This is a bit early in the year for me to be making one of my semi-regular pushes to get people to not just read, but to read consciously and intentionally, since I usually reserve making such a case for Banned Books Week in the fall.
The American Library Association, however, just released its list of the most frequently challenged books from 2014, and that list got me all worked up about what gets people all worked up.
This list reveals the books that people don’t like to the point where their dislike prompts them to contact the library in their town or at their kid’s school and request that the book in question be taken off the shelves so no one else can find it there and read it.
The process is known as challenging a book. If it’s successful, the book is banned.
Each challenge comes with a stated reason why the challenge happened, ranging from the broad “unsuited to age group” and “contains controversial issues” to the more narrow “promotes the homosexual agenda.”
What I’ve found is that people really don’t like sex in their books, whether it’s portrayed in teen fiction, reported on in a memoir about kidnapping and abuse, or explained as a normal part of growing up in a factual book for children whose bodies are changing.
That’s hardly the only issue, though. Racial issues and coarse language prompt challenges, too, and not even classic, important, and great works of literature are immune:
To Kill a Mockingbird was in the top 10 list in 2009, along with The Catcher in the Rye. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn made the list in 2007. Of Mice and Men shared the list with Bridge to Terabithia and the Harry Potter series (the latter two were both challenged for “occult/Satanism”) in 2003. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry appeared at No. 9 in 2002.
Many of these titles are very challenging books, which may be why they are so frequently challenged. Books that expose varying degrees of uncomfortable truths—some people are racists, violence happens, teenagers are interested in sex—inspire fear in some adults. Parents are the most frequent challengers of books, and raising a child and increasingly entrusting her or him to make independent and beneficial choices in a chaotic world is a terrifying thing.
Books, though?
Books are like self-contained little worlds that put the reader in control. You can pick them up. Put them down. Hand them to someone else and get their opinion. The knowledge and ideas they contain are not inherently dangerous or bad (or empowering or good, for that matter), but are excellent jumping-off points from which to evaluate your own beliefs and values. Did something you read make you angry? Excited? Sad? Motivated?
Great!
Explore those feelings. Talk about them. Adults, please talk with your children about what they’re reading (and they should be reading) and find out what they think and why. Banning books damages dialog. It limits perspective. It shuts away the past, creating a greater likelihood that those who come next will be doomed to repeat it.
Be discerning, yes, but please, prepare to be the one challenged, not the one doing the challenging when it comes to the content you’ll find in your nearest library.
Which reminds me: All 10 of the most challenged books from 2014 are available in the Black Gold system that supplies readers on the Central Coast with the sort of challenging material that ultimately makes this world a better place.
What do you say? Challenge accepted?
Challenging material
Here are the most challenged books of 2014, along with the reasons cited, according to the American Library Association:
1) The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: anti-family, cultural insensitivity, drugs/alcohol/smoking, gambling, offensive language, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group, violence. Additional reasons: “depictions of bullying”
2) Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Reasons: gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint. Additional reasons: “politically, racially, and socially offensive,” “graphic depictions”
3) And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: anti-family, homosexuality, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “promotes the homosexual agenda”
4) The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “contains controversial issues”
5) It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Reasons: nudity, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group. Additional reasons: “alleges it’s child pornography”
6) Saga by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Reasons: anti-family, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
7) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: offensive language, unsuited to age group, violence
8) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “date rape and masturbation”
9) A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
10) Drama by Raini Telgemeier
Reasons: sexually explicit
Executive Editor Ryan Miller’s blood gets pumping whenever this topic comes up. Send comments to him at rmiller@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 16-23, 2015.