Banned Books Week

[kateorman]

I can't work out what I think about Banned Books Week. You think it'd be a no-brainer. Part of the problem is that most of the books the fuss is about have been challenged, not banned. One worried parent's letter to the local library is all it takes to make a challenged book, and the difference between challenged and banned is not always apparent

Comments

[antikythera]

Is the Little House on the Prairie situation any different from Huckleberry Finn, though? In both cases we're talking about outdated depictions of other races written by white people who lived during that time.

[kateorman]

My immediate thought is that those books belong in the school library, but not on the school curriculum - at least not for younger kids, who're going to take them at face value. They ought to be saved for later, when teachers and students can both apply a bit more scrutiny.

[antikythera]

Makes sense.

[matthewwolff]

Could either really be considered terribly banned when I read both in Public Junior Highschool? ;)
Ditto for many of the other top "banned" books....

[kateorman]

It's wrong for that headmaster to ban Harry Potter from the school library, but if he thinks that's actually going to stop the kids reading the books, he's off his nut.

[purrdence]

Knowing a book has a history of being banned or challenged for silly reasons is more likely to get me to buy the book to have in my person library for when I have kids... I would never have heard about And Tango Makes Three is narrow-minded people hadn't kicked up a stink about it.

[kateorman]

Yah - a positive outcome of BBW would be if peeps thinking of challenging books learn that it inevitably blows up in their face!

[murasaki_1966]

One day, I tell you about the crazy parents who wanted books banned at the library I worked at. Being a children's librarian wasn't all storytime and craft. (worse luck).

One year I got the list, and did an display of the banned/challenged items, plus items that had actually been banned in Australia (We are the Rats, Lady Chatterley's Lover, Love me Sailor!). I made up bookmarks which said "Caution: this could be a banned book". They were popular with the kids, and some of the adults.