I was excited to learn of and to share news about Banned Books Week 2011! Even though I knew that I would not be able to incorporate activities into my current curriculum, I thought that it was important that my students know that an event (or movement) like this exists. I talked with them about books that had been banned/challenged, why people would have objections to particular books and what these individuals could do to formally express their concerns. Now that I have more information, I plan to get more involved with BBW in the future.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had read some of the most challenged books. In a Young Adult Novel course last winter, I read Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of Part-Time Indian and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, both of which are on the 2010 list of most challenged books. Of the top 100 banned and/or challenged novels of the 20th century, I had the pleasure of reading many of them in high school or in college, including:
Baldwin, James. Go Tell It On The Mountain
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God
Lee, Harper. To Kill A Mockingbird
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple
As a person who has always loved reading as well as discussing and writing about books, Banned Books Week has encouraged me to really consider how I feel about the freedom to read. I think about stories that I included in my classroom library years ago--Richard Wright and the Library Card and Tomas and the Library Lady--that speak of the transformational possibilities of a simple act like giving children access to books. I will admit that I do not agree with allowing children of certain ages and those with socio-emotional concerns to read particular books. However, it is not my place to prohibit others from enjoying those books if they are interested in and mature enough to read them. More and more, I am learning that when it comes to deciding whether to read or not to read a book, people, young and old, do a pretty job of making up their own minds.
