Banning books

[Iorek444]

A recent thread here has made me curious: as children/young adults, did any of your parents ban you from certain books or types of books? Did you rebel against this or obey their wishes? Also, do you think it is necessary for some books to be banned by concerned parents, or is it anything goes?

For myself, my parents never stopped me from reading any book. I was pretty much on my own to find and read what I wanted. Whether or not they should have banned some books I'm not sure, but personally I'm glad they didn't (but I never did manage to find a book that scared or disturbed me).

 

[Lucien21]

Not that I remember.

It was even my mum that got me into Stephen King. She was in a book club and got sent Christine and she gave it to me.

 

[The Ace]

There were certain, 'Adult,' books I wasn't allowed to read, but my father tended to be annoyed at not being able to find his library books rather than the fact that I read them. (He kept them in a stack beside his chair and expected us to put them back where we found them.)

Although my parents' bedroom was out-of-bounds, we had plenty of books of our own and both living-room and hall had several bookshelves which we could explore as long as our hands were clean and we didn't damage them.

 

[Urlik]

I don't think I had my reading censored by my parents.
my father recommended Ray Bradbury to me when I was still in school and thought I would like "the Small Assassin" as an introduction.
but then he had a large collection of SF books and anthologies from the late 50's up to the mid/late 60's, mainly Azimov, Heinlein, Clarke and Bradbury and I'd read most of them during my school years.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

I've never had a ban on any books or movies when I was a kid. I was taught to read at a young age, then just let loose. I only got into fantasy in the last ten or so years, but I was voracious horror fan-mostly Stephen King-when I was younger.......

 

[Montero]

No, but they occasionally forgot what was in the ones they gave me to read. The best example was father giving me Monsarrat's "The Cruel Sea" to read when I was 11 - good clean naval adventure. Yup, except when I asked at dinner table what crabs were in the context of "little tickling feet in the private parts" as described in the Cruel Sea.

(And no, they didn't explain )

 

[Montero]

Having said no, I just remembered - they did ban Winnie the Pooh because they just plain didn't like it - ban in the sense they didn't buy it and didn't read it to me. Also Enid Blyton because they didn't like her approach to life - when I say ban, they didn't buy it and pulled lots of discouraging faces when I got one off the shelf in the library. I read a couple of her adventures for older kids but none of the young stuff.

On the question of banning books - well with young kids the parents do tend to buy what they themselves like. As kids get older, get library tickets etc then they have access to a lot more. I think a little bit of care to make sure young kids aren't scared into nightmares is probably a good idea. In general I hope books are freely available so people can have broad experiences if they want to choose them.
I am concerned by what seems to be kids getting more and more glamorous - but that is not necessarily coming from what they read - but wouldn't really know as don't read young teen books.
Do think fantasy is probably a fairly safe read for kids - they can't confuse it with reality while having lots of fun reading it.

Someone I used to work with thought Arthur Ransome and other like books should be banned, as they encourage kids to go off adventuring and building secret dens and today that is dangerous he thought.

 

[j d worthington]

A recent thread here has made me curious: as children/young adults, did any of your parents ban you from certain books or types of books? Did you rebel against this or obey their wishes? Also, do you think it is necessary for some books to be banned by concerned parents, or is it anything goes?

Well, I wouldn't say "anything goes"; I, for one, wouldn't be too crazy about my youngster reading Sade or Sacher-Masoch at an early age, let alone various hate tracts floating around out there. There are some things that are not really appropriate for a younger reader, in various ways. However, if they circumvent you (or the librarians) and read them, better to discuss them and clarify things rather than throw a fit.

And yes, I did have that experience on occasion... though not that often, as my mother -- the one who tended to do this -- simply didn't have the time to keep up with the amount of reading I did. I do recall her getting sour about the ending of Bradbury's "Pillar of Fire", for instance, even though it was directly taken from (and a tribute to) Poe's "Cask of Amontillado". She sat on Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land for several months, before realizing she just was never going to get around to reading something that size, and let me go at it. (And if she had... I'd have waited until my adult years to read it, trust me....)

 

[nixie]

My mum never had a problem, I was allowed to read what ever I wanted.... well apart from the Gor books. My brother went through a stage of reading them when he was about 18, she picked up one of them and was disgusted even more so when she discovered I was reading them too

 

[The Ace]

Oh yes, John Norman's, "Gor."

I have no objection to nudity and graphic sex in novels, but Norman's attitude to women stinks.

 

[chopper]

i'll venture the opinion that the very fact we're all here on this forum indicates we were never barred from reading certain books (although somebody will now post to prove me wrong). or more precisely, that our parents understood the value of broad reading.

i can remember reading Fleming's James Bond books when i was around 7 or 8 and being confused by the seduction scenes as well as disappointed that they didn't match the films....

personally, though i have no kids, i'll be encouraging my niece to grab any book she can get her hands on (although she actually needs no encouragement in that area and demands to be read to).

s

 

[Call me Gytha]

I remember my mum picking up a Stan Barstow book I was reading as a teen and banned me from reading further as there were "mucky bits" thing was although it wasn't the particular book in question, we were reading Barstow in school at the time..... would she listen

 

[j d worthington]

i'll venture the opinion that the very fact we're all here on this forum indicates we were never barred from reading certain books (although somebody will now post to prove me wrong). or more precisely, that our parents understood the value of broad reading.

Present!... err......

Seriously, my parents (more specifically, my mother) didn't overtly object to my reading until I was about 11 or 12... then the disparaging comments became increasingly frequent and caustic. And as for what I was encouraged to read.... well, let's just say that emphasis was put on one particular Book.... But frankly, I'm a born bookworm, and I'm not sure that it would be possible to get me to stop reading, if I can lay my hands on a book....

Incidentally, I don't mean to disrespect her here, especially as she was the main one who did read children's books to me when I was too young to read myself; it's just that, as Heinlein noted, once you begin to read, and read a lot, you begin to question things... and that can make some parents extremely nervous....

 

[HoopyFrood]

I was the only one who took to avid reading in my family; both of my parents hardly read at all, so I was left to my own devices, reading the books I wanted to read. My mum would take me to the library and I'd wander off to pick my own books and it wasn't long before I was venturing out of the children's section. They've never stopped me reading anything, probably because they didn't know the content, but then they didn't stop me reading Stephen King or anything, even buying me copies of his books if they saw them at car boots and the like. But then I was always allowed to watch programmes and films that had a certificate that was waaay past my age (I've been watching horror films with an eighteen certificate for as long as I can remember) so my parents have never really put a ban on anything. I've turned out all right, I think...

 

[The Ace]

Especially if you question that book. I'm just glad I was raised an atheist (thankfully by very moral parents).

Dad was a bit worried by my Sven Hassel phase in my mid-teens, but knew I was politically aware enough to get away with it, and, right enough, the phase passed.

 

[Connavar]

My parents never gave me anything to read as in trying to make me read something or ban a kind of books. Not cause they dont read but it never came up cause refugees has way many problems than what their kids should read

When there was a time for that later on as a kid or a teen i never wanted to read if the school didnt force me.

 

[Call me Gytha]

Especially if you question that book. I'm just glad I was raised an atheist (thankfully by very moral parents).

Dad was a bit worried by my Sven Hassel phase in my mid-teens, but knew I was politically aware enough to get away with it, and, right enough, the phase passed.

Ah Sven Hassel the only author my OH has avidly read... and he was a kid then. I gave him a James Herbert book to read during our first year of marriage thinking he would enjoy it and it might get him interested in reading. He is halfway through chapter 10 and we will be 18 years married this August

 

[chopper]

And as for what I was encouraged to read.... well, let's just say that emphasis was put on one particular Book.... But frankly, I'm a born bookworm, and I'm not sure that it would be possible to get me to stop reading, if I can lay my hands on a book....

ah, that Book. Or rather, those Books. in places, much scarier than anything King will ever write!

(as an aside, the very first time I was deemed responsible enough to be left to look after bro & sis for the evening while the parental units went out, the only book in the house i hadn't actually actively read was That Book. 'Twas a dark & stormy night, worse luck....)

 

[j d worthington]

ah, that Book. Or rather, those Books. in places, much scarier than anything King will ever write!

(as an aside, the very first time I was deemed responsible enough to be left to look after bro & sis for the evening while the parental units went out, the only book in the house i hadn't actually actively read was That Book. 'Twas a dark & stormy night, worse luck....)

Speaking of... I find it interesting that, throughout much of history at least, despite the fact this is deemed the Holy Book by so many, those who claim such for it have been so willing to create bowdlerized versions of the thing for the little tykes (and, in some centuries, women).... Talk about a mixed message.....

 

[chopper]

well, you wouldn't want to scare em off would you?