The School is Making My Kids Read Banned Books!

Given that it's Banned Books Week and I like to be in the know as to what offensive and terrible for my kids' minds books are out there, I was looking over the list of top 100 Banned/Challenged Books.  And I was shocked and surprised to find what looked like my kids' school reading list.  Did I go to the wrong site? Was I looking at the wrong list?  I had to pull out my notes from Back to School Night and check.

But there they were - right on the list of books random folks said that children should not be reading or have access to in the public libraries.

Harry Potter topped the list of books challenged in the last decade.  We haven't read it because I don't like witch-y/wizardy stories.  Although this isn't official school reading, one of my daughter's teachers said that they would be reading it to discuss plot and character development in a generic sense; she figured since most, if not all, of the kids read it, that would be easy.  My daughter hadn't read it and I really wasn't trying to fight with her to read it, because in addition to my shying away from the series, she doesn't really like to read, especially long books, so let's have this battle over required reading. Surely some other book has plot and character development.  Yes, the teacher suggested some other books - still of considerable length - she could read and still be able to add to the discussion. Wow, that was easy, without having to dictate what every other child reads.  What else you got?

Of Mice and Men, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Huckleberry Finn, The Bluest Eye, Catcher in the Rye, and To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Giver.  Wait, no Autobiography of Malcolm X? I thought we could knock out my daughter's whole high school list and she could breeze through school.

And not be left out, there's a few to be left off the elementary list, too.  Captain Underpants - perhaps for partial nudity?  And the Junie B Jones series.  Oh, yeah, that girl is trouble.  Surely, she incites kids all over the country to push other kids off the playground and tease their little brothers. We can't have that.

I agree, that some of these books, perhaps should not be required school reading, for instance, the joy of any-kind-of-sex, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be in the public library. Who are we to say what other people should read?  Remember - these challenged books are not just for school kids, they would be banned in the library - so adults couldn't read them either.  Now, yeah, if there was a 101 Ways to Wreak Havoc & Cause Mayhem book (and sadly, I won't be surprised if you tell me there is), I might agree that it shouldn't be available for free, housed in a public building, folks should have to pay their own $14.95 for such craziness.  But Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.  I think that's a rite of passage, just as much as pimples and changing voices.

Enjoy a banned book with your child this week.

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Read Any Good Banned Books Lately?

Surely, you've read The Hunger Games (okay, maybe you saw the movie).  Or maybe, if you are expecting another baby, you read My Mom's Having a Baby to your kid.  Or you've felt nostalgic and read To Kill a Mockingbird (it's on my list to revisit).  These popular titles are among the Top Ten Challenged Books of 2011; there were 326 challenges in all, according to Banned Books Week.

Even if you don't like these, don't I have the right to choose to read them?

Apparently, books can be challenged for a number of reasons.  From stats gathered by the folks in charge of collecting this data, the most popular reasons are "sexually explicit", "offensive language", "unsuited to age group", and "violence".  I have to admit - these are all good reasons not to let a kid read a book.  Which brings me to the next interesting stat, the people who are predominant in initiating these challenges are parents.  Yes, maybe that makes sense, because who else would care as much?

But here's the thing.  If you are a parent and you feel a book is inappropriate for your kid - don't let your kid read it.  Why does every kid in the country not get to read Beloved because a handful of parents don't like it?  I don't want my kids to read anything from the Twilight series.  Do any of those popular reasons I mentioned previously apply to this popular teen series?  I don't know about the others, but, in my mind "unsuited to age group" does.  Plus the fact that I don't like vampires.  So, guess what - I tell my kids not to read it and I don't give them the $14.95 or the nook password to buy it.  It is essentially, banned in our house.  But I fully believe that if other parents want their kids reading about vampire kids romancing each other and biting each other's neck and turning into werewolves or whatever it is they do - they have the right to allow that in their house.

I let my oldest read The Hunger Games (I only got half-way through because she had already dragged me to the movie and I'm really bad at finishing a book that I already know the ending).  But my second daughter, two years younger, I told her she couldn't read it and she couldn't watch the movie.  Because I know it will either freak her out or make her want to take archery lessons - neither is a good option.  

That's my role as a parent - to figure out what's allowed and not allowed for my kids.  Then other parents can figure out what's allowed and not allowed for their kids.  That's why there are so many books at the library!  

My position on parenting your own kids can also be extended to folks who challenge Happy Meals and potato chips and large sodas, but that's for another day.  Banned Salty, Sugary Food Week perhaps.  Anyway.

Happy reading - whatever you're reading!

Reprinted by permission of the American Library Association.

*You can read more about the First Amendment, Intellectual Freedom and Banned Books on the American Library Associations website, here.