Banned Books: Hush, Jacqueline Woodson
The Book: Hush, Jacqueline Woodson.
The Banhammer: I honestly can't find the reasons this was banned. I mean, I've looked, but there's nothing. I'm guessing because it's about a black girl whose family has to deal with racial injustice, and heaven knows we can't have that.
My Reaction: Okay but this is great? I love Hush. I love Jacqueline Woodson's books in general, but Hush is definitely one of my favorites. Despite that, I don't think I'd reread it anytime soon. Hush deals with some pretty severe and serious topics-- racial injustice, the shooting of black children by police, white cops threatening a black cop, witness protection and the stress it puts on the families in it, depression, even a suicide attempt-- and Woodson doesn't shy away from any of it. Her narrator Toswiah is angry and hurt and frightened and lonely, and you feel it in every painful detail.
Um, quick plot summary: Toswiah Green and her family have an idyllic life in Denver until her father, the only black cop in his precinct, witnesses two of his fellow officers shooting a black boy without provocation. He testifies against them, and he and his family have to go into witness protection. Hush is Toswiah's attempt to come to terms with her new life and identity, and everything she's lost as a result. It's such a good book, it really is; I'm just not sure it's one I can read more than once.
Do I Buy Its Banning? I don't know, because I can't freaking find out why it was banned. Alas.
Would I Recommend It? Yes, absolutely. At least once. It was published in 2006 but it's still so painfully relevant, and.. just, yeah, read it.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/358949.html. Please comment over there if possible.
The Banhammer: I honestly can't find the reasons this was banned. I mean, I've looked, but there's nothing. I'm guessing because it's about a black girl whose family has to deal with racial injustice, and heaven knows we can't have that.
My Reaction: Okay but this is great? I love Hush. I love Jacqueline Woodson's books in general, but Hush is definitely one of my favorites. Despite that, I don't think I'd reread it anytime soon. Hush deals with some pretty severe and serious topics-- racial injustice, the shooting of black children by police, white cops threatening a black cop, witness protection and the stress it puts on the families in it, depression, even a suicide attempt-- and Woodson doesn't shy away from any of it. Her narrator Toswiah is angry and hurt and frightened and lonely, and you feel it in every painful detail.
Um, quick plot summary: Toswiah Green and her family have an idyllic life in Denver until her father, the only black cop in his precinct, witnesses two of his fellow officers shooting a black boy without provocation. He testifies against them, and he and his family have to go into witness protection. Hush is Toswiah's attempt to come to terms with her new life and identity, and everything she's lost as a result. It's such a good book, it really is; I'm just not sure it's one I can read more than once.
Do I Buy Its Banning? I don't know, because I can't freaking find out why it was banned. Alas.
Would I Recommend It? Yes, absolutely. At least once. It was published in 2006 but it's still so painfully relevant, and.. just, yeah, read it.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/358949.html. Please comment over there if possible.