So I know that this is really bad, because I haven't posted in a few months, but today, after I finished watching Finding Nemo, I decided to spend some time on stumbleupon. One of my interests, being literature, came up with "top 10 banned books in the united states"(www.shortlist.com/shortlists/10-banned-books/ ). Of course this piqued my interest and made me want to see the rest of the list. Apparently, Shel Silverstein's poems, Judy Bloom's books, Where's Waldo, Harry Potter, Captain Underpants, Bridge to Terabithia, Junie B. Jones, and others are considered banned books by the American Library Association. Parents wonder why it is that the children of today spend so much time on electronics? It's because schools are no longer allowed to give children the same books that we had. To be perfectly honest with you about my childhood, I spent tons of time out on my porch, or sitting on my couch reading books. Judy Bloom's "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.", which was recommended to me by my mother, helped me realize that while getting your period can be great at first, it's always good to have your friends around with you. I mean, there are some books that are on the list that are totally understandable, if it were from school libraries. Most of the books that I read in elementary, middle, and high school are on that list, especially if you actually look at this list from 2000-2009 ( http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/2000_2009 ), and it's almost pathetic that some of these books have been banned.
The American Library Association (which I'll be dubbing the ALA) has reign over what books can be kept in school libraries, public libraries, college libraries, and even prisons. One of the books on the list that really makes me upset is "The Chocolate War". I read that my freshman year with a great teacher, and I loved it. I was surprised that it was banned because from what I remember of the book was about a kid who stood up for what he believed and he didn't want to have to deal with school politics. The reason that the book was banned is because the main character walks in on another student masturbating in the bathrooms at school, and because there's violence. Regardless of what school you attend, there is going to be violence and talk of sex-the narrator is a teenage boy.
As you all know (hopefully) is that I'm a huge nerd. What really bothers me about the burning, banning, and challenging of book is that most people see one thing of having too large of a place in the novel. For one example, "The Lord of the Rings" was burned in New Mexico for being satanic. The thing that doesn't make any sense to me is that the whole series is a double allegory for both the bible and the Great War (I'm counting WWI and WWII as one war, because it's an era). Tolkien wrote the entire series while in a mental hospital suffering from PTSD after serving in WWII. He and C.S. Lewis spent time in the mental ward together, having served together. Their books were even published within a year of each other, LOTR being published in 1955, and The Chronicles of Narnia in 1956. Both sets of books have parallels with the coming of Christ, with the rising of both Aslan and Gandalf (spoilers).
I'm sitting here at my desk, thinking that there has to be something wrong with this picture. People say that the youth of today have no imagination, or that it's limited, yet they make it so that teachers aren't allowed to read Silverstein to their students. Okay, I'll remember that when I read my child "The Giving Tree" or anything by Roald Dahl, or "The Lorax" by Dr. Suess,or "Harriet the Spy" by Louise Fitz-Hugh" I'll make sure to tell that these books are banned, what I want to know is why can teachers show movies based on these books. When my kids can't read "Alice in Wonderland", "Matlida", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "When I Ran the Zoo", "The Lion, The Witch, and The Warlock", "The Complete Tales of the Brothers Grimm", or any of those books, yet they'll be allowed to watch the movies on ABCFamily, or maybe even in class.
While some books are totally understandable to me, like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" or "Animal Farm", or even "The Kite Runner", other books astound me. I won't continue to rant about this, but it drives me crazy that censorship is alive and well within the system that promotes literacy and awareness of the development of modern day writing.
