Banned Book Challenge: The Giver

During October’s Banned Book Week, I issued a challenge to myself. I would try to read five challenged/banned books over the course of the year and report back.

First up was The Giver by Lois Lowry, which I have recently finished reading. This is a soft science fiction young adult novel that has been challenged and/or banned in schools due to some of its content. Jonas, a 12-year-old living in a utopian society, is chosen to become a receiver of memories. In the past, Jonas’ community decided to go to ‘sameness’ and to remove emotion and emotional memories from their lives in order to live pain-free. Naturally, that comes at a cost. As Jonas learns more about his new job (he accepts the memories of the past that include war, hunger, and much, much more in order to serve as an adviser to the community) the more the illusion of innocence slips from his world.

The Giver has been challenged for many reasons. One is that in some ways, Jonas’ community resembles a communist society, two is that suicide is used as an ‘out’ by one character, three is infanticide, and fourth is the role of death in the story. Personally, I would have thought his ‘stirrings’ would have got a few parents squawking. I guess because he took a pill to resolve the pleasurable feelings, it’s okay. (Although, he did go against the rules and stop taking it. I would think that would really bother some parents.)

Personally, I enjoyed The Giver. It is a book that deals with a lot of heady topics and can serve as a forewarning to the next generation in a ‘what if’ sort of way. For example, what would happen if we didn’t remember war? What would happen if we had no choice or individuality?

I believe it to be an important book. What do you think?

P.S. Here is a cool little blurb about a student who is keeping a banned book lending library in a school locker. I love her gumption. She’s creating readers and should be given The Pristine Award (don’t know what it is? Stay tuned, more on that in December). She’s got some great ones on her lists.

Freedom To Read Challenge For 2009

So, I have read 35 books (or at least recall reading 35) that have been challenged or banned. So what? The over-achiever in me wants to raise that number. Plus, reading those lists, it reminded me of some books I want to read. Therefore, I have issued a challenge to myself. I will read 5 banned or challenged books over the next year. (Why a year?–because my ‘to be read’ stack is already toppling at 30+ books and silly me, now belong to 3 book clubs. (I do encourage them to choose books that I have in my ‘to be read’ stack, but you can only do that so much before you become the annoying, pushy gal in the group. Or at least, become the annoying, pushy gal for other reasons….)

Without further ado, here are the 5 banned/challenged books I will read over the next year, with a check-in during Freedom to Read Week (Canadian version of Banned Book Week) in February:

The Giver (Lois Lowry) Reason for choosing: Was a ratty, popular book in the library I used to work in. I’m curious.

The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) Reason for choosing: I already have a head start with all the background research I did on the film for a film studies project years ago. I like knowing the social and political history of a book’s time period. And I also like Steinbeck.

Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) Reason for choosing: I have actually been waiting to read a book called Reading Lolita in Tehran because I haven’t read Lolita yet.

Lord of the Flies (William Golding) Reason for choosing: It is surprising nobody made me read it in school, and since I don’t want to be the only person on the planet who hasn’t read this classic, I’d better get moving.

A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle) Reason for choosing: I’ve heard lots about it, and have even had it recommended, but have never picked it up. Yet.

Want to read a few challenged/banned books too? Join me! Your mind will never be the same. Mwa-ha-ha.

Freedom to Read Week–Correction! (Banned Book Week)

This week is Freedom to Read Week, otherwise known as, Banned Book Week. (Later note:) Nope, I screwed up, this is actually Banned Book Week (which is American). Freedom to Read Week (Canadian version) is actually in February. Oops!

Even though this week was the highlight of the year when I was a YA librarian, I somehow forgot about this week. (Later note: Maybe because we celebrated the Canadian version, being Canadian and all. Maybe the cold I’m finally getting over didn’t give me as much brain damage as I first thought.) I know! Impossible. Unreal. Thankfully, Yvonne Osborne saved the day. She’s having a writing challenge over on her blog–try to write something worthy of being banned or challenged.

There are piles of lists out on the internet that are challenged or banned classics, 50 banned books that everyone should read (includes great background on why each book has been banned), the most commonly challenged books in the US (some of these are ridiculous), and more. Many more lists.

Harry Potter was a huge ‘offender’ years ago and he topped all the current lists. It’s nice to see that the hubbub around that has died down. Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging (kissing) is a British YA diary which is hilarious, and not at all as bad as it title leads you to assume, is on the list. Of course, Judy Blume is on the list. A few years back, Meg Cabot kept hoping to get one of her books challenged and she finally got one a few years ago. She claims it is an honor to be on those lists. I can kind of see that. Look at the big names on those lists. As well, it means your words have got someone thinking and challenging their personal or world beliefs.

Yvonne asked readers over on AQ, as well as on her blog how many banned/challenged books they have read. Good question. Which list do you use? Does it count if you started reading them?

Here’s my ‘have-read’ list (from the three a fore-mentioned lists):

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (Couldn’t get through it–ban it!)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne (Darn that talking, bumbling bear. What is he trying to do–scare our kids into thinking hephalumps are real?)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Again, imagination is deadly, folks.)
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Babel fish, talking robots, dang, better ban it.)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. (One of the few fantasy books I’ve enjoyed. Better ban it. You don’t want me reading that good stuff.)
The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.(Read and own all 7)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe. (Wasn’t able to finish this one. The message kept hitting me over the head, again and again and again. I was already sold on the idea of slavery being bad. Can I still count it?)
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. (Couldn’t get through this one. It was the rape scene–also why it was banned. I don’t think that makes it ban-worthy. Just put-it-down worthy in my case.
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. (Fantastic story. Loved it.)
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck.
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging Louise Rennison
Go Ask Alice Anonymous
The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky (Seriously one of the most popular books in school back in the early 2000s.)
Where’s Waldo? Martin Handford (Puh-lease. Don’t we have anything better to do than ban find-the-geek-in-the-crowd? Oh, right. They are addictive. Never mind.)

34, if I include the 3 I couldn’t get through. I think I need to read more banned/challenged books as there are some great ones that I’ve always meant to read on those lists. There were also some kids books I may have read ages ago, but I couldn’t recall so I didn’t include them. I’m pretty sure I read Blubber by Judy Blume though. Maybe I need to re-read it.

Just realized that I HAVE read S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders. So, 35.

Freedom to Read Week

Can you believe I forgot Freedom to Read Week? After years of making displays in the school library and coming up with all sorts of contests, I forgot. It slipped by! I didn’t even release a banned or challenged book out into the wild using BookCrossing! Oh no!

I did however participate in a discussion over on AgentQuery about sex, sex scenes and in the end, self censorship in one’s writing. Originally it was supposed to be a sort of gender discussion, but it took a slightly different direction regarding intention with scenes in one’s work as well as the perception of others (readers, family, editors, etc).

When you think about it from a writing perspective, there are a zillion levels of censorship. The first level begins in the writer’s head. Then it moves onto the page. Then in editing. Then it moves away from the writer when agents, editors and publishers add their own levels of censorship (if deemed necessary). From there, depending on the work in question and its content, themes and language, it gets censored by the bookseller (whether to buy and sell the book or not) and then on to the reader who too, may censor it as well. I mean, have any of you ever put a book down because it offended you on some level? Did you not read a book because its content was offensive?

And how about libraries? I know as a school librarian, there were books that I censored. Books I did not buy due to inappropriateness (where exactly is the line between age appropriate and censorship) or books that I pulled from the shelves.

What about parents? Where is the line between censorship and age appropriateness?

In the end, no easy answers for censorship issues and I commend those that fight so we as individuals have the freedom to choose for ourselves.