Rarely do I read a book because someone tells me to. I don't read one because of the cover. CHOICE reviews are great for selecting academic books to purchase but for leisure, I am going to pick it by topic and by the story synopsis, or because it was banned. I won't bother you with what topics I like to read or what story lines catch my attention. But, reverse psychology does work on me and I don't like being told not to do something. So, just seeing a book on the banned book list is enough to peak my curiosity. I appreciate my freedom to read what I want and I am glad someone somewhere defended it.
My favorite banned book is Animal Farm by George Orwell. I can't say I actually enjoyed the read. Honestly, my kids wish it were still banned and that this would not be required reading in junior high and high school.But, I have to appreciate that George Orwell managed to offend two sides of an argument by agreeing with both. This book was banned in the United States for its pro-communist sentiment and it was banned in the U.S.S.R. for its anti-communist sentiment. I personally didn't walk away feeling any different about communism than I did before I read it but I am glad it upset politicians. Politicians upset me all the time.
And I am a bad influence on children. My kids read banned books too. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is a childrens book which was removed from libraries in Herefordshire during a healthy eating campaign due to their interpretation of it promoting over-consumption and obesity. My kid happened to own it at the time. We made a point of eating too much and reading that book. How dare a library tell us we can't eat too much? We can! and we like it!and we didn't do it because the catepillar made us. We read it and we ate too much because we wanted to . :)
Seriously, And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson is another kids book that was banned. This children’s story tells of two male penguins at a zoo who care for an egg together. Despite the reality that male penguins bond together to care for their eggs in nature and that the two characters in the book are based on actual penguins from the Central Park Zoo, the idea of two males creating a family has forced many to ban the book due to reasons of homosexuality and anti-family issues. We not only want to tell other humans what to do with their sex lives but we are now judging the penguins too. Suppose we'll stop tolerating the earthworms for being asexual? Maybe kids wills top dissecting them in school because they are different.
What is your favorite banned book?
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Most of the books I enjoy were either banned, or caused a whole lot of grief for the author (fines, imprisonment, banishment, etc.). Vonnegut, Heller, Joyce, Walker, and others have produced great works that someone somewhere have decided are too ______ (fill in the blank) for folks to read. It seems some people will not be happy until every book is as vapid, boring, and seemingly devoid of verbs as a Henry James novel (though even he isn't safe from the censors). My personal favorite situation (ironically speaking) is when someone wants to ban a book they have not read. I think the censorship motto ought to be, "I didn't actually read it, but I know it is inappropriate." I guess we could alter the famous Supreme Court description of pornography (I know it when I see it) to describe the test for "improper" books as "I know it when I don't read it."
ReplyDeleteWell, that makes sense. Ofcourse, you should ban the books you have not read. People censor to keep others from knowing. Why let others know something you do not know yourself? Knowledge is power. Power is Evil. Study Hard. Be Evil.
ReplyDeleteAnd along that same line, ban the books you don't want to read. Required reading should be banned. My kids would definately burn their textbooks. Go past the banning directly to burning.
I love it whent they ban dictionaries. That humors me. As if dictionaries are a frequent read or something. But, they contain objectionable words. So, dictionaries like the American Heritage Dictionary get banned. We wouldn't want anyone using words that aren't 200 years old and didn't come over on the Mayflower. So, we have to ban dictionaries that might contain slang, ethnic or cultural words. I think I am going to recommend we ban dictionaries that contain objectionable words like furlough or unemployment or poverty.
Books are suppose to create an image or world outside of one's own. They are to educatate us with knowledge, laugter, spritually, or emotionally. So, banning a book to me is wrong! Everyone has a right to thier opinion...just because one person feels that they do not like a "BAD","INAPPROATE","RACIST", OR "SEXUAL" book does not mean it has to be taken out of the librarys.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite banned book is one that is usually on the list of those most frequently challenged: To Kill A Mockingbird. I have loved this novel since I was young and believe we can learn valuable lessons from it. Leann, I'm with you on banning that "furlough" word!
ReplyDeletePEOPLE STOP BEING SO SUBMISSIVE!! READ,READ, READ
ReplyDeletehttp://media.photobucket.com/image/bannedbook%20pictures/mya1tilly/Blog%20Pictures/BannedBooksWeekpicture.jpg
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to america being where dreams are made, not crushed. . . how can you go around censoring books. . . what happened to are freedom of speech
ReplyDelete