), but we had just watched Hobbit (movie 2, which has large spiders), so he did okay. We'll see how he does with the Dementors (coming up in the next chapter). He's also had some fears of ghosts since watching Ghostbusters this summer (not my decision), but he did okay with the Nearly-Headless Nick's deathday party. They didn't like that I put a scary tone for the voice only Harry could hear. So, to make it less terrifying, they asked me to read it as if it were a little girl's voice. huh Personally, I thought that made it more scary, but they just giggled themselves silly with me saying "Kill! Kill! Kill!" in a happy, little girl's voice. Yep. I'm scarring them for life. Oh, dear.

Some co-starring characters were killed off in the Percy Jackson series, which worried me, but my kids seemed to do okay. Maybe it's because they've dealt with the death of both of my husband's parents (and a cat). Then, again, they freaked out about the lion's death in the Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe. I guess it depends on how it is handled. I thought the description in the LWW was too graphically detailed (as was the murder scene in Tom Sawyer) which could be why they had more trouble with it.


VirginiaR.
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Originally Posted by VirginiaR
We're currently reading book 3. I thought my son would have trouble with the spiders in book 2 because he has a fear of spiders (like Ron), but we had just watched Hobbit (movie 2, which has large spiders), so he did okay.

We used to have spider issues too.

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Some co-starring characters were killed off in the Percy Jackson series, which worried me, but my kids seemed to do okay. Maybe it's because they've dealt with the death of both of my husband's parents (and a cat). Then, again, they freaked out about the lion's death in the Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe. I guess it depends on how it is handled. I thought the description in the LWW was too graphically detailed (as was the murder scene in Tom Sawyer) which could be why they had more trouble with it.

That's a key point- how a subject is handled in books or in movies. Think of the Diary of Anne Frank versus Schlinder's List. Both are about the holocaust but one is far too disturbing for young children. Even Scooby Doo has some scary stuff but the tone is light and it's a cartoon so it doesn't have as much of an impact on kids.

(I feel silly I have more TV/movie examples than books but images have a big impact on kids. When mine were little, they'd watch something and only realize it bothered them when they couldn't sleep (and I couldn't sleep) at night. That wasn't fun.)

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"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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One of the school districts in my area, Riverside Unified has banned The Fault in Our Stars in its middle schools. The reason? Sexual content and crude language.

I've read 'The Fault in Our Stars', and while there is some sexual content, it is definitely not explicit (you barely know it happens), and as to crude language -- the parent who thought it inappropriate, Karen Krueger, has obviously never listened to the way kids talk at school. Banning this book will not stop the kids from using "crude" language -- they were using it long before the book was ever written. (The first time I heard a kid using crude language at school was the first day of kindergarten, when one of my classmates, not yet five years old, told his mother that the "damned cafeteria" was on fire; this was at a small Catholic school, and the kid may have been quoting the principal, a nun, who was quite intent on getting all the students off-campus safely.)


"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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I can't believe that "Captain Underpants" is on the list! Come on, people, it's satire!

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Some people are offended by potty humor, and apparently think that if kids don't read Captain Underpants, they'll never learn potty humor. Actually, I think kids start figuring out potty humor when they're a few months old, when they figure out that 1) they mess their diapers, and 2) that gets a reaction, thus setting a lifetime pattern. (My dad and his brothers think toilet jokes are hilarious, and these guys are in their 70s and 80s).


"Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”

- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
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I like the part in "Captain Underpants" where there is a sign outside the school that usually has some message that's important for school. George and Harold always come by, take out some letters, and rearrange the remainder to say something funny.

It's good for kids because it teaches them about anagrams! smile


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