Banned Books

[monarch64]

Gender Queer. A Memoir. Again, it’s not the subject matter nor the written word that I oppose for young minors, it’s the illustrations.

Thanks.

 

[LightBright]

As someone who loves fiction, poetry, and non-fiction I’m still somewhat of a censor when it comes to my own kids. This doesn't mean my kids don’t have bookshelves of books, library trips on the regular and school libraries stocked with really good books.

I simply don’t want my kids accessing stuff in school that I think is destructive or disturbing. This does not mean I don’t want them exposed to all kinds of ideas and art. It just means that as a parent I want the school to have common sense and no agenda.

Regarding some of the banned books we’ve mentioned here and in the banned book list. It’s not something other parents need to be alarmed about when some parents ask to remove things that offend them from the shelves of their school. Maybe the answer is picking and supplying books from these wonderful authors that are appropriate to the audience. A rule of thumb for me is - if you would never allow your kids to see a TV show or Movie with the same subjects or images, remove the books.

If parents want their kids exposed to all the subject matter (see the Banned Book List that Missy linked to) please feel free to stock your own at home libraries.

For example, on that book list is a book by Sherman Alexie, who I read and appreciate. Not all his fiction is disturbing. Why are we upset that one specific title is adult themed? Just remove it and pick some other book he wrote for your school library.

I just read Great Gatsby for the first time. It’s adult themed, but not overly explicit. High Schoolers -might- be able to grasp the socioeconomic and historical depictions in his works. His fiction is vastly cleaner and far deeper than most teen fiction.

In short, our kids benefit from great literary books. If a book is too explicit or upsetting to read out loud, or show photos of, at a school board meeting, it’s not appropriate for my kids’ school.

 

[MichelleSam]

I recall that a new English teacher I had back in high school assigned the class to read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, which if anyone doesn't know, involves suicide (I don't know how it was portrayed, but if it glorified suicide, then I'd definitely agree with the parents). Anyway, one or more parents complained to the principal and the teacher changed the assignment to On Walden Pond.

Of course, things like that can happen now and then, whether in the classroom or with what's available in the school library. Judgement calls must be made occasionally and, by definition, those are somewhat subjective.

So, it was quickly resolved but it was not made into a widespread, overblown political crusade and used as an excuse to take away yet more rights and vilify minorities, LGBTQ+, religions other than Christian, keep necessary information from minors who may be in dire need of it and so on, as is being done now.

The former is common sense. The latter is just another step in the fascist agenda. They are two very, very different things. It's dangerous when those two scenarios are conflated, and they are being deliberately conflated (by those in power, NOT individuals here) imo.

An integral part of that is vilifying those who dissent, twisting it into them being individuals who want pron in elementary school libraries and other extreme character slurs, to detract from the issue. We are at late stage democracy and it is terrifying. I believe the ban is not the educational change we need now. If the book is in a library, it doesn't matter that everyone will read it. And those who will want it will know what it is about and will be ready to see something "sensitive". I'm happy that now I'm a uni student, and things are better, and we can read all the books we want. I have a literature course where we read and discuss different books, and some of them may not look that inappropriate, but we are adults. Also, sometimes when I need to write a review, I have to analyze everything deeply, and you can find totally different scenes. Here is one service https://edubirdie.com/literature-review-writing-service which I use from time to time when I face some problems with the writing. It's not the easiest task, and the book cannot be easy to understand, but with such help, it's always successful.

As I've mentioned before here, I personally recommend anyone who is interested to look up "the rise of fascism in the USA." We need as many people as possible to learn what the big picture is here, or we're all doomed imo. It's in line with what happened in Germany, Italy, Russia, Hungary, etc., unfortunately.

Once, I had the same situation at my school. But to be honest, for me, this whole ban is weird. It's all very subjective because, for some, a book can be inappropriate, but for others, it can be totally okay.
Now, we have easy access to other sources of information, and kids of all ages can use the internet. Banning books will not prevent them from seeing different "sensitive" content, and books are for sure not the biggest threat.
And anyway if there will be an interest to read something banned, I'm sure that they will find a way to get it anyway.