BTT: Celebrate Freedom

Celebrate Freedom (from Booking Through Thursday):

I bought a sweatshirt for my husband some years ago that says, “Celebrate freedom. Read a banned book.” The shirt then goes on to list ten books that were currently banned somewhere in these United States. Here are a few examples: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, and Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.

1. Have you ever knowingly read a banned book?
2. Have you read any of the books I listed above?
3. Knowing that the above books have been banned, would you read them now? Why?

I have knowingly read banned books.  Every year we have Freedom To Read week in our library.  Last year, I deliberately read "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee during Freedom To Read week...and loved it so much.

I have read "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger...and didn't like it.  Maybe because I was an adult when I read it, I just didn't get what the hype was all about.

I wouldn't read the other titles listed.  Not because they are banned but because they don't appeal to me.  I don't decide to read a book based on whether or not it is a banned book (with the exception of "To Kill A Mockingbird" last year).  Knowing that a book is banned or challenged doesn't make them more appealing to me.  I read what I want to read regardless of what other people think of it.  Although talking about books we've read is a social activity and one I enjoy, reading is a very personal and private activity.  What books you love or hate (or ban) will not necessarily be the same books I love or hate.  That is the reason why I don't believe in banning books.  Just because you find something offensive about a book doesn't mean I will.  I think people ban books because they are afraid that other people will emulate whatever it is that makes them uncomfortable about the book...which is silly.  Most people don't read fiction books as though they were instruction manuals.  For example, the Harry Potter series.  People banned that because of witchcraft.  Really?  If you ban it for that reason alone, you are proclaiming your belief that magic and witchcraft are real.  In our predominantly Christian-based Western society, I find that ironic.  I read and loved the series but that didn't make me want to become a Wiccan.  If reading the Harry Potter series made kids want to do magic and cast spells, in my non-magic-believing opinion I imagine that wouldn't last long when nothing happened.  And depending on the age of the kids who read it, they probably knew enough about the real world to be able to tell the difference between fiction and reality.  But in the end, I firmly believe that the people who ban books are the people who don't know how to do their job as parents*.  If you know how to talk to your child about what they read, then they can read anything because they will know they can talk to you about the stuff that confuses or upsets them and you can talk to them about the stuff that makes you uncomfortable.

Banned books I have read (from the ALA's 2000-2009 Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books list):
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling
And Tango Makes Three - Justin Richardson & Peter Parnell
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (assigned reading in high school)
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut (assigned reading in high school)
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume

*The ALA 1990-1999 Top 100 Banned/Challenged Book list has "What's Happening To My Body? Book For Girls: A Growing-Up Guide For Parents & Daughters" and "What's Happening To My Body? Book For Boys: A Growing-Up Guide For Parents & Sons", both by Lynda Madaras.  I could rant about that but I won't.

Read on,
Paula