Banning YA and younger books

[BookStop]

Not sure if YA was a good section to post this, but here it is anyway.

Recently, our small county banned a book from the elementary schools, but are allowing it in middle (6th-8th grade), even though the book is widely accepted across the country as a 4th and 5th grade reading level. The reason it was banned was for 'graphic language and adult themes'. Here's the link:

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/042806/met_79251.shtml

I was just wondering what some of you thought about it. I, myself, am torn. As an avid book lover, I hate the idea of banning books, but I wouldn't want my 3rd grader reading it without supervision and discussion. (I like to think I'm pretty aware of what he's reading, so I don't think it would ever be an issue for us, but for some families, I see their point.)

 

[Marky Lazer]

You need to sign up to see that link (me at least).

Anyway, there's like ratings for movies what age can see what. So, maybe we will get that on books as well in the near future.

 

[BookStop]

Oh, didn't realize you'd have to sign up . Anyway, the book is The Same Stuff as Stars by Katherine Patterson. Banned for the b word and in the story a mother abandons her children.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

Well there are certainly books which require thought and analysis and probably aren't suitable for kids, but you'll have to explain to a non-american what age ranges we're talking about here.

By age 11, I had cajoled, begged, pleaded with my local library to give me access to the adult section of the library and I've never looked back since.

 

[BookStop]

Basically it was banned in the schools with the 11 and under crowd, even though that is the reading level Patterson was aiming for.

 

[j d worthington]

I must admit that this is a tetchy topic for me. I'm of a mind that it should be the parents' choice, not the administration's or school district's board. A compromise would be to e-mail or otherwise issue parents permission slips; if they have an objection to a particular book, etc., then they can refuse to let their child participate with that one. In such doubtful cases, the school could supply a brief synopsis and recommendations from organizations who watch for such things (offensive language, sexual situations, etc.) as may be judged inappropriate by some, and have an alternative title for students whose parents object to the main one. I had this happen more than once when growing up -- often in the middle of reading a book (it even took place in my senior year, when everyone in the class was 18; didn't stop 'em from yanking the book, however). This throws everything off. A little better planning ahead of time can avoid such snafus, gives any who wish the right to refuse, but does not take away the availability for those who have no problems with the material.

 

[BookStop]

Parent permission slips would be useless without a book rating system in place. Who would get to decide which books belonged in the parental guidence section?

I have been thinking for a long time now that it would be wonderful if there were a standard rating syatem in place for YA and younger books, similar to that of movie ratings. But the problem with that is where to start. Can you imagine the man hours required to read and rate every book out there? Then you'd also have to decide what to do with books containing magic. Along with language and adult situations, this corner of the globe is very concerned about their ildren reading books containing magic, ala Harry Potter, because they feel it is introducing thier chldren to evil somehow. But that is a whole other topic.

All in all, it would be brilliant if there was something like that in place, but it seems a little unrealistic. I read The Same Stuff as Stars and liked it. I t hink I would let my kids read it if they wanted to, I'd just have to warn them about the language. Although, I think they would find it pretty dull and wouldn't want to read it unless they knew it was banned.

 

[CarlottaVonUberwald]

our school regualrly get complaints from parents at the kind of books their children are allowed to read...however these same parents let they children have open Tv and internet access ....its a crazy world

 

[ZoeRat]

When I was in elementary school and middle school, we read a few books that had touchy material in them, so they gave out permission slips to the parents that included an explanation of the book so that they could decide if they wanted their child to read it or not. If the parents didn't want their child to read the book or a permission slip was never received, then an alternate assignment was given to that kid. While I don't believe in banning books, i do think there should be a rating system on books like movies and video games.

Here in Colorado, they don't monitor access to cetain parts of the library, as Winter's Sorrow was talking about. As soon as I had my own library card, I could check out whatever books I wanted. In that case, I think it should be the parent's resposnibility to know what books their child is checking out, and not the library's responsibility.

 

[kyektulu]

It seems abit OTT to me, lets face it kids hear worse in the playground and many pearents swear infront of thier kids anyway... which I persoanlly feel is wrong.

 

[LeoCrow]

this post may be a bit gore but it is all about fairy tales.

Little Red Riding Hood : a girl along with he rgrandmother gets eaten by a wolf and a hunter guts the wolf to save them.

Cinderella: two girld cut parts of their feet (toe and heel) to fit the food in the slipper!


Pinocchio : an animated puppet that dies a gruesome death, hanged for his innumerable faults (in one part of the book) and a lot of people suffer a lot of ugly things.

Hansel and Gretel : two children that a witch tries to fatten up in order to eat them!

Snow White : the queen orders a hunter to cut the neck of a innocent girl because she was beautiful.

The nightmarish list can go on and on. And it is all stories that we tell children for entertainment. A word or a story where a mother leaves her children is the problem now?

 

[j d worthington]

Not to mention that, in some versions of Little Red Riding Hood, she and the grandmother are still dead. And Hansel and Gretel turn the tables by roasting the witch. Yes, the list goes on and on and on....

But, in a related bit, has anyone noted, for instance, that even with the old Universal horror films like Dracula, Frankenstein, etc., they now come with ratings? For 70+ years we didn't need them on these. Now, suddenly, we do? And PG, for cryin' out loud??!!

 

[ZoeRat]

Snow White : the queen orders a hunter to cut the neck of a innocent girl because she was beautiful.

The nightmarish list can go on and on. And it is all stories that we tell children for entertainment. A word or a story where a mother leaves her children is the problem now?

I thought the Queen wanted the hunter to cut her heart out and bring it back to her in a box.

And there is a Young Adult novel that I read in elementary school, Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt, in which a mother abandons her children at the mall, and they have to hike across the state on their own to find their estranged grandmother in hopes that she will take them in. No one said anything about this book, and it's a YA book. I just don't understand why parents get so upset about things like this when there are soft porn Victoria's Secret commercials on TV, shooting games in which the object of the game is to kill others, and a number of other bad things their children have access to that they don't even think about.

 

[j d worthington]

Not to mention that two of the favorite costumes for Halloween (and parents don't seem to object to this, either) are Freddie Kruger and Jason Voorhees. Now go figure that one!

 

[ZoeRat]

Lol, that's a good point. In one of my English classes, we watched a video about a school that tried to ban "Tom Sawyer," because a lot of black parents didn't like the use of the "N" word in the book, claiming the book encouraged racism. The debate was that the book was written in the time period when that word was used often, and besides that, Tom was good friends with his aunt's slave, Jim, which was a step forward. What do you think about this debate?

 

[j d worthington]

Frankly, I see such debates as created by a) someone completely ignorant on the subject, b)someone who feels that everything has to meet their own standards on all levels, c) someone who simply feels like stirring the pot, d)a way to keep our children uninformed of history.... and a few other things, ending in "it's a non-debate in the sense of a created debate, without any validity, no matter how heated it may become"; any or all of the above may be the case. Let's face it -- and this ties in with the debate on LotR being "racist" -- until after the liberation of the camps, what we would call racist elements entered into all writing dealing with more than a single culture, sometimes quite heavily, and often derogatorily, from at least Homer on. Human beings are ethnocentric; it's a fact. To deny that's had its impact on literature, to deny its historical place in literature, is to deny reality. We may not like such things, we may find them offensive; but if we go cutting out everything that different groups find offensive, I'm not sure there'd be anything left! Little Black Sambo, for instance, wasn't about African-Americans, or even Africans; it was an Indian tale in origin (and I, for one, always thought that was one smart little kid to outwit the tigers) as opposed to, say, "George Washington Rabbit", which was an "American Negro Tale" (as they were then classified) which had a particularly dense little protagonist; this was not a racial stereotype, it's a part of folktale to have such broad characterizations in order to make their points -- in this case, about people who take things too literally. Look at some of the early Norse tales about Thor -- which is where we get the term "dunderhead", incidentally.

And in Twain's case, especially, this is ridiculous. It shows how even a basically good person can be corrupted by the ignorant beliefs of their culture. (And, frankly, I find this sort of literary revisionism to be placed rather highly among our own.)

 

[Alia]

Lol, that's a good point. In one of my English classes, we watched a video about a school that tried to ban "Tom Sawyer," because a lot of black parents didn't like the use of the "N" word in the book, claiming the book encouraged racism. The debate was that the book was written in the time period when that word was used often, and besides that, Tom was good friends with his aunt's slave, Jim, which was a step forward. What do you think about this debate?

It is ashame that narrow minded people still walk this earth and inflict their pain onto their children. One of the things I like about Tom Sawyer was not only was it a masterpiece but it also brought to life how the world really was. It wasn't necessarily all fictional. Any parent who would keep their child from reading and discovering is... {sensored} I do believe that books like Tom Sawyer could be used as a learning lesson. Why blacks were called 'nigger' once. Why there was discrimnation. What we can do to do our part not to repeat history and so forth. Teaching them values and strengths from past mistakes.

 

[Patrick Mahon]

It's an interesting debate isn't it? And yet I presume that most of the people who would like certain books banned from schools would not want the Bible (I'm talking from the perspective of largely Christian countries here) banned, would they? But the Old Testament has some pretty inflammatory and bigoted things to say about everyone who doesn't believe in the God put forward there. If Tom Sawyer should be banned, perhaps the Bible should be too?!

Personally, I'd like to trust our young people to be able to learn from whatever they read, particularly if it is read at school, where there are sensible people (on the whole!) to ask about the issues. Or am I too much of an idealist?

 

[Eareniel]

Is simply banning the book from our public schools enough? Perhaps a good old-fashioned book burning is just the thing we need to turn this generation back on to reading. What better way to encourage a teen, or pre-teen, to find out what all the fuss is about than by saying they can't have something. It seems to be working for those musicians with the "Warning: Contains Explicit Lyrics" stickers on their cds.

We have a different rating system in Canada than the US. I can't comment on the EU, as my evidence comes from the back of Region One DVDs, but it would appear that we are a tad more lenient than our neighbours to the south. My favourite is the US "R" rating equates to a "14 AA" here.

 

[CarlottaVonUberwald]

It seems abit OTT to me, lets face it kids hear worse in the playground and many pearents swear infront of thier kids anyway... which I persoanlly feel is wrong.

i wouldnt find this opinion so odd if i hadnt read some of your other opinons on different subjects.. ( i mean no offence by this it just seems to stick out)