So, my very good friend sent me a list that she found, the most frequently challenged books of 2000. She gave me this list so that I, like her, could make it a point to purchase and read every single "challenged" book, just to, ya know, be rebellious! I really expected the books to be a bit more "contreversial" but in fact, reading through the list, I found that most were books I had read as a child, and neither my parents nor I found them troublesome or "inappropriate".
Some examples - Harry Potter is oft challenged for its focus on Wizardy and magic. A wrinkle in Time is also on the challenged list, but it doesn't give a reason. I'm guessing it's along the same lines as Harry Potter - as Wrinkle in Time (Madleine L'Engle) speaks of "magic" and time travel. Hmmm, do people realize that these books can be found under science fiction? Let me stress FICTION. Cmon people! I think we are sorely understimating children if we think they can not separate this far fetched fiction from reality. As much as I'd like to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy, because I think it would be much more interesting than the high school I attended, I hardly see that as a possibility. Likewise, much to my dismay, Sirius Black does not really exisist! (Sirius, for those of you that don't know, my favorite Harry Potter character:)) Some people enjoy reading for fantasy's sake, to escape reality and immerse themselves in a far off or fictional land. Let's continue to let them do so.
I know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is contested for racism and offensive language, as well as violence. Hmmm, considering that this is pretty much a story of Ms Angelou's life, I don't really understand how it can be racist. (for those of you that don't know who Maya Angelou is, get out from under your rock, do a yahoo search. She is a wonderful author and poet, and for the record, is an African American). The book recounts acts of racism against her, but that's history for you. Which brings me to the challenge of To Kill a Mockingbird and Huck Finn, again for racism and offensive language. Now, I've read both of these books, and it is of my opinion that neither condones the acts of racism that it reports, but is rather painting a picture of history at that time. Next, let's just go and ban history books, since we're obviously wanting to cover up America's past.
Now, I want to share an interesting story with you. My father's friend is a librarian in the central Michigan area. When she first started, she noticed the suprisingly large amount of parents that wanted books removed from the library. Now, said friend, being of much the same opinion as myself, thought this was a bit wrong, since parents have every right to monitor what THEIR kids can read, but should they really have the power to pull a book and deprive ALL kids? no. So, she came up with a plan, and devised a packet consisting of many pages one must fill out to ban a book from that library. The questions required you to actually READ the book, novel concept, and cite certain pages and passages that you felt were inappropriate. Since she put this little method into place about 10 years ago, no one has tried to ban a book. Hmm, interesting.
Now, I encourage everyone to go visit this website, take a look at the lists they have of challenged and banned books, then go read them! Also, in honor of banned books week, I have decided to start a little "Safe Haven" so to speak on my website, for artists. If anyone has any poems, short stories, pictures, whatever, that they'd like on the web, feel free to send it to me via e-mail, and I will be more than happy to post it. Also, feel free to email me with comments about this rant, or about banned books in general!
Having said all of this - I'm off to curl up with a banned book!