So how should you celebrate? For starters, I have a button that I put on my jeans jacket that says, "I read Banned Books." That usually starts a few discussions when I'm out and about. Then you can look up what books were banned and why, during 2019, then pick some of them to read. That's what I do every year!
If you've never read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by
Sherman Alexei, then you need to drop everything and get a copy--from the library, from anywhere, and read it! I'd never heard of this great book, since I don't have kids living at home anymore. But when I saw it was on the Banned Books list, I figured if it was good enough to get someone's undies in a wad, it must be a good book. I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me--and I've been telling teens and everyone else I know to read it since then.
Most books are banned for not being up to "community standards", which means they might have LBGTQ themes--picture books with gay or lesbian parents of young children are frequent targets. Or they might deal realistically with what today's teens have to face, be it discrimination, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, being abused by parents, unwanted pregnancies, realizing they're gay or gender-confused, etc. All of the things that teenagers should be reading about, so they can deal with the real world. But someone feels threatened, so the books are banned.
My thinking has always been that it's a free country. If you don't want YOUR child to read the book, that's your prerogative as a parent--if it's an assigned book at school, there will be an alternate for students whose parents might object to certain subject matter. If your child feels ostracized by your actions, that's on your head, not the school's. But you have NO RIGHT to say that MY child, or anyone else's, can't read the book because you don't like it.
Most of the time the objectors haven't read the books--they've just been warned about them from a religious community they belong to, or by other parents. Read the damn book yourself! Then you can decide if you want to keep those blinders on your kids, or if you want to expose them to objectionable ideas in a safe manner, through having them read a fiction book, and discuss it with you. A parent/child book analysis is a perfect way for you to inculcate your child with your morals and opinions. Have at it. But let my kid read whatever he or she wants to. I'll deal with the repercussions, and the inevitable questions as I see fit.
Sorry, but as an English teacher who has been reading whatever I want to since I learned to read at age 5, this cause is very near and dear to my heart. End of soapbox preaching.
If you've never read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by
Sherman Alexei, then you need to drop everything and get a copy--from the library, from anywhere, and read it! I'd never heard of this great book, since I don't have kids living at home anymore. But when I saw it was on the Banned Books list, I figured if it was good enough to get someone's undies in a wad, it must be a good book. I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me--and I've been telling teens and everyone else I know to read it since then.
Most books are banned for not being up to "community standards", which means they might have LBGTQ themes--picture books with gay or lesbian parents of young children are frequent targets. Or they might deal realistically with what today's teens have to face, be it discrimination, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, being abused by parents, unwanted pregnancies, realizing they're gay or gender-confused, etc. All of the things that teenagers should be reading about, so they can deal with the real world. But someone feels threatened, so the books are banned.
My thinking has always been that it's a free country. If you don't want YOUR child to read the book, that's your prerogative as a parent--if it's an assigned book at school, there will be an alternate for students whose parents might object to certain subject matter. If your child feels ostracized by your actions, that's on your head, not the school's. But you have NO RIGHT to say that MY child, or anyone else's, can't read the book because you don't like it.
Most of the time the objectors haven't read the books--they've just been warned about them from a religious community they belong to, or by other parents. Read the damn book yourself! Then you can decide if you want to keep those blinders on your kids, or if you want to expose them to objectionable ideas in a safe manner, through having them read a fiction book, and discuss it with you. A parent/child book analysis is a perfect way for you to inculcate your child with your morals and opinions. Have at it. But let my kid read whatever he or she wants to. I'll deal with the repercussions, and the inevitable questions as I see fit.
Sorry, but as an English teacher who has been reading whatever I want to since I learned to read at age 5, this cause is very near and dear to my heart. End of soapbox preaching.
