Monthly Archives: September 2010

Authors Against Censorship

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One thing to wonder about, as we think about censorship, is what the authors think.  Not just any authors, but the authors of books that have been challenged or banned (or burned for that matter).  Luckily, due to the internet, we have that opportunity.

John Green, author of Looking for Alaska, responds to a challenge that his book contains pornography:

J. K. Rowling defends her works, the Harry Potter series, by saying,

“I really hate censorship. I find it objectionable. I personally think that they’re very mistaken. I think these are very moral books and I think it’s a very short-sighted thing. Short-sighted in the sense that if you try hard to portray goodness without showing that the reverse is evil and without showing how great it is to resist that . . . well, that’s always been my feeling about literature.

“You find magic, witchcraft and wizardry in all sorts of classic children’s books. Where do you start? Are you going to start with ‘The Wizard of Oz?’ These people are trying to protect children from their own imagination.”

Maureen Johnson, whose book, The Bermudez Triangle has been banned and challenged several times due to “homosexuality” speaks out against people challenging her book, especially the people who claim they are not banners,

“This “we aren’t banners, we just think those are adult themes and therefore the books must be labeled/moved to the adult section/require permission to take out” nonsense . . . why, exactly? What is particularly adult about being gay? There are gay kids, gay teens. They have to go on awkward first dates, like all the wrong people, obsess over their crushes, have their hearts broken, fall in love with friends, get permission from their parents to go out, try to borrow the car . . . There are loads of YA books about those things featuring heterosexual characters, and no one bats an eye. Why is it so adult if gay kids are doing it?

It’s not. It’s the same thing. Gay kids need to see their lives reflected in stories. And straight kids want to read these stories as well! Gay characters can’t be relegated to some dark corner of the shelf that you need a map to find and an ID to check out. To do so is basically saying to the gay kids, “There’s something dirty about you.” Anyone who would say that is the true filthmonger. Period.”

There are millions more, if you look for them.  Things like: Judy Blume’s defense of J. K. Rowling: http://www.ncac.org/censorship_new/20030305~cn076~Is_Harry_Potter_Evil_by_Judy_Blume.cfm or Ellen Hopkins speaking out against her very presence being censored at a book festival: http://ellenhopkins.livejournal.com/11666.html.

Censorship is hard to take, but we’re lucky enough to be in a time where it can be responded to quickly, especially by such elegant wordsmiths.

If you want to see some great Banned Books Week articles, check out: The First Amendment First Aid Kit, The 11 Most Surprising Banned Books, I Love Libraries, wawoodworth’s video, and 10 Ways to Celebrate Banned Books Week!

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Filthy, demeaning books?

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(At the bottom, there are links to a couple giveaways of banned/challenged books from some excellent book bloggers- good through October 2nd, 2010)

I am constantly surprised at the number of people that do not think censorship is alive and well in today’s world.  I have talked to people that say book burnings and bannings only happened in the 1950′s or way back under Hitler’s Nazi regime.  Of course, book burning was brought to the national forefront with the recent threats of burning the Qur’an on September 11th.  In some places that actually happened.  However, many people think that these are isolated incidents, especially since the Qu’ran burning is more like a hate act than book banning.

But, there are many, many instances of challenges to books across the country, and sometimes, the challenges lead to banning the books.  A recent challenge in Springfield, Missouri took the form of an outraged editorial calling parents to action.  The furious man wants to crack down the entire school district’s curriculum, although he homeschools his two youngest children.  He goes on to ask if parents truly know what filthy books are demeaning their children’s education.  He is horrified that the sexual education program introduces eighth graders and high schoolers to the concept of homosexuality or the sexual perversion of oral sex.  He goes further to say, “Sex education curriculum in the fourth grade includes topics on reproduction. Is this what parents and taxpayers in this community want their children exposed to in school?”  (I have to add a caveat here to say that, yes, I would want my child learning about reproduction in their sex education classes.)

He moves on to discuss the high school English curriculum including, a book that “would make a sailor blush with shame,” the classic, Slaughterhouse Five as well as the novels Speak and Twenty Boy Summer.  The most disturbing part of his tirade about these books is his description of rape scenes as soft core pornography.  I can add my own outrage to the mix, but some of the best responses come from the comments on his editorial.  Several people speak up, saying that learning about rape in this way helped them speak up about their own experiences.  One in six women and one in thirty-three men are sexually assaulted in their lifetimes.  Should they be quiet about their experiences because it makes someone else uncomfortable?  Books like Speak are important to give young people something relate-able that helps make them think.

That is really the important part of reading, especially in school.  Reading gives people a way to think and talk about the uncomfortable subjects in their lives.  Just ignoring the world does not make it stop having cruel, unjust practices.

So, to protest against the editorial protest, many book bloggers are speaking out during banned book week, encouraging readers to think critically about what the editorial has to say.  The concept was developed by Mindful Musings and includes giveaways of all of the books being challenged from the high school’s curriculum.  She also is posting ongoing coverage of the challenge and the school board’s response.  You can visit Wicked Awesome Books to enter another giveaway of these books.

Even if you don’t win the books, you can check them out of your local library.  Celebrate your freedom to read!  Happy Banned Books Week 2010!

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Happy Banned Books Week! (Sept. 25th- Oct. 2nd)

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“Happy” is not an emotion most people have when speaking about banned books.  Either someone is outraged that the books are being read by impressionable youth (or even adults) and they must be taken off the shelves by people that know better or someone is outraged that books are being banned, and their rights are being stripped away.  However, I’ve chosen to start with “Happy Banned Books Week” because I am proud that I live somewhere where I can read banned books.  I am proud that I belong to an organization like the American Library Association that holds events every year like Banned Books Week.  There is a reason they say “Celebrate the freedom to read!” as their tag line.

As my own celebration, I am planning to have several posts about censorship and banned books, but first, I would like to present this video.  I collected 37 pictures of 51 people with banned books, either their favorite or ones that are important to them.  Enjoy!

Music is Bach’s Prelude in C, played by Kevin MacLeod: http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html?genre=Classical

More great resources about Banned Books:

http://www.bannedandrecovered.org/

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm

So, happy Banned Books Week!

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Conan the Librarian

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I think something light is in order since Banned Books Week will have a lot heavy material:

Do you think that your library fines are tough?  Wait until you see Conan the Librarian!!

Also- if you like to follow book blogs (or just want some free books), there is a huge Fall Giveaway from 50+ book bloggers starting today!  It is hosted by Good Choice Reading, but you can find a link to all of the participants at Wicked Awesome Books along with one of the best giveaways- 3 packs of banned books!  I have to mention that since I’m getting ready for Banned Books Week with tons of research and writing.  Enjoy!

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Are graphic novels a guilty pleasure?

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I just finished reading this article on NPR about the series of comics/graphic novels called Runaways.  The author spends a lot of time discussing the merits of the series, but a bit of time defending the legitimacy of it as a series.  David Lipsky, the author, does open with society’s growing acceptance of comic books and graphic novels, but he spends the largest paragraph of the article blasting the graphic novel collections of the comics.  “But I bear the books a grudge. Marvel collected them — because their biggest fans were female teenagers — in tiny digests with girlish covers that were intensely embarrassing to read on the subway.”

**A warning, the rest of the article contains some spoilers of the series.  The spoilers are only a few of the plot points, and the series would still be a delight to read.  However, if you are the kind who wants to know nothing about a series before you read it, please click on the image to have worldcat.org locate the library copy nearest to you.**

Lipsky continues on by discussing his crush on one of the characters, Karolina Dean, a young alien lesbian.  “Runaways — while a consistently brilliant reading experience — has been an embarrassment festival. Way beyond a guilty pleasure. It has been a fount of guilt, awkwardness and grave personal doubts. Which is to say, it turned me teenaged again.”  I think this is a little much for a crush on someone who will not return the feelings.  After all, all crushes on comic book characters are unrequited.

However, the Runaways series is not just one of the best comic book/graphic novel series, but it is one of the best overall series I have ever read for teens or adults.  When I think of a guilty pleasure, I think of reality TV or pigging out on popcorn, pop, and candy while watching a terrible movie.  But, Runaways isn’t junk food.  It deals with real issues for teens as well as developing this fantastical universe where superheroes are a reality.  However, the teens in the series are more of the anti-heroes caught up by circumstances in an unfair world where their only motto is “Try not to die.”

So, my final verdict is that graphic novels aren’t guilty pleasures, at least not more than any other media.  You can have quality in graphic novels, books, movies, music, art, etc., but you can also have your guilty pleasures.  The Runaways are in the quality category.

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