It’s Banned Book Week, an annual event sponsored by the American Library Association to celebrate our freedom to read whatever we like, as long as we get it back on time.
This is even more important this year as fears of restricted personal freedom increase and as Floridians need something to do that doesn’t require power.
As long as there has been something to express, there have been people ready to ban it. This was proven by the recent discovery of a fossilized, prehistoric civic group in the Olduvai Gorge (“Cavewomen Against Filth”) caught in the middle of tearing down an objectionable cave wall for excessive violence and cruelty towards buffalo.
There are many legitimate reasons why concerned citizens might wish to ban books, besides the whole meddling thing. Often it is due to inappropriate sexual content in a book targeted for young children, or because the subject matter is considered immoral, politically incorrect, or sacrilegious, or simply because the book is dangerously entertaining. Sometimes it’s for the free carrot cake at the monthly “Tri-County Book-Burning and Hoedown.”
But we are fortunate indeed to live in a country where intellectual freedom protects our right to read or write anything we wish, even material without redeeming social value such as pornography or third party political pamphlets. Let freedom ring!
Why not celebrate your First Amendment rights this week? Stop pretending to read “The DaVinci Code” and carry around an unopened copy of one of these fine works instead.
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s “Alice” series, J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series
The shining star of the banned books list, the “Alice” books knocked the “Harry Potter” series off the top in a surprise upset this year, although Potter author J.K. Rowling has publicly demanded a recount. In these wildly popular books about a young girl and her 19-year-long adolescence Naylor frankly discusses mature issues of interest to teenagers with warmth and humor, which is why they are so very, very evil.
Harry Potter, the previous champion, rose to the top of the censorship request line just as fast as he dominated the bestseller lists as parents objected to the glorification of witchcraft, magic, and action figures. The Harry Potter series, for those seven people who managed to somehow avoid all media for the last decade, follow the trials and tribulations of a young boy who discovers his potential to overcome great obstacles to become the most powerful media darling in the world.
“Of Mice and Men,” by John Steinbeck, “Catcher in the Rye,” by J. D. Salinger, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain, etc.
All classics, all controversial, all censored at one time or another. “Huckleberry Finn” was banned since the year it was published when the Concord Public Library in Massachusetts excluded it in 1885, calling it “the veriest trash,” a description that, oddly enough, spurred sales and subsequently appeared as a cover blurb on the next edition.
While parents complaining about the offensive language in these works haven’t had much luck removing them from school libraries, teachers have done their part through the years to make these wonderful works of literature completely inaccessible by placing them on mandatory reading lists, thus guaranteeing that no student will ever actually open these books, ever.
“It’s Perfectly Normal,” by Robie Harris, “King and King,” by Linda de Haan, ‘The New Joy of Gay Sex,’ by Charles Silverstein, and many more.
More and more books are sidling into the school libraries and telling our kids that homosexuality is “normal,” “fun,” and “necessary for a sitcom career.” Parents are understandably concerned with this growing trend and have already planned marches against next year’s publication of “Heather Has Two Mommies, Three Daddies, and a Film Crew.”
So read a banned book today! Or go ban one today, maybe one that no one would ever think to object to, like the library catalogue. Either works, as long as you get involved one way or another.