My daughter does not like to read. I'm always trying to find books that will appeal to her and make her want to pick up more books. "Speak" was one of those books. She read it in two days and couldn't wait to pick up "Wintergirls" when it came out. I knew what the book was about, I knew that it depicted rape, and I didn't care. No...that's not true. I feel it's important for young people to read books that address things that happen in real life in a real way that speaks to them.
Ms. Anderson has written a blog piece about the battle she is now waging to fight this attempt to ban her book. But, she rightly points out, the author has a vested interest in seeing that her/his work is not banned and may not carry much weight in a fight. What she needs is for other people to speak up and let school boards around the country know that we're perfectly capable of thinking for ourselves and raising our own children.
To learn more about Banned Books Week, please visit the American Library Association's site which explains what the week is about and provides a lot of links for even more information. You might be surprised to find out which books you've read and didn't think a thing about that someone else thought should be banned. And lest we jump to the conclusion that it's only those on the far right that are jumping to ban books, liberals are just as likely to want to ban books that they feel are politically incorrect.
This week and again next week during Banned Books Week, I plan to exercise my right to read whatever I want by reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" while Mini-me sits next to me reading "The Catcher In The Rye."
My stepdaughter isn't as big reader, so when she shows interest in books, I am thrilled. Right now she is reading a collection of my scary short stories. Yes, they are written for adults, but I want her to gain all the knowledge she can from reading, so I am not about to ban her from anything.
ReplyDeleteSpeak is a book that NEEDS and HAS to be read. I feel that she did a superb job of writing about the rape and the aftermath. This book was removed from the school where I work, until I got there that is! I put it back on the shelf...8th graders are allowed to check it out with a parental permission slip. I always talk to my students about this book before they read it and have had some excellent conversations. What the people who don't want their children to read it don't understand is that it could be there daughter in the situation... before they choose to remove, they need to actually read the book!! I love Anderson...she is one of my favorite writers and I would lose my job before I allow anyone to pull her books off the shelves ever again. Great pick to write about Lisa!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Lisa! I remember when AWP was in third grade and stood up in front of the school board to explain why he didn't want the Goosebumps series banned. He loved reading them and read so much as a little boy. I was so proud of them that night.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder about Banned Books week. Working in bookstores for as long as I did, i got plenty of crazies tell me what should and should not be published. :(
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