By Claire Booth
Banned Books Week ended yesterday.
It’s a week that celebrates the freedom to read. I love this week. As a reader
and a writer, there is very little that is more important to me than people
being able to write, publish and read what they choose.
This year, I was curious to see
what kinds of books have been challenged lately. In perusing the lists compiled
by the American Library Association (one of the fiercest defenders of the Right
to Read), one entry in particular caught my eye because it shows the utter
ridiculousness of those who are challenging books.
In 2012 and 2013, the most
challenged book was Captain Underpants,
by Dav Pilkey. Challengers claimed it was “unsuited to the age group.” Pardon
me as I laugh hysterically. Have you been around an eight-year-old boy? For
even ten seconds? Because the people protesting obviously have not. No author
has better hit the sweet spot for that age group than Pilkey.
Now, you as a fuddy-duddy adult can
roll your eyes at the quality, or the artwork, or the tattered condition of the
library copy (because it’s been checked out so much). I have done all three.
But you know what trumps all of those criticisms? The kid with his nose in the
book.
I work with a lot of kids. And
yes, in an ideal world, they’d start out with Anne of Green Gables, or the Hardy Boys. But that’s not how it
works for most kids, especially ones who don’t necessarily have parents who are
readers or tons of books available to them at home. They need an entry point.
And for a lot of children, silly potty humor with underpants pictures is that
doorway. When they’re done with that series, they want more. They might go on
to Diary of a Wimpy Kid (also with
pictures), or branch out into primarily text books like the Magic Treehouse
series.
And then before you know it,
they’re asking you for thicker, more complicated, more difficult books. Like Goosebumps, or James and the Giant Peach, or Blubber
by Judy Blume. All of which have been challenged, according to the ALA. Why –
because they’re too scary? Or too fantastical? Or too much like real life? Give
me a break.
Each of those books speaks to
certain aspects of a child’s world. Not every child is going to want to read
all three of them, of course, but that’s why there are so many choices. That’s
why there NEED to be so many choices, especially for young readers. Let them
explore, find what they like. Then later, when they are a little older, they
will be much more open to reading what perhaps doesn’t directly relate to their
world. Books that about people who aren’t like them. Books that talk about
different societies or problems or circumstances that the reader hasn’t
experienced.
Because that is the beauty of
books. They take the reader to places they couldn’t otherwise go. Whether it’s
Hogwarts, or the Mississippi River in the 1800s, or a Native American
reservation, or a post-apocalyptic Earth. Those books have been challenged,
too. By people who not only have no desire to expand their horizons, but also think
they have the right to dictate the horizon expansion of everybody else. And that
is not okay.
So this weekend, I’m going to
pull out my copy of The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn or maybe The Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and give thanks for thought-provoking,
boundary-pushing stories and the people who fight to keep them on the shelves.
They’re superheroes, just like Captain Underpants.
