Banned Books Week

[seekingferret]

The ALA's Banned Books Week is coming up in a few weeks. It falls September 26th- October 3rd. More information can be found here: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/ .

I was wondering which banned books are written by authors of color. The ALA's list of banned or challenged classics here

Comments

[sanguinity]

The lists I compiled in 2007.

Commentary in my journal on that list, from the same year.

[sanguinity]

And now that I've scanned over this year's list...

I have become less enamored with the ALA list each year, in large part because people discuss it as if it is a list of banned or almost-banned books, and as if books could only get on that list for evil reasons. (Yes, this is a shift in opinion from the 2007 commentary that I linked.) The ALA list is more accurately a list of books that parents have raised flags about, typically within a specific context. F'rex, Huckleberry Finn showing up on the list this year (as it often does), is within the specific context of teaching it in a high school classroom, where everyone must read and discuss it, and where its nasty racial stereotypes could (and often do) slide by unchallenged in favor of emphasizing the anti-slavery aspects of the book. In my opinion, whether and how to teach it in class, especially when there are many other worthy alternatives, is an absolutely appropriate conversation to have

[seekingferret]

It's a fair point, and one I can't really argue with. It's the reason I carefully used the phrase "banned or challenged" to describe the list. I'm aware that not all of these situations are equal, and that the ALA's ideological position that no book should ever be denied to anyone drives this list. (However, I have had contact with the kind of parent involved in these things, and I'm inclined to be less generous to them than you are

[sanguinity]

:: (However, I have had contact with the kind of parent involved in these things, and I'm inclined to be less generous to them than you are) ::

My generosity comes more from principle than experience; almost every challenge on the list this year makes me roll my eyes, and some of them make me snarl. However, I believe that there are scenarios where it is worthy to lead with principle, which is why I'm emphasizing the could over the is.

:: I don't think we're in disagreement that often when parents challenge books by authors of color, they're doing so because of discomfort with some part of how the authors of color are presenting the world. ::

I wholly agree. I'd also add that said disagreement is a feature, and one of the things that make the books worth teaching.

:: I'll get back to you on Huckleberry Finn when I have a coherent opinion about it. ::

Take your time, although if we go into it at any length, maybe we should move that discussion off-comm, what with Mr. Clemens being a white author and all.