It's banned books week (September 25-October 2)! Here is an article from the Huffington post which features photos of the "10 Most Challenged" books of 2009. Some of the reasons cited for challenging these books are: nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit material, homosexuality, and being "unsuitable for children".
What's surprises me about this list?
Classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, and The Color Purple are included, as well as the children's book And Tango Makes Three (which is often challenged for depicting a relationship between two male penguins)... Even Twilight was on the challenged list!
The majority of the challenges listed above are objective (what is offensive language? Which topics are "unsuitable for children"?) or aim to keep a whole population such as LGBT youth (or in the case of ...Tango... LGBT penguins) or the sad truth of racism (To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple) from being represented in young adult and children's literature.
I personally believe it's a discredit to students to believe they would not be able to emotionally handle the topics found in these books. Racism has not disappeared from our daily lives and the lives of our students and should not disappear from our literature. The same goes for homosexuality.
For some students, reading a book about these topics helps them cope with experiences they are having in their own lives. While these books may make some adults uncomfortable, I believe it is important to encourage our students to think for themselves, to decide for themselves if something makes them uncomfortable and whether or not they should continue to read it.
I personally believe it's a discredit to students to believe they would not be able to emotionally handle the topics found in these books. Racism has not disappeared from our daily lives and the lives of our students and should not disappear from our literature. The same goes for homosexuality.
For some students, reading a book about these topics helps them cope with experiences they are having in their own lives. While these books may make some adults uncomfortable, I believe it is important to encourage our students to think for themselves, to decide for themselves if something makes them uncomfortable and whether or not they should continue to read it.
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