 |
AP Photo/The Indianapolis Star, Matt Kryger
|
It's hard to believe but Banned Books Week, going on through Oct. 6, is still necessary.
Why?
"Because there are still individuals and groups who find certain material
objectionable and take it upon themselves to try and restrict these materials
from other readers," said Maureen Sullivan, president of the American
Library Association, during an interview from New York. The ALA is a nonprofit
group founded in 1876, providing resources and support for challenges that are
happening, and in response to a sudden rise in the number of challenges to ban
books in 1982 launched what is known as Banned Books Week.
"This is the
30th anniversary," Sullivan said. Banned Books Week calls the public's
attention to the fact that there is this tendency to ban public library books
but also rallies the entire book community -- librarians, booksellers,
publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types - to help support
the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox
or unpopular.
Corey Michael Dalton,
shown above lying on a cot in a window at the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in
Indianapolis, is one reader who is crusading on his own. According to a report
by the Associated Press, Dalton is living in the window, sleeping on a cot at
the library behind a wall of books that have been banned at one time or
another, to call attention to Banned Books Week.
"We believe
every reader should have the right to choose what they want to read,"
Sullivan said. "We provide resources and support for any challenges that
are happening.
"'To Kill a
Mocking Bird' was the first one that I read that I was aware was a banned
book," she added.
Written by Harper
Lee and published in July 1960, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the story
of a lawyer in a small Southern town who agrees to defend a young black man who
is accused of raping a white woman. It is a coming-of-age story told through
the eyes of the father's tomboyish 6-year-old daughter Scout, who learns
through her neighborhood meanderings and the example of her father, to
understand that the world isn't always fair and that prejudice is a very real
aspect of their world, however subtle it may seem.
The book was
banned for its offensive language and material dealing with racism. It remains
on the ALA's list of top 10 most frequently challenged books, which are defined
by the ALA as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school
requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.
A lot of
judgments have to do with children. But as Sullivan points out, determining
whether a child is ready to read at a certain level is a lot different from
censorship or banning of a book.
"There were
326 challenges reported last year, more than 11,300 since they started
electronically tabulating data in 1990," said Jennifer Petersen, with the
ALA public information office referring to the LIST OF CHALLENGED OR BANNED BOOKS. "My favorite
is "The Adventure of Super Diaper Baby" banned from the Channelview,
Texas Independent School District (2011) because it contained the phrase
'poo-poo head.'"
And yes, ladies,
a popular title most recently challenged is "Fifty Shades of Grey." As part of its effort to support events in Manhattan, the National Coalition Against Censorship and the Comic Book Leganl Defense Fund has planned a virtual read-out of erotic literature, playfully dubbed "Fifty Shades of Banned."
Out of 326
challenges as reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom
1. ttyl; ttfn;
l8r, g8r (series), by Lauren Myracle
Reasons:
offensive language; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to age
group
2. The Color of
Earth (series), by Kim Dong Hwa
Reasons: nudity;
sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
3. The Hunger
Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins
Reasons:
anti-ethnic; anti-family; insensitivity; offensive language; occult/satanic;
violence
4. My Mom's
Having A Baby! A Kid's Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy, by Dori Hillestad
Butler
Reasons: nudity;
sex education; sexually explicit; unsuited to age group
5. The Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons:
offensive language; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit; unsuited to
age group
6. Alice
(series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Reasons: nudity;
offensive language; religious viewpoint
7. Brave New
World, by Aldous Huxley
Reasons:
insensitivity; nudity; racism; religious viewpoint; sexually explicit
8. What My Mother
Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
Reasons: nudity;
offensive language; sexually explicit
9. Gossip Girl
(series), by Cecily Von Ziegesar
Reasons: drugs;
offensive language; sexually explicit
10. To Kill a
Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
Reasons:
offensive language; racism
No comments:
Post a Comment