Celebrating Banned Books Week 2012

I celebrated Banned Books Week by reading two books that have made the ALA's most challenged list for more than one year, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (which I've read before) and Deadline by Chris Crutcher.

I read Perks a couple of years ago, but wanted to reread it before going to see the movie (Emma Watson as Sam--yay!).  If a frank treatment of homosexuality, sexually active teens who use drugs and/or alcohol, and child abuse offends you, then you will probably hate both the book and the movie.  I love this book because it definitely pushes the envelope of YA literature and takes on some serious topics.  Charlie is an academically gifted, but socially awkward high school freshman who becomes friends with two seniors, Patrick and Sam.  Their friendship helps Charlie learn to live his life, rather than to simply observe others, and to come to terms with trauma in his past.

As I would with any book to movie adaptation, I strongly suggest that you read the book before seeing the movie.  For a reminder to do just that, try out this website to receive a monthly newsletter:

I started read Deadline several months ago and then got interrupted when Bill and I had to drop everything, pack up the house, and make yet another cross-country move.  I finally found it again while unpacking one of my many boxes of books and happily curled up with it this afternoon.  The main character, 18-year-old Ben Wolf, goes in for a sports physical and finds out that he has a terminal disease that will kill him in a year.  He decides to try to live an entire lifetime during his senior year and takes all kinds of risks that he would have only dreamed of before (like going out for football and finally talking to his dream girl).  As he prepares to die, Ben examines his relationships and finds it ever more difficult to keep his secret from those he loves.  As always, Chris Crutcher takes on a multitude of issues--racism, child abuse, teen pregnancy, censorship, suicide--that some will find offensive.  The scene where Ben's favorite teacher burns a book is one I found especially delightful.  Add to that some mildly explicit sex scenes and some profanity and the book banners start pulling out their torches.

To see Chris Crutcher's awesome responses to multiple attempts to ban his books, check out his website here.

I went to John Green's website after noticing his wonderful book, Looking for Alaska, on one of the ALA's top challenged lists.  I found this nerd warrior response video that made me go, "Whoa, I need to read more of this guy's books."  Check it out!

Free Speech Matters to Me

What a treat to run across this video that features several of my favorite authors of young adult literature (and several more who have been added to my TBR list) talking about why free speech matters.  All of these authors have had books challenged and/or banned.  Highlights of the video (for me) include Jacqueline Woodson's comment about teaching kids to write well before encouraging them to try to  silence others, John Green getting bleeped, Heather Brewer's librarian story, and Lev Grossman and Nina LaCour talking about our need to confront ideas that are difficult or that we disagree with.  And my hero, Chris Crutcher.  ALL of his books have been banned somewhere.

As an avid reader and teacher, I am passionate about the power of books to open up whole new worlds.  

When I was a kid, my mom took me to the library every few weeks and I would check out a huge pile of books.  She was sometimes skeptical about my ability to read so many books, but never once stopped me from reading something that caught my interest.  Back in the dark ages when I was a teenager, there wasn't the huge selection of YA literature that there is today.  Even as an elementary and middle school student, I read mainly adult fiction; children's books were too easy and there weren't many other choices.

My first experience with censorship involved Forever by Judy Blume when I was in the sixth grade.  I remember hearing that this book I had never heard of was banned at my middle school.  Anyone caught with it would be in SERIOUS TROUBLE.  I was a good student, a teacher's pet kind of kid, and a voracious reader.  The idea that someone could stop me from reading anything I wanted to read was a huge shock.  The ban awoke a little passive-aggressive monster in me and I immediately went to the public library, checked out the offending book, covered it in brown paper from a grocery store bag...and took it to school.  I read that book cover to cover in a few hours, and then read it again, giggling with my friends over the "good parts."

One could argue that, at 11 years old, I was too young for that particular book.  Perhaps I was.  But I read it and I survived.  Giggling about "Ralph" did not make me sexually active.  I didn't start smoking or doing drugs.  I continued to be (mostly) respectful to my parents and teachers.  I still cared about my grades.  At the time, I found the book more funny and gross than titillating.  Had it not for the school-wide ban, I doubt I would have even picked up Forever.  At that time, I was much more interested in fantasy (thank you, J.R.R. Tolkien for being awesome).  Thanks to the book banners, I discovered a wonderful book that might otherwise have escaped my notice and developed a lifelong fascination with books and authors who aren't afraid to tackle controversial topics.

A few years later, in ninth grade, I ran across a copy of The French Lieutenant's Woman in my school library.  I tried to check it out and the librarian wouldn't let me have it.  I was floored.  Then I went home and saw the book on our bookshelf at home.  So, of course I took it to school and showed it to my friends.  I was quite a little snot about it, smack-talking about the situation, when my friends suddenly got very quiet.   I turned around, only to find myself face to face with the evil librarian.  I looked her right in the eye and said, "Luckily, my mom had this at home, so I can read it anyway."  It was out of character for me, but I took that act of censorship as a personal offense.  I did apologize to the librarian later, but I found it unfair that she was not asked to apologize to me.   

People who want to protect their children from ideas in books may be well-meaning, but in the long-run, they do much more harm than good.  Sooner or later, children grow up and are expected to navigate through a world that is often brutal and cruel and filled with difficult choices.  If we never allow our children to explore difficult or uncomfortable ideas in books, we seriously impair their ability to make good choices about their own lives.  How can our children be expected to make mature decisions when they can't even be trusted to make choices about what to read?  Keeping your own child from reading a particular book is one thing, but banning a book and taking that choice away from EVERYONE'S children is simply wrong.   


Especially in our internet saturated world, where we can find anything, from porn to dirty bomb recipes, censoring books seems kind of pointless.  Instead of trying to take books off of library shelves and out of our children's hands, we should be encouraging them to read as much as they can, and then having open and honest conversations with them.  This is how they will clarify their own ideas about the world and the kind of adults they aspire to be.  This is how they learn to think critically and to make the decisions that they will be called upon to make when they are in charge of running the world, when THEY are responsible for US.


"This is America.  We have the freedom to read here.  We have the freedom to think here....Freedom of speech matters to me.  And it should matter to you, too." --Laurie Halse Anderson

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Oh, goody! Another book to shuffle up to the top of my TBR pile. Sherman Alexie's award-winning novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, has just been banned by a school district in Georgia.

Here is a quote from an article about the incident that really gets to the heart of why banning books is not only misguided, but also potentially harmful.

"The idea that what is inside a book -- offensive language, sexual references, thematic material, violence, witchcraft, etc. -- should determine its availability to students is a direct challenge to freedom of choice and educational mission.

Discussion of sensitive or weighty topics in a school setting can promote intellectual growth and maturity. Banning a book, conversely, can deprive students of the opportunity to broaden their understanding of the world." Read the full article here

Parents certainly have the right to limit their own children's access to materials that they find offensive or otherwise inappropriate. But making that decision for EVERYONE'S children is simply wrong. Rather than banning books, perhaps it would be smarter to read along with our children and then TALK ABOUT the ideas. What a great opportunity to clarify the moral values that we want to pass along to our children! It's called a teachable moment, folks. Use it.

Review to follow. Feel free to add yours, too.

Angry Management by Chris Crutcher, challenged in South Carolina

I just ran across a story about the most recent attempt to ban a book written by one of my favorite YA authors, Chris Crutcher.

The challenge to Angry Management comes from a parent in South Carolina, who, after reading 24 pages, decided that the book was unfit for his 14 year old son (and every child in the Kershaw County School District) because of "language." The parent, Douglas Berry, used Facebook to harangue the district's superintendent to remove the book from the summer reading list, as well as from the district's library shelves. The book seems to have been removed, perhaps pending a resolution, and then replaced once a committee was able to meet and discuss the challenge. It bothers me that that the district, at least initially, caved in so willingly and put the needs of one vocal complainer above the needs of everyone else.

As much as I do not agree with Mr. Berry, we live in a country where he has every right to not like this book, read this book, or buy this book. The school's summer reading list had at least 39 other books for his son to choose from. Surely, at least one of those would have been appropriate summer reading. He also is well within his rights to forbid his son from reading this book. Although I suspect that his son, along with many people who had never heard of Angry Management or Chris Crutcher before, has already read it, if only to find out what all of the fuss is about. It's certainly been moved to the top of my TBR pile.

The following is an excerpt from the letter that Chris Crutcher wrote to the students of Kershaw County in response to the challenge:

"Listen, if you pick up a copy of Angry Management and read the first twenty-four pages, as Douglas Berry says he did, and you don’t like it, put it down. The right to read also includes the right not to read. But remember it’s your right, not anyone else’s. If your education doesn’t challenge you, doesn’t take you out of your comfort zone and even scare you a little, you are being cheated."

So here's my suggestion. Go buy or borrow a copy of this book, read it, and start a conversation. Challenge ignorance and think for yourself.