Have you been up to something naughty? Perhaps you read The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Maybe Robert Cormier’s We All Fall
Down. What about Walter the Farting Dog?
Have you been up to something naughty? Perhaps you read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Maybe Robert Cormier’s We All Fall Down. What about Walter the Farting Dog?
All three have been either banned, removed or challenged at schools around the country this year, and the American Library Association is encouraging you to read them along with other “suspect” titles like The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby as part of Ban No More 2004: A Campaign For the Freedom To Read. The last week in September, it turns out, is National Banned Book Week.
Around the South Valley, tempers have flared from time to time over books like the Harry Potter series – J. K. Rowling has been the most censored author in the United States for the last four years running – and Toni Morrison’s Beloved. But this year has been pretty quiet on the censorship side according to local bookstore owners.
“There was Harry Potter of course,” said Cinda Meister, co-owner of BookSmart in Morgan Hill. “But that was mostly by people who hadn’t read the book and had no idea what the content was. The thing that caused the most controversy this year was Unfit for Command and that was a political controversy not a banning issue.”
Tina Malone, assistant manager of Wize Owl Books and Gifts in Gilroy, said that their store has not dealt with a content-based complaint this year.
Likewise, Gilroy Children’s Program Librarian Linda Glawatz said that no book stood out for community criticism. Glawatz said the county library would not limit their selection based on content, but Meister said in some areas a private bookstore owner has to tread a little more lightly.
“These days when I take books to a public school I can’t include anything with witchcraft, nothing about holidays, and they can’t say God in them,” she said. “It’s gotten to the point where you can’t do anything with holidays or magic because of complaints about religion.”
Meister and husband Brad Jones have elected not to limit their in-store selection based on this criteria, though, and consider their children’s section to be their best asset. Ultimately, Meister added, many book choices are family-based rather than school-based. Parents are generally concerned with issues of sexuality according to Deborah Rawers, a BookSmart employee.
“A lot of the books – especially the teen books – are getting pretty edgy,” she said. “They talk about finding out you’re a homosexual, date rape, violence, drug use, depression … not stuff that teen books talked about when I was that age, but it brings these issues into the discussion.”
For a more complete list of censored books or authors, visit the American Library Association’s Web site at www.ala.org/bbooks.
