Banned Books Guest Post from Vanessa Barger: On Taking Away Books
Ah, banned books. This is one of those things that I love to discuss with people.
Random House Children’s Books, 2005.
Censorship and banning books are hotly debated topics for good reason. I will always be grateful that I had parents who believed they’d taught me well and respected me and my intelligence enough to hand me a book and then discuss it with me if I had questions. On the top 100 challenged book list from 1990-1999 (Found on the ALA’s website) there are a lot of books I read. Some of which my mom handed me.
I think sometimes that banning a book has an opposite reaction from what people think. While there are a certain number of people who will look at the list and write those titles down, never to read them, there is a bigger number of people who will go out and read the book because it’s been banned. To see what’s so awful, or to get the secret thrill of reading something that’s dangerous or bad.
Laurel Leaf, April 1994.
I’m NOT arguing that banning books is a good thing, mind you. I think that telling people what they can and cannot read is wrong. Especially kids and teenagers. They can handle a whole lot more than we give them credit for. They deal every day with more than we can imagine. That kid who’s sleeping in school and ticking off his teacher? His parents left two weeks ago and he doesn’t know where they are, but he’s paying the bills to keep a roof over his head.
You’re going to tell that kid he’s not mature enough to read TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD or THE GIVER? Seriously? What about the one over there who just talked her best friend into seeing a counselor because she was cutting herself – she can’t handle reading A WRINKLE IN TIME?
Month9Books, October 2015.
Books are designed to make you feel. Angry, sad, funny, or scared – they are designed to help you see the world in a different way than you might on your own. Why is this ever a bad thing? They take you places you can’t get to on your own, and maybe even help people deal with issues and things in their lives they have no other way of coping with.
People look at the world through their own set of glasses (or goggles, whatever) and what they see is based on their own experiences and lifestyles. Just because one person believes Harry Potter is evil, doesn’t mean that everyone does.
Taking away someone’s chance to come to their own conclusion is wrong and borders on the criminal. No one has the right to decide what I read. Banning books is a stupid idea. No one knows what is best for a stranger. Let people decide for themselves.
Besides, banning a book is basically giving it a neon sign that says “ Read Me!”
Wait…. On second thought…
Vanessa Barger.
Vanessa Barger was born in West Virginia, and through several moves ended up spending the majority of her life in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She is a graduate of George Mason University and Old Dominion University, and has degrees in Graphic Design, a minor in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, and a Masters in Technology Education. She currently teaches engineering, practical physics, drafting and other technological things to high school students in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. She is a member of the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), the Virginia Writer’s Club, and the Hampton Roads Writers. When not writing or teaching, she’s a bookaholic, movie fanatic, and loves to travel. She is married to a fabulous man, and has one cat, who believes Vanessa lives only to open cat food cans, and can often be found baking when she should be editing.
A WHISPERED DARKNESS, a YA horror, released in August 2014, and SUPER FREAK, an MG Fantasy comes out October 2015.
