Reading Banned Books 2016

Last election season in our town was ugly. Neighbors against neighbors, ugly words and voices bantered around social media, friends taking a swipe at each other turned our little town crazy and divided.
One person said, "It's only politics. When the elections are over, we will all be friends again." I was shocked at this sentiment from a certain group (I can do a whole other blog post on why it's okay for adults to be cyber bullies but we teach our children not to be). They had no idea how destructive and degrading their words and comments were. Words have a lasting effect, for good or bad.

Aren't books the same?


There are a few banned books I've read or even been assigned in school. Some I can't figure out why in the world they would be banned; some make sense. But I choose if I will read those books. I find it ironic how many of the banned books I was assigned to read in school.

I appreciate parents who are concerned with the books assigned to their children or that show up in the school libraries. To me it shows they are involved with their children. Just this week, a parent at one of my children's schools brought up a concern about MONSTER, the graphic book. Her child is black and adopted. She was concerned about what the book taught and wanted it banned from the library. A team was formed of parents, PTA, SCC and teachers to read the book and give their insight.

The only issue with these kind of teams is that we are all different people with different tastes in books and stories. Someone won't like it, someone will love it. At the same time, this is a good thing. I think the process is a good one and actually works.

 Last year during the election season a parent came in concerned about the R rated movies in the library and wanted them banned. Then she went down the slippery slope of asking for the librarians, or a group of concerned citizens, to read all the books in the library and getting rid of the "bad" ones. The director immediately said no. There wasn't enough time or people to handle such a request.

Is it censorship if we ask a library to take a certain book or movie out of the public library? Is it censorship if I ask an English teacher to assign a different book to my child because the one she's being graded on is offensive to me?

 I want my children to read. I want them to understand the world outside of our home and their skin. At the same time, I want to protect them. My non-reader devoured the entire TWILIGHT series in a week. I wasn't about to stop her.  Then she read the HUNGER GAMES series shortly after that. And guess what? We were able to talk about boyfriends, healthy relationships and violence. I'm not saying I want her to read FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY, but I'm willing to be there for her to talk to about tough subjects. My mom wasn't emotionally available to talk about the birds and the bees or really anything sensitive. I learned a lot from books. I don't want that for my children. I want to be the one they come to ask questions.

The review group hasn't got back together yet so I'm not sure what will happen. I think the book is okay to stay in the library. We will see what others say. I do understand the mom's concern though. I hope she was able to take the time to talk to her child about the book and the questions s/he had. In this world our children need us. They need an advocate. Someone in their corner, listening to them, encouraging them, cheering them on. I want my children to know they can count on me, their mom.

What do you think?

What banned books have you read?

Do you think it should be banned?

Are there any books you'd rather not have your children read?

Banned Book Challenge

I'm always surprised at the books that have been challenged or banned over the years. Then again, I'm NOT surprised at some of the others. No one has to tell me not to read certain because they're naughty or racist or full of evil. I choose for myself. I also choose not to read certain genres or book because of content. I'm not a prude or an introvert. I read 100 books a year. I just choose to read ones that don't get me down or fill my head will scenes I wouldn't want to see on TV or at the movies. Why would I want to read them?

But! I will  protect my children while they are young and innocent. For that reason, there are books that are not in my home and will not be in my home. Even if it's an English assignment. Does this mean I ban books in my home. You betcha. This doesn't mean I'm keeping my children in a bubble or I'm limiting them for when they go out in the real world. This means I am protecting them, and as their parent that is my right. I can control what comes in and out of my home.

I will not go to the local library and ask them to ban books. I have let them know they may want to read certain young adult books and see if that is the right shelf for them or if they should have an adult label.

My oldest daughter was not a reader until the Twilight series came along (you know what I just realized?? Twilight is not on the challenged or banned list!). My daughter devoured those books in a week. I read the books before she did and we talked about certain scenes in the books. Like it's not okay for a boy to hang out in your room. "Duh, Mom. We already have that rule."

Reading challenged/banned books is not the answer either. No one should feel pressure to read books they don't like. You don't like the idea of reading about witchcraft? It's okay if you don't want to read Harry Potter. You don't want to read about gay dads? Fine! Don't read Daddy's Roommate. Are you an animal lover? You may not want to read Of Mice and Men.

Read what makes you happy. I realized I really enjoy reading young adult books because there is usually some semblance of happiness. But I'm still picky which books I read from that genre.

Guess which book is the most banned books in America right now? Harry Potter.


I talked about some of the challenged/banned titles with my teens and tweens. Here's some of our discussion:

"Harry Potter is on the banned list."
"Why would they ban Harry Potter?"
"I think some people saw the word "witchcraft" and thought it was about real witches and cults."
"That's stupid!"
"Tom Sawyer has been banned, too."
"What? Why?"
"From what I understand, people were offended by the way blacks were portrayed in the book."
"But that's part of our history."
"I know. Here's another one: Daddy's Roommate."
"I'd never read that."
"Me either. But some people don't want you to even have a choice."
"Well, that's stupid."


Here is a list of challenged books in 2012 and the reasons why:

2012

Out of 464 challenges as reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom

 

1. Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey.
   Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie.
   Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
3. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher.
   Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group
4. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James.
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
5. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.
   Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group
6. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
   Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit
7. Looking for Alaska, by John Green.
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group
8. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
   Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence
9. The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
   Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit
10. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
    Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence

How many banned/challenged books have you read? Here are two challenges:

100 Most Frequently Challenged Books from 1990-1999  
(I only got 22)

100 Most Frequently Challenged Books from 2000-2009
(I only got 21)

Is it really censorship? Janette Rallison

I really enjoyed these emails from Janette Rallison:

This is a soap box issue for me. So many of my fellow national market YA authors put sexual content in their books. Maybe they don't think it's a big deal to have their 16 or 17 or 18 year-old have sex, (sometimes the characters are much younger though. My son picked up a book where the 13 year-old characters had sex) but the fact of matter is that it generally isn't 16-18 year olds who are reading these books. It's 11-15 year olds. Once kids are 16, they've pretty much left the YA market and read adult novels.

Yes, we need to have a variety of books that deal with a variety of subjects--even difficult subjects like date rape and incest. Some kids need those books. But even they can be written tastefully. Personally, I don't want sex normalized for young kids. I don't want my kids to have those images and thoughts in their minds when they start dating--and although it's unfair of me to push my beliefs onto others--I don't want the teenagers my kids date to have those thoughts or images in their minds while they're out with my kids.

But even more, it bothers me that so many authors portray sex as okay as long as you use protection. STDs are rampant in our society. According to several official websites (that I didn't believe until I talked to my gynecologist) 80% of sexually active people over the age of 14 have at least one STD. Protection doesn't stop many of the STDs. No where in these YA books is this fact being talked about. I feel that by normalizing it and making kids feel that everyone is doing it and it's okay to do, those authors are not telling kids the truth and they're putting kids at risk.

Which is why I write G-rated books. For now--I'm sorely tempted to write one where the heroine thinks it's okay because she's in love and then the guy breaks up with her because, hey, he's 17 and has less maturity than blue cheese, and she's stuck with a life long painful disease.

That would probably not be my usual type of romantic comedy . . .

Janette Rallison

Since the subject came up about censoring things in YA books, I thought I'd put in that editors always censor things in your books--it's just a matter of what they are censoring. A lot of times they're things you wouldn't think would be censored. In Just One Wish I had a scene where the heroine lost a pet snake on a movie set. I had to add in later that someone found it because someone who read the advanced reading copy got offended that the heroine had been so thoughtless of the animal's safety. I pointed out to my editor that it was a fictional snake and therefore quite capable of catching mice on its own, but no dice. It had to be changed.

In It's A Mall World After all I had a little girl who sat on Santa's lap and told him, "Say hello to baby Jesus for me." That had to go because the editor didn't want anything religious in the book. (Hello, what is Christmas about?)

Here are things I had to cut from My Fair Godmother:

The sentence where I described Savannah's Snow White outfit. I said it was a simple red gown, thankfully lacking the collar in Disney's version, which made Snow White look like she was wearing a megaphone around her neck. My editor cut that because she didn't want Disney mad at us.

I also had to cut some of the religious references about the Middle Ages. My editor didn't want any mention of religion in the book because religion, at least Christian religion, is a taboo subject in young adult literature. I know, it doesn't make any sense. Especially since we are dealing with the Middle Ages. Is it a surprise to anybody that the people of that time were Catholic? No matter, I cut the scene where she went to church and the mention of her reading in her history book about popes and bishops.

My last example of cuts: I had to cut all the parts that dealt with leprechaun drinking. Originally I had a leprechaun who'd accidentally come to Virginia with Savannah's Irish neighbors. He had one too many Guinnesses and crawled into a box to sleep it off. When he woke up he was in an airplane cargo box, wedged between a bunch of knickers, and flying over the Pacific ocean.

Really, now that I think about it, he was sort of a lush.

My editor didn't want any mention of alcohol in the book. Which is ironic because I don't drink at all. So yeah, you'd think I'd be the last one to encourage any young, impressionable leprechauns to start downing whiskey. Plus, it was probably a good idea to cut those parts because the drinking-leprechaun is sort of a stereo type, and I wouldn't want a bunch of angry leprechauns banning my book.

Censorship is just part of the writing process

Janette Rallison

Back to the Books Giveaway Hop! 2 Winners!

THANKS to I'm a Reader, Not a Writer and Buried in Books for hosting this hop. 300 blogs are entered to give away prizes!

I have a few books that need good homes. Want to adopt a few?
Let me tell you about the books:
They LOVE to be read, carressed and petted.
They do not require food though they don't mind if their owner eats while reading.
They enjoy being read and reread.
They need a nice place to rest like a lovely bookshelf or a quiet corner in your room.
They don't care for water. At all.
But they do like to be read in the tub or at the pool.
They LOVE to be shared!

Ok.
Enough silliness. Down to the nitty-gritty!
Pack A:
I have three SIGNED books who need a good home:

Pack B:
These books crave a good home (all three have been read once):

So! Which set do you want? Pack A (signed) or Pack B? Let me know in the comments along with your email. 

No need to follow my blog even though I would love to hang out with you here!
GOOD LUCK!
Contest is Sept 1-7. Winner will be picked by random.org and announced Sept 8th (barring any weird circumstances like having to run to the store for more chocolate).


GO HERE for the list of blogs who are hopping!

Banned Book Week

I read tons when I was in elementary school. I loved biographies. I loved learning about Helen Keller and the Wright Brothers. I read fiction but most of it was Judy Blume who made me uncomfortable. Ironically, one of her books taught me to think for myself.

When I was in high school I couldn't figure out why anyone parent would come in to the principal and ask to have a book removed from the library. I was pretty sure there were no "bad" books in my school. then again, I wasn't big into books. I read what was forced and to this day can't stomach ANIMAL FARM, UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, LORD OF THE FLIES, THE GREAT GATSBY and MOBY DICK.

After one year of college I went with friends to Asia to teach English and make scads of money (I came back with one nickel). It was on a tiny island that I started reading again for enjoyment. The first book I bought was JANE EYRE. I love that book. I read TALE OF TWO CITIES and GONE WITH THE WIND next. Loved those books.

I got married, had children, read to them and now they read books. We love to read A LIGHT IN THE ATTIC and other silly books by Shel Silverstein.

Now I know why concerned parents ask books to be removed. I don't agree with removing books, but I understand better now.
My daughter wasn't much of a reader. She couldn't find anything that interested her and she didn't want to waste time reading something she wasn't going to like. Along came TWILIGHT. She devoured that book! Read it in two days. She read the whole series at age 12. I asked her to wait. She wanted to read what her friends were gaga over. So she read and we talked about it.

My son has a totally different dilemma. He loves to read but has a hard time finding books for boys. He read all the HARRY POTTER books. I'm always on the look out for great boy books. (Have any suggestions? Email me or leave them in the comments! THANKS)

Now that I write, I read. And read. And read. I consider reading part of my job as a writer (best. job. ever.).
I have returned books to the library and told them the YA rating should be adult.
I have shut books after a few chapters because the content offended me.
I have asked my children not to read certain books that were for more mature readers.
I will stand by my child if they think a book on the reading list is not one she wants to read for content.

I will not ban a book. 

All the books highlighted in this color have been banned for various and sometimes silly reasons. Check out American Library Association for more surprises on which books have been banned.