Un-Banned Books

I just love our bright, enthusiastic, slightly ornery school librarian. For one thing, she knows her job inside and out. For another, she so methodically—and, indeed, gleefully—orders every item on every list of banned or challenged books that it warms my hearts. Granted, we live in an extremely intellectual, liberal community, so there aren't any banned books here; she has to hunt for these things around the country.

The citywide curriculum requires her to do a lesson on the U.S. Constitution for the fifth graders; I happened to be on library duty today for Steph's class. First, the librarian read And Tango Makes Three, which is such a sweet, lovely picture book (and a true story, to boot!) that it's hard to imagine anyone getting upset about it. It tells the story of two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who have clearly designated themselves "a couple" and end up being given the chance to raise a baby penguin along with all the other couples. The theme of diverse families is made clearly but not stridently, and of course there's not even a mention of sex anywhere in the book, yet there are those who decry it as "promoting a homosexual agenda" (whatever that is).

After she read them the book (which they all loved), she passed around a whole bunch of books (all the usual suspects: Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, Harry Potter, etc.) and asked the kids to try to imagine what they all had in common. This led to a discussion of whether it's constitutional to ban books at all. She agreed that it was OK for parents to determine whether a book is appropriate for their own kids but asked whether they should be allowed to make that decision for everyone else's kids. No one thought so. I'm so lucky to live here.

Comments

[Risottogirl]

Amen sister!!!

Judy Blume's Deenie saved my psyche, I think. I have scoliosis and had to wear a brace in hs. Luckily I went to a small, private school where I'd known most of the girls since toddlerhood.

My parents have become much more conservative as they age (some say that is normal) but I thank goodness, my Mom encouraged me to read even controversial books and then talk with her about why others thought they were "bad".
Thanks Mom!

[Karen]

Yes, Deenie was in that pile today too, and I was happy that one girl immediately seized it and asked me to check it out for her. :-)

[Kathy]

she sounds like an AWESOME media specialist/librarian! In the county where I work as a school library media specialist, Harry Potter has been challenged recently (the crazy lady has actually challenged it to the GA State Supreme court!) and Deenie was challenged in our county 15 years ago and is actually used in many library schools as an example of a book challenge that got out of control!

ALA sells a great banned Book bracelet and t-shirt!

[Deb C]

We are fortunate here in Western Massachusetts. My daughter's first reading assignment in ninth grade was to read a banned book! Not a single parent objected.

[Di]

That's great! I can tell you that wouldn't happen here in the Bible Belt. When my daughter was in 3rd grade, she was reading Harry Potter during recess and one of the children said something about her parents saying that she couldn't read Harry Potter because it was against Jesus.

The teacher, still one of the best Haley has ever had, took the opportunity to give an on-the-spot lesson on censorship. She even asked, in a very non-threatening way, if the child's parents had read the book.

In my opinion, those banned books never quite live up to my expectations...I want them to be racier and they never seem to be.

Have you read Tom Sawyer lately? Or was it Huckleberry Finn? My husband got it for my son and I started reading it and was appalled at the use of the "N" word...but you have to consider the times in which it was written.

[Di]

Oh...and this is kind of interesting...especially for the Bible Belt. My daughter has a class called Paideia which combines History and Language Arts. It focuses a great deal on classroom participation, public speaking and debate. They have done some really interesting things so far.

Instead of the teacher pedantically explaining what plagiarism is, she handed out some news stories about plagiarism at a couple different schools around the country. The kids had to read them and then write about their viewpoints on the issue, how it was handled (one teacher was disciplined for enforcing the plagiarism policy) and how it should be dealt with. I love this...making the kids think and process instead of memorizing!