Censorship...Not Only for Adult Content Books

Today I am not talking about adults, consensual activity, or censorship of adult reading material. I am talking about the freedom to read anything being taken away from our children.

For more years than I like to remember I taught English in grades 7-12. Looking back on my teaching, I taught a whole lot of banned or challenged books to my students. And, throughout those years, I really did have only one challenge to a book I was teaching. To Kill a Mockingbird has been a staple of high school English for years. It is a difficult book to get into…I will grant the students that fact. But once you get through the first couple of chapters, it is simply a good read. The challenge came from a student who, quite frankly, was lazy and hadn’t turned in a single assignment all year. She refused to read the book because it had the “N” word in it. Her father started to challenge to book. I told him that this is a representation of how people lived and acted in the 1930’s. It took many of us working hard tegether and being willing to die in the 1960’s to keep what happened to Tom Robinson in To Kill a Mockingbird from ever happening again. If we don’t know about prejudice…if we don’t know about racism…if we shut our minds and see only the “N” word, then it will happen again. She read the book…and so did her father.

I taught Huckelberry Finn and Of Mice and Men and Flowers for Algernon. I also taught Macbeth (watch out for the witches) and Romeo and Juliet (there’s some pretty racy stuff in that one), and The Crucible (we get both sex and witchcraft here). Heck, we even did the plays in performance.

During the last year (2005), most of the challenges to books in our schools have come over the topics of sex and witchcraft.

It was my experience that reading Romeo and Juliet did not get a Stephanie pregnant. It was ignorance that did that. Most of my students who were informed were not the students who got pregnant or STDs. It was my ignorant students. I use the term ignorant in the sense of being uniformed. One year I had a classroom full of nothing but girls. Many of them were “innocent” and the type that would most likely be bullied by a boy into having sex before they were ready. That was the class that read My Darling, My Hamburger. It is the story of a high school girl who gets pregnant, has the baby, and the consequences she faces from her actions. It explores the options she has with the child. That was also the year I had Heather in my class. Heather just happened to be pregnant and was facing the same situations as the main character in My Darling, My Hamburger. Heather did tell me that the book helped her make a decision what to do with her child once it was born. Other girls in the class were very forthcoming in letting me know that they had thought a lot about the book and what they would do in the same situation.

The Harry Potter books have been one of the biggest boons to the reading world. Children who refused to read anything have devoured the books. They are simply a good read. However, the books have not gone unchallenged. In fact, in 2002 the Jesus Non-denominational Church in Greenville, Michigan staged a book burning, primarily of Harry Potter books because they are about witchcraft. However, lest you let this pass unnoticed, they also burned non-King James versions of the Bible and The Book of Mormon. I have no doubts that if they could have got their hands on a Koran they would have burned that, too.

I am not advocating that just any book be read in a classroom.

There are some books on the banned and challenged lists I probably would not have assigned to students. But the basic issue remains that if we teach only “safe” literature, we will not be teaching. Books take our children into another world. They expose them to other cultures. Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street and Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane take most students into a world they would never enter on their own. Unfortunately, most challenges to books in our schools are “knee-jerk” reactions to one or two words or a scene or two in the book. There is nothing more sinister in the fumbling “sex” scene in Flowers for Algernon than it shows the struggle the main character is having with a growing intelligence that is not keeping pace with his social knowledge. Give me a banned book any day, and I will attempt to teach it.

Three authors are regularly banned and challenged.

Chris Crutcher, Robert Cormier, and Toni Morrison are authors who are rugularly challenged when their novels are taught in the schools. Chris Crutcher is a practicing child psychologist who writes books that appeal to teen-aged boys. He deals with sexual identity and the "male macho" syndrome. I have taught his Stotan and collection of short stories, Athletic Shorts to juniors and seniors in high school. Robert Cormier writes books that appeal to a younger audience. His The Chocolate War and Killing Mr. Griffin have been challenged because they are violent, dark, and "anti-God." In truth, the two books deal with real-life situations and fantasies middle school children face. Toni Morrison, probably Oprah's favorite author, does deal with troubling topics.

The number of challenges grows yearly.

The American Library Association list of 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books reflects paranoia that proves the power of the written word. What I find amazing is that there is little overlap between the list of challenges received by the ALA and that received by NCTE.

Below is a list of challenges to books being taught in schools for just two quarters of 2006 .This list is from The National Council of Teachers of English SLATE (Support for the Learning and Teaching of English) website. SLATE is the arm of NCTE that deals with legal issues in English and Literature education.

I provide the exhausting list below as a visual example of the extent of challenges to reading material.

Adventures of Huckelberry Finn, Mark Twain (11th Grade AP Preparation class (chronological American Literature, NY), "N" word and stereotypical portrayal of Jim as stupid. < p> Bluest Eye, The, Toni Morrison (Libraries and classrooms of district, CO). Inappropriate sexual content. Sent information and rationale 3rd Quarter 2005. Letter of support sent this quarter. Note that this challenge has continued for a year.

Bowling for Columbine (film), Michael Moore (12th Grade Political Science class, PA), a parent's belief that students who watch the film will get the idea "to shoot up the school".

Children of the River, Linda Crew (9th Grade Summer Reading, WA), principal didn't like the back cover material.

Chocolate War, The, Robert Cormier (9th grade, CO), "dark" thematic content.

Chocolate War, The, Robert Cormier, (Freshman English, ID), anit-God and anti-Christian.

Fallen Angels, Walter Dean Myers (8th grade & 11grade English III, TX), profanity.

Fallen Angels, Walter Dean Myers (11th grade English, OK), language "f" word.

Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes (7th Grade independent reading list, PA), swear words and love scene. Sent information and rationale. REMOVED FROM 7TH GRADE BOOK LIST AVAILABLE IN LIBRARY FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ONLY.

Grendel, John Gardner, (9th grade honors, NY), profanity, violence, sexual references, perceived anti-religious stance.

Killing Mr. Griffin - video, Lois Duncan (9th grade, OK), substitute teacher complained that this was inappropirate. Principal requested the book or video not be used.

Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseinia (10th grade general class, OH), profanity, violence, rape.

Little Girl Who Did What? Dianne Dumpey,(2nd-4th, VA), word "fart".

Running Loose, Chris Crutcher, (OH), sexual content.

Secret Life of Bees, The, Sue Monk (9-12th grade Library, GA), profanity, non-christian morals.

Separate Peace, A, John Knowles, (SC), sexual references and language. PARENT APPROVED ALTERNATE BOOK, LITTLE WOMEN.

Things They Carried, The Tim O'Brien (11th grade English, NY), inappropriate language.

What My Mother Doesn't Know, Sonya Sones, (Stamburgh Middle School, FL).

Always Running, Luis Rodriguez (9th Grade), language and pornographic themes.

The Awakening, Kate Chopin (high school MI).

The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver (high school, MI).

Beyond the Chocolate War, Robert Cormier (7th/8th Grade School), references that are derogatory to God.

Bless Me Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya (10th Grade AP Summer Reading List), language and use of withchcraft.

Bless Me Ultima, Rudolfo Anaya (high school, MI).

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison (Accelerated English II-10th Grade, MI), sexual content.

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison (9th Grade Honors Independent Reading List, CO), sexual content, disturbing psychological situations. BANNED FROM LIBRARIES AND CLASSROOMS OF DISTRICT.

Catcher in the Rye,J. D. Salinger (high school, MI).

Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko, sex and language.

The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier (9th Grade, PA), language.

Cracking India, Bapsi Sihwal (11th Grade, FL), sex and language.

The Crucible, Arthur Miller (11th Grade, OK), witchcraft, anti-Christian. Rationale, information, and letter of support sent.

The Crucible, Arthur Miller (11th Grade, CA).

House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (high school, MI).

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou (9th Grade suggested reading list, VA), rape scene.

Kaffir Boy, Mark Mathabane (high school, MI).

Maus II, Art Spiegelman (10th Grade English), principal thought reference to "colored people" was inapporopriate.

Missing the Piano, Adam Rapp (9th Grade supplemental reading list, VA), sexual content; language. Rationale and information sent.

Night, Elie Wiesel (10th Grade honors, CA), graphic descriptions.

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck (9th Grade honors independent reading list, VA), "N" word.

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck (9th Grade English, OH), language and use of Lord's name in vain.

“Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” Ursula LeGuin (10th Grade English/Social Studies), word “orgy” and naked priests who drink beer.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky (11th Grade American Literature, MA), gay sex scene.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky (optional reading list, WI).

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky (AZ), gay sex scene. State superintendent urged all school libraries in the state to remove the book. AZ CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION REVIEWED THE LETTER WRITTEN BY SUPERINTENDENT AND DETERMINED THAT HE VIOLATED NO LAW IN ISSUING THE EDICT.

A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (12th Grade AP, TX), vulgarity and sex.

Rumble Fish, S. E. Hinton (reading list, NJ).

Ragtime, E. L. Doctorow (12th Grade college prep).

Shattering Glass, Gail Giles (MO).

Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson (10th Grade literature, GA).

Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison (10th Grade, OH), language, sexual situations and negative presentaion of African Americnas.

Speak, Laurie Anderson (MO).

Speak, Laurie Anderson (9th Grade, MN), foul language and gross disrespect.

They Cage the Animals at Night, Jennings Michael Burch (6th Grade, NY), vulgar language.