Hey all,
I found this article a while ago but forgot to post it here. It is an account from a modern day mom trying to expose her child to the same books that the mom read when she was young, but finding that they almost all contain questionable content. It’s an interesting read! We so often focus on censorship from the ideological “right,” but sometimes it goes in reverse.
http://www.vox.com/2015/7/10/8901109/childrens-books-racist-sexist
Enjoy!
-Chris Kimsey
Although I was skeptical in choosing a book that we discussed in class, I do find myself drawn to the religious elements of A Wrinkle in Time. There seems to be nothing too outlandish when it comes to L’engle’s use of religious elements (apart from the story itself being weird image-wise), so I wonder why exactly this book is targeted on the grounds of religion. Although I haven’t found anything in particular about the book’s challenging other than “religious reasons” with no context, it is interesting to see how people want Christianity to be delivered to readers, and if the message isn’t conveyed in the style that they wish for it to be, then it’s automatically considered “wrong” or “immoral.” I hope in re-reading the book and picking different elements of it, I’ll find something that helps to clear things up for me.
I chose Eleanor and Park because I loved the unique story and how the characters who told that story are completely different than what is normally portrayed in literature (especially for this age group). This story is told understanding that readers at this level not only understand, but relate to the simple graphic nature of life already– examples being the language used, the intensity of emotion, and the issues the characters face. I loved how both characters are so odd and have unique, tangible hobbies that are considered weird. I think the portrayal of the gender roles in this book is amazing, too. There isn’t one party taking advantage of the other, nor is there a constant need for weakness. Instead, these characters are remarkably human, and as such I am completely grateful. I wish I had something like this when I was younger at my fingertips, so I was interested in investigating why this story has been challenged as well as what following it has.
I agree with Leviathan that LGBT literature should not be an overlooked literature. Young adult literature is a time of growing, understanding, and changing as a whole. I can’t understanding how censoring literature is a good idea; it deprives our youth from being well rounded. Young readers find comfort in what they read, and often seek stories for lessons and help in their own life. LGBT is impotant to share about, because there are young adults who need to read about this life style and it may make their life easier as well. Censoring LGBT should be a thing of the past; its 2015 and same sex marriage is legal, so why are we still centering young adult literature for LGBT content?
I chose to write about the Goosebumps series because this was one of my favorite book series to read growing up as a child. I enjoyed the creepy mystery that was presented in most of the stories. Also, this series was different and made me imagine the world if these things really could happened. I wanted to understand why parents felt the way they did about this series and stopping their kids from reading. Parents are influential in books being banned or challenged for their kids. This paper will allow me to understand censorship and why parents felt that Goosebumps should be banned.
The book I picked is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. The story starting in the 1970s, right before the fall of Afghanistan’s monarchy. The story follows a boy named Amir, who lived in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Amir is friends with Hassan, a servant boy in Amir’s house. A lot of the conflict in the first part of the book stems from the fact that Hassan is of the ethnic minority Hazara. Later the book has Amir and his father flee to the United States only for Amir to return as an adult with the intent to help Hassan.
The reason this book is challenged lies in the language and violence in the book. The book is an account of the dangers in Afghanistan during this time period. There are two characters that I remember who attempt suicide (one suicides), but this isn’t the main thing that is contested about this book. Pretty early in the book, Hassan gets raped by another boy his age. Most complaints about the text revolve around the fact that it was a homosexual rape, not that there was the rape of a child. One challenge presented to the book was that a school informed the parents of the rape but not the homosexual nature of it.
The Adventures of Huck Finn embodies one of the most common characteristics of banned novels: racial tension and controversy. Although Huck Finn wasn’t written as an obstructive attack on slavery, the obscene mention of the N-word used over 200 times throughout the novel has caused the biggest uproar among teachers, students, and parents for several years now. In fact, the N-word was suggested to be changed to the word “slave” in order for the novel to still be taught in schools. What if Twain used the N-word to intentionally create discomfort among races? Would altering or changing the word in Twain’s novel change the author’s intended meaning? I choose this particular text because I’d like to consider why the N-word even causes a discomfort to the degree that several schools are banning this novel. The issue that needs to be considered here is the larger conversation behind the banned novel. There is a good reason for Twain’s language. Young adults shouldn’t be robbed of the opportunity to learn and benefit from the themes of this novel because of a controversial word that causes a growing undefined discomfort among educators in today’s school systems. Because I’ve experienced the aura of discomfort in my classroom when assigned this novel, I want to explore how other schools approach or react to Twain’s work.
I’m currently taking an editing for publication class that has a lot to do with editing all different types of books and we have come to a children journal. Our professor informed us that editors for children books are completely in a different department because they look for different things inside the story plot. For one thing, most children books have a lot of illustration and those illustrations must be approved by so many different editorial departments in case the images weren’t appropriate world-wide. They have to do so much background information for every sentence and every illustration that is approved out so that all children can come to the same conclusion. Children books are viewed more critically because of the age of the audience that call out to. Parents will have to buy those books but it’s the child who pick out what they want to read, so even the book cover should be reviewed very crucially. I found that very interesting because I would have thought, considering children books are for young minded kids, that the effort would be minimal. Even the stories that children books tell are very decisive because it has to have the right type of punctuation, spelling and mechanical fixes that will be easier for the child to read. I didn’t realize how much work and consideration was put into to make a successful children book.
Levithan makes a point that should be understood without saying (as a lot of social issues should), but expressing the need for works of LGBT literature to be presented to young adults is still something that authors have to do simply because the majority of the public are either against it or would prefer to turn a blind eye. Books being challenged after being presented in libraries is an issue, but what about the censorship that happens before a book is even published? Do LGBT stories for young adults get censored or even rejected by publishers because of the content? These are questions that I have that I have after reading his statement.
Another question that I will probably ask until I’m blue in the face is why do we even need to censor books with LGBT characters? It’s as if some of those who challenge these books believe that providing this content to young adult readers will “turn them gay,” which is something that, to this day, doesn’t make any sense. If we even go back to Selznick’s words on gay characters in children’s literature (Wonderstruck), having LGBT characters within stories provides representation for those who might share the same characteristics (race, gender, or sexuality) as the characters they read about. Perhaps this logic seems so obvious for some of us is because we can’t understand why books need to be challenged in the first place.
I found this article on diversity in books to be rather interesting. David Levithan essentially seems to feel that queer youth need to be represented in books for the same reason that any other group of people need to be represented in literature. It is humanizing to that group of people. By actively limiting the number of queer stories that get to be told, we are vilifying all queer people and saying that their stories are less important and less necessary. If anything, queer stories for children and young adults is even more necessary than most traditional YA stories. As a self-identifying queer person of color, I can testify to how a lack of representation in all media forms made it difficult for me as a young person. I came from a very religious family that refused to acknowledge queerness in any form as valid. Coming from this background, having a lack of other resources and media forms where I could encounter queer characters, I felt very isolated and alone, as if there was something wrong with me. As a queer writer, I hope to follow in Levithan’s footsteps and further push diversity in literature.