Banned Books Week has always been something of an important event for me, on an unofficial level. Walking into my local library at this time of year, my eyes are always drawn to the posters announcing the beginning of BBW, often featuring the covers of banned books or quotes that condemn censorship. I will freely admit that I have some strong feelings about banning/challenging books. Generally, I am a levelheaded and calm person, but there are a few things that make me pretty angry, and censorship is one of them. It is something that gets under my skin and irritates me until I feel the urge to go for a long walk or punch a pillow for an hour or so. I suppose someone could argue that I need to straighten out my priorities—what with people starving in third world countries and the rainforests being decimated, how can I possibly think about books? Books are not a matter of life and death…well, at least, not to a young American woman who grew up in a comfortable, middle-class lifestyle, now are they?
Fine, you can argue that. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be angry about censorship. I have an intimate relationship with books—I’ve been reading them since the age of five. They have taught me and bored me and helped me and angered me and consoled me and amused me and, above all, fascinated me for nearly two decades, and that is something to which I can relate. There are plenty of crusades and causes to choose from in this world; I have simply chosen the one I feel most strongly about. Passionate people make a difference, and I am choosing the place where I can be most passionate so that I can make a difference.
Fortunately for me, I live in a place where the ideals of the community mean that it is very unlikely that a book will ever be seriously challenged here. Nevertheless, it upsets me when I read a story about a novel that was banned from a school library by administrators, or a public library that is forced to shelve “inappropriate” books in a back room, away from the “sensitive” eyes of patrons. I don’t live in these places, so how can I do my part to maintain the intellectual freedom of the American public? I am not a fighter by nature. I’m not the type to drive to a faraway town to protest with signs and chants, and I’m not the type to write letters to school administrators and board members. So what will I do?
I will ask people to read banned and challenged books.
This week’s blog entries and book reviews will be focused around YA Books that have been banned in towns across the US for a myriad of reasons—strong language, sexually explicit content, violence, anti-religious views, so-called “occult/satanist content”…the list goes on and on. For those of you who who find these topics to be uncomfortable ones and who feel that perhaps these books have been banned for a good reason, just hear me out:
I think that all parents would like to believe that their teenagers know less than they actually do. I have a younger sister who is quickly approaching teenage-dom and all that comes with it, and I often find myself wanting to cover her ears or her eyes sometimes because (in my mind) it was only a couple of years ago that she was crawling around on the floor wearing diapers. This is what makes the issue of banned books an interesting one for me, since I truly do empathize with the parents who are uncomfortable with their children being exposed to “unsuitable” content. And yet, having recently been a teenager myself, I believe that parents need to push themselves to accept that their babies are growing up and will soon be exposed to a world in which there are people who DO swear on a regular basis and DO use drugs and DO have sex. What parents also have to realize is that teenagers are often exposed to these very topics on a daily basis, whether or not they choose to “participate” in them or to talk about them with Mom and Dad (remember, teens are not renowned for communicating well with their “parental units”). For teens who have to deal with issues that may seem shocking to those around them (drug abuse, homosexuality, rape, etc.), YA books on these topics can provide support by showing them characters who have to confront the same problems. For other teens, such books can be a window into the matters that their friends and parents may be unwilling to discuss with them. Believe it or not, reading about behavior that parents may find disturbing does not encourage teens to engage in said behavior (acclaimed YA author John Green explains this well in his videoblog entry, appropriately entitled, “I Am Not a Pornographer”). Because the reasons for book challenges are so varied, I want to make as few generalizations as possible, but I will say this: banned and challenged books are an excellent way to begin a discussion. Parents, if you are disturbed by something your teen is reading, sit down with your kid and talk about it and why it makes you uncomfortable. Better yet, read the book yourself, and do your best to read it the way you would read any other book (rather than searching for reasons to dislike it). Creating a dialogue about the book is infinitely preferable to simply declaring the book to be “unsuitable”.
Recently, I came across a website called SafeLibraries.org. The Safe Libraries organization states that, among other things, “So-called “young adult” [YA] literature has, in recent years, taken a turn toward material inappropriate for children.” Their main point, especially in the boldly-titled article “Porn Pushers”, seems to be the fact that the American Library Association (ALA) defines YA literature as covering an age range from 12-18 years of age. “In Orwellian fashion,” the article states, “pre-teens have skipped over their teenage years and become adults. At least that’s what the ALA would have us believe.” In addition to the confusing choice of adjective (how exactly did George Orwell promote the redefinition of “pre-teen”?), I find the alarmist tone of this statement to be irrational, irritating, and nonsensical. The phrase “young adult” does not mean the same thing as “adult”, hence the fact that it used to describe a genre of books that are (wow, you guessed it) not written with an adult audience in mind. One could argue the semantics of this endlessly, but the point is that it’s a completely irrelevant argument. This quote also mentions “pre-teens” (which, I might specify, only applies to the 12-year olds mentioned in the genre age-range), and says that they have “skipped over their teenage years and become adults”. This is, of course, for the aforementioned reasons, simply not true. What is more, twelve is the age by which most girls have entered puberty, and the issues of teenagers can often be quite relevant to a girl who looks old enough to be one. Please do not get me wrong—I am not suggesting that twelve-year olds should necessarily be encouraged to read books with “Rated R” content. I can think of a number of YA books that I would not encourage my twelve-year old sister to read, and I don’t think that she would want to read them (parents, trust your kids—they know their boundaries, and if they can’t handle something, they won’t push themselves). However, my point is that twelve-year olds should not be forbidden to read those books if they truly want to. And that, my friends, is why banning books upsets me.
That’s enough of a rant on my part. I’ll be posting the first of my book reviews soon. Until then, go forth and read! Oh, and be sure to check out this blog entry (regarding the book Uncle Bobby’s Wedding), where a librarian responds—with wonderful respect, understanding, and courtesy—to a patron’s challenge of a children’s book. Plus, keep your eyes peeled for a list of my favorite banned/challenged books (I may not get around to reviewing them all this week, but you should still check them out)!
Best wishes, as always,
-Madeline
“Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.”
– Voltaire
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Madeline's YA Book Review 