The Sound of Silence

Banning books is a hot topic in the literary world, and I spend my life surrounded by people committed to stop it from happening. Readers need to see themselves in fiction, and there is plenty of room on the bookshelf for a variety of world views. I read banned books and I encourage my students to read them as well.

So I am surprised that lately, I’ve seen those who speak openly against banning books cheering for others who are doing just that. We must remember that in championing books, in celebrating our freedom to read, we are going to be faced with protecting those very ideas that we disagree with. That is the nature of free speech. There are many voices, and not all of them are speaking our language. But if we truly believe that censorship is wrong, we fight it.

This doesn’t mean we don’t criticize those books and ideals. That is the best part about freedom of expression – it allows us to engage in meaningful conversations about those things that matter. We should be critical of ideas we don’t agree with. But only in allowing them to be expressed can we fight that issue head on.

 

I recently saw on Twitter several people agreeing with a child who demanded a sexist children’s book be removed from the bookstore. While I am also sick of seeing both boys and girls being told what they can and cannot enjoy, by celebrating this behavior, we are teaching that banning books is the answer and will solve the problem. Neither are true.

In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, Beatty tells Montag that people stopped reading of their own accord long before books became illegal, mostly because authors were so afraid of offending somebody (and no matter what you write, it will offend somebody), that the books didn’t actually say anything.

I want books to speak – to me, to my students, to people who are similar to me as well as to those who differ. And in order to make sure that those books stay on the shelves, that my students are able to find these books, then that means I must fight for the freedom of all books.

We all know taking those issues out of bookstores and libraries doesn’t mean those issues disappear from reality. When those books are no longer present, it means they are also no longer part of a necessary critical conversation. We’re not just silencing opposing voices – we’re stopping conversations. And that kind of silence isn’t just deafening. It’s dangerous.

Students Respond to Banned Books Week

Poster one of my students made. Isn't she clever?

As an avid reader, I have always urged my students to celebrate banned books week by reading something someone else has deemed "wrong".  As the book club sponsor, we celebrate the week by hanging up posters and having a "read-in".  Earlier in the week, I posted my thoughts on banned books week.  You can read that post here.

But I also wanted my students to discuss their feelings on banned books week, since they are the ones it seems to affect most often.  So I encouraged by book club members to jot a few things down, and three of them participated with coercion gladly. 

Angelle:

Personally, books are my escape from reality.  Something I hold dear to my heart. I love to lose myself in a good book. Shock value is one of the best parts of the books I read. The thought of people I don’t know restricting me from reading something purely because they find it offensive is disturbing. People should be able to read what they want without “the man” trying to control them. So many amazing books that have affected my life have been banned in schools, which is truly a shame. Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and Perks of Being a Wallflower are all great books that have been banned in some schools. Hunger Games, for example is a riveting book, and though some people might find it offensive, I loved it, enjoying the absurdity of it all.  I mean really, who doesn’t like a good book about children fighting to the death to avoid starvation? The point is I read all three of the Hunger Games books and I’m just fine. I’m not shooting arrows at people or trying to bring down a corrupt government. It was my choice to read that book knowing its theme was kind of morbid and I value that it was MY CHOICE, not someone I’ve never met deciding whether or not I could handle it. Banning books is banning knowledge and growth which OBVIOUSLY is wrong. I will keep reading banned books because that is my right and I truly do value it.

 

Cassie:

When I look back at all the books I have read, it shocks me to think over half of them are considered “banned”.  I have never found anything wrong with the books on the shelf in my room, but it seems there is.  To me, banning books is very wrong.  Children and teens should be able to feel the imagination and love you gain from books.  Book have changed my life.  They gave me a whole new outlook on life.  I find an escape from everything in my books.  I don’t care if they are banned and frowned upon.  Those books help me.  They could help so many others as well.  My mom does not frown upon what I read.  She supports my reading.  Every person should have that.  Everybody should be able to read what they want.  Reading builds people into being great, in my opinion.  I also noticed most banned books are banned for cursing.  Well, whoever banned those books obviously has never been to a high school.  Banned books can help people.  They can stop someone from taking their life, getting sucked up in the wrong crowd, and even help them deal with problems at home.  The banning of books must be stopped.  So go out and read a banned book!  (Some of the banned books I love: Water for Elephants, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, Crank, and Go Ask Alice.)

Emily:

I really like books. I mean, I really, really like them. As in, if my best friend and the last set of Harry Potter books were dangling over a cliff, I’d totally save my best friend, but only after at least five minutes of an internal debate and possibly making a pros/cons list.

Personally, I’ve never been limited when it comes to reading. My parents never censored my books, and they never tried to control what I read. If anything, they encouraged my devouring of books, always willing to buy me something new at any time. (Except for the one time I got punished from getting books from a Scholastic book order, but that’s a different story for a different day.)

There’s a point to this post besides my love affair with novels, and I’m getting there, I promise.

Banned Books Weeks. Can we just focus on the fact that there’s an entire week dedicated to reading and our right to read ANYTHING we want? Like, anything. As in, I could walk into Barnes & Noble and pick any book I so choose, and no one can stop me. And no one should be able to, if we’re being real here. Like, if you don’t like a book, YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ IT. No one is forcing your eyes to absorb the words of a book that you may or may not agree with. It’s your own opinion. AND PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS GOOD AND HOLY, DO NOT TRY TO PASS YOUR OPINION ONTO OTHER PEOPLE. YOU DON’T HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO SUCH A THING. (This applies to a whole lot of other things too, but I’m sticking to books, keeping it clean.)

Don’t keep someone from the beauty of books. Just don’t do it, man.

So, Happy Banned Books Week! Go read something wonderful.

Celebrating our Right to Read

 

 

I don’t know how different my life would be if I didn’t have books.  It is actually a terrifying idea.  My grandmother, who was a teacher like most of the women in my family, taught me to read before I started kindergarten, and since then, reading has been my passion.  When I think about elementary school, I pretty much remember racing through my work so I could read.  I remember getting lost for days in other worlds – and I feel so lucky that books still have that power over me.  I am also very lucky that I was allowed to read widely.  I read Stephen King’s It when I was thirteen years old.  It was probably not appropriate for me at that age, but I loved it, and I turned out okay.  My mother probably didn’t even know I was reading it, but I’m not so sure she would have stopped me anyway.  I often read off of her shelf, which is also why I’ve read numerous V.C. Andrews books, none of them probably appropriate for my age.  And it’s okay for parents to say that their child is probably not ready for a certain book yet.  Because we have the right to read, it also means we have the right to choose books which we might enjoy – and which ones we might not.  The books I love are not necessarily going to be loved by everyone else.  And that’s great.  Our differences are what make this world such an amazing place.  But it is not okay for you to choose books for me.  It’s not okay for you to make sure that those books aren’t available to me if I want to read them – that I can’t read that book because it offends you.

But I want to talk to my students, particularly those who refuse to read.  I joke all the time about our summer reading books.  I have suggested before that we send home a letter to students giving them a list of books that they aren’t allowed to read over the summer.  If we told students they could not read something, then I guarantee they would want to.  And I’m only half joking.  But students, I want to suggest this.  Choosing not to read at all is also, in a way, censorship.  Now I know not everyone likes to read.  Because books mean so much to me, that hurts my heart to hear.  But that is your right.  But please think about it like this.  Not all great books are made into movies.  And every movie you watch has been interpreted by someone else.  That is someone else’s vision of the story.  The director’s vision may be a great one, but your vision may be very different.  You won’t know that if you never read.  If you never read, you are censoring yourself from a lifetime of ideas.  You are committing yourself to only seeing things the way others see them.  Instead, discover your own way of seeing things. 

So I challenge you to read whatever you want because you can.  You have been blessed with the ability to read.  You are blessed to live in a country which values your education.  (I am a public school teacher, and no matter what you believe about the state of our schools, I am still an idealist and still believe that this country values education - despite some of the policies to the contrary.)  So you have been given this great gift – literacy.  Use it!  You have the right to get lost in a book – any book – even if someone else doesn’t like that book.  Even if someone else is offended by that book.  Get offended by that book.  That is also your right.  It is your right to read something and not like what it says.  Let’s have a conversation about it.  Let’s discuss those ideas.  But let’s not squash those ideas completely.  Let’s not tell someone they aren’t allowed to think that way.  Let’s read books that offend us and talk about why.  Let’s read books that address tough issues and learn from them.  Let’s just read books so that we can be swept away into a whole new world, one that is just for us, and let’s not let anyone take that away from us.  Because when you read, you create your own version of that book based on who you are, and no one else has that exact same vision.  Isn’t that awesome?  And even though the writer is manipulating you in a way because they are using words to create ideas, you are also manipulating those words and ideas and it is so much better than a movie, where you are just the spectator.  When you read a book, you are participating in that action.  So let’s not take that away from anyone. 

Let’s not take away the right of every human being to be moved and changed by a great book.  To be a better person for the words that are written.  Let’s celebrate the fact that we have the right to read.  And then let’s talk about it.  Because maybe having meaningful conversations about important things will change us all.  And call me naïve, but I do believe that books have the power to make this world a better place.  It’s why I write.  It’s why I read.  It’s why I try to pass that hunger for words on to my students.  And it’s why I read banned books.  I hope you will too. 

 

A list of some of my favorite banned books:

Fahrenheit 451

Harry Potter

Twilight

Huck Finn

The Great Gatsby

A Farewell to Arms

The Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Rings

(Really, if you look at the list, I’ve loved almost every book on there in one way or another.  Just goes to show you that the best books makes us feel.  Even if that feeling is anger.)

To learn more about Banned Books Week, visit http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek