Banned Books Week

Today is the last day of Banned Books Week, an event sponsored each year by the American Library Association to draw attention to the issue of intellectual freedom and especially to the freedom of one to choose what one will read. I can't let the week pass without making note of it here.

Each year the ALA publishes a list of the books that have had the most challenges during the past year. A "challenge" just means that someone tried to have the book removed from library shelves or made unobtainable by certain groups of people. The ten most challenged books of 2010 and the reasons for their challenges are an interesting mixture. This is not the first year that some of the books have appeared on this list.

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell: This is a perennial favorite of those who want to ban books - the story of a same-sex penguin couple and their son. It was challenged because of homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuitability for its age group.

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie: It was objected to because of what was deemed offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicitness, violence, and unsuitability for its age group.

3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley: Challenged due to insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexual explicitness.

4. Crank by Ellen Hopkins: It was objected to for its portrayal of drug use, offensive language, and sexual explicitness.

5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Someone thought it was unsuited to its age group, violent, and sexually explicit.

6. Lush by Natasha Friend: Drug use, unsuitability for age group, offensive language, and sexual explicitness were the complaints about this book.

7. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones: Complaints included sexism, sexual explicitness, and unsuitability for age group.

8. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich: This journalistic expose' of the effect of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act on the working poor of America was objected to because it had drug use, was "inaccurate", had offensive language, had a political viewpoint which some people didn't approve of, and had a a religious viewpoint that certain people found offensive.

9. Revolutionary Voices by Amy Sonnie: Objected to for its portrayal of homosexuality and sexual explicitness.

10. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer: Challenged because of it violence and its religious viewpoint.

Well, at least there was no Huckleberry Finn or To Kill a Mockingbird on the list this year. Most of the books on the list are for children or young adults, and while one can certainly empathize with a parent's desire to protect a child from ideas which s/he may not understand or which may be upsetting, I would strongly suggest that banning a book or keeping it out of the child's hands is not the way to do that. Better to let the child read whatever interests him/her and then discuss it with him/her. Open communication is the best way both to protect a child from being upset and to help the child open up his/her mind to other ideas and possibilities and ways of approaching life.

I was particularly interested to see that Nickel and Dimed made the top ten. This book was a damning expose' of how difficult it is for the working poor to get by in America and how the laws that we make often make it even harder for them. So some people thought it was "inaccurate" and didn't like its "political viewpoint." Gee, I wonder who those people could have been?

Thank you to the librarians of the world who guard the portals of intellectual freedom for us all. Let us support them in their work and honor their endeavors by reading more books. Most especially, let's read some of those books that someone doesn't want us to read!

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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