« we're really bad eggs! | Main | they're on a mission from God »
September 21, 2004
rebel with a cause
I hope you have fully recovered from Talk Like A Pirate Day, because the next big thing starts September 25th. Banned Books Week. The ALA has a list of banned books. I encourage everyone to go buy one if you can, borrow from the library if you have to, and read a banned or challenged book.
For those who wonder what the difference is, a challenged book is one in which a person or group of people attempt to remove the book from public circulation, from the library, from local bookstores. A banned book is one that is actually removed. As the ALA website states:
A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. The positive message of Banned Books Week: Free People Read Freely is that due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection.
Here is a list of the 100 most challenged books for 1990-2000. Not only are there books that seem obviously offensive to the "Moral Majority," there are books that are not so obvious, like Maurice Sendak's In The Night Kitchen, a picturebook where one assumes the offense is that the little boy is naked for a couple of pages. And not in great detail, either. J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, probably challenged for its language and ideas. IDEAS. I recently watched a show written by Aaron Sorkin in which one of the characters says "Actions are immoral. Opinions are not. And I won't apologize for mine. Discussion is good, and for those of us fortunate enough to be the subject of magazine articles, it may be our responsibility from time to time to try and raise the level of debate."
Anyway, go read something subversive. Like The Handmaid's Tale, or Flowers for Algernon. Or how about 1984, or Brave New World? Find out what it is "they" don't want you to know. Then ask yourself why. It might scare you.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d834204a9153ef00d83436506553ef
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference rebel with a cause:
Comments
I just finished reading Brave New World. Highly recomended by your resident anonymous Beta-Plus. ;) However, definately not something for the closed minded... even though the whole point of the book is to show how dystopian that kind of society is. Huxley is really a visionary. Hard to believe that the book was written back in 1931. It is also amazing how we are inching towards that kind of society from both sides of the political isle.
Posted by: *Name Hidden* at Sep 21, 2004 9:53:53 AM
"In the Night Kitchen". I bought it for my kid because it was controversial, how's that? I read somewhere that the illustrations are thought to be reminiscent of icons from the Nazi era. And the idea of the chefs putting little Mickey into an oven to bake is supposed to be too disturbing.(For whom?) I think too much is read into it. We like "Night Kitchen" for its own sake.
Posted by: pam at Sep 21, 2004 1:54:56 PM
Great post once again, Alicia. Thanks!
My two well-oxidized copper cents: why can't these challengers worry more about what's playing on TV instead?If they're looking for something more constructive to do, I mean.
Name Hidden, glad to read that you liked Brave New World. I want to recommend his last book, Island. It's awesome. I told a professor friend about it years ago & he made it the subject of his next semester's syllabus after reading it.
Posted by: Nasreena at Sep 21, 2004 2:59:35 PM
Thanks Nasreena. I will definately pick it up soon.
And I agree. Excellent post, Alicia.
Posted by: *Name Hidden* at Sep 21, 2004 3:32:18 PM
Thanks, everyone. If there is one thing I am passionate about it is censorship and banning books is among the vilest forms of censorship I have seen.
Pam, I love "In The Night Kitchen" as well as most of Maurice Sendak's other works. Anyone remember "Where The Wild Things Are"?
I am on a tribe on tribe.net about "kickass kids books" which is discussing what is appropriate for children to have read to them, to see, to read. General consensus is that kids turn to television and movies earlier because the fuzzy happy kiddie books are so much sugary drek. I truly believe that is why books like "A Series of Unfortunate Events" and its copy, "The Spiderwick Chronicles" are among the most popular books for kids today. Look at R.L.Stine's popularity. I may not like that stuff, but I am not going to keep my kids from reading it just for that reason.
With some exceptions. Granted, this comes from a non-parent (yet) but I would read everything first. If I thought my kid could handle it without being seriously disturbed, we would read it together, or if he were older I'd discuss it with him after he read it. At least, I hope I have enough time in the day to do that. :)
Posted by: Alicia at Sep 21, 2004 4:53:57 PM
If I were a parent, I wouldn't allow my kid to read Brave New World until they were at least a Junior or Senior in highschool... or rather when I thought they had the mental wherewithal to handle it. It has some pretty brutal images, like 9 year olds engaging in forced "erotic play", starving pre-born children of oxygen to retard mental development, and conditioning toddlers to not like books or flowers by use of electric shocks.
Now something like Catcher In The Rye I wouldn't care. It has the F word a few times, but that is really the only "offensive" thing in it.
Posted by: *Name Hidden* at Sep 22, 2004 8:31:43 AM
Of course. It would be completely on what I think they are mature enough to handle. But I don't by any means want to shield them so that when they go to college they are surprised by the real world and have to make decisions with no background or frame of reference.
Posted by: Alicia at Sep 22, 2004 4:38:44 PM
You are absolutely right on the money there.
Posted by: *Name Hidden* at Sep 23, 2004 8:54:03 AM
Ha!
Found your site Alicia. I remember you from Caleb's, and I'm glad I found your site. It's very nice.
...
Posted by: ThePopulist at Sep 24, 2004 4:30:53 PM
Oops -- I emailed you at Twilightcafe & the mail bounced. I quit Tribe because I've been doing some European internet stuff which is taking up waaaay too much time. I had been saving Tribe for when I got more time & it's still not happening. So I wanted to let you know & also that I want to do the blog we just emailed about -- very much. I can deal with a couple of focused things right now -- but Tribe I'll have to wait for a slower time, maybe the heart of winter (!!)
Let me know/keep me posted....
Posted by: Nasreena at Sep 24, 2004 9:02:30 PM
Nasreena, I had no internet for a few days. :O I'm back and will be setting up that other blog soon. Hey, Populist, glad you found me! Come back and comment again soon!
Posted by: Alicia at Sep 26, 2004 11:06:26 AM
