More on Banned Books

“Don't think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Though Banned Books Week ended on the 3rd, I thought it was never too late to talk about the subject. My sentiments from last year’s post haven’t changed. It’s still distressing to me to know there are groups and individuals who want to censor our reading material. It seems so easy and logical that if a book’s topic offends you, read something else, much like switching channels on TV. If you don’t want your children to read certain books, monitor them, not everyone else.

This year’s most challenged titles according to bannedbooksweek.com are:

And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group
The age group is preschool to 3rd grade and the book is based on a true story about a charming penguin family living in New York City's Central Park Zoo.

His Dark Materials trilogy, by Philip Pullman
Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence
The age group on this fantasy series is 13 and older.

TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
These are four grades 10 and up and I saw a review that mentioned TTYL is also a good choice for adults who want to know what's happening in teenagers' lives.

Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, and violence
This series is for 9 to 12 year olds. Who didn’t like sitting around at that age seeing who could scare who the most?

Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, and violence I’m not sure what age this is intended for but it sounds to me like it’s been around since 1973 and that it is an interesting story written from a Hispanic prospective.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, and unsuited to age group
It sounds to me that this was written for the Young Adult audience who probably knows more about each of the topics mentioned than I ever will.

Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group (Same comment as The Perks of Being a Wallflower)

Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen
Reasons: homosexuality and unsuited to age group
This is geared toward kids from four to eight and guinea pigs dressed in humans are the characters.

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
I thought this was an adult book so I’m not sure what age group they’re talking about, but I thought it was beautifully written, entertaining, and illuminating.

Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper
Reasons: sexually explicit and unsuited to age group
This is for ages from nine to twelve.

I’m for letting children read whatever interests them as long as they feel free to ask questions and talk about what they read. To me, the above books provide the perfect platform for parents to sit down with their kids to have discussions about the various issues each book addresses. You simply cannot keep kids from discovering the facts of life.

However, if you are against your children reading certain material, that’s fine, too. I’m not about to tell anyone how to parent. You are perfectly free to censor what goes into your home but please don’t try to limit the books I can bring into mine.

In closing, I couldn’t put it better than this quote from bannedbooksweek.com website: “Exercise Your First Amendment Rights - Read a Banned Book!”

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Eisenhower, banned books, And Tango Makes Three, The Kite Runner,