A Few of Our Favorite Banned Books

This past week, the American Library Association (ALA) drew attention to the persistent issue of book censorship in US schools. Censoring literature can have a range of consequences – from leaving students unprepared for college-level critical thinking to signaling to children that certain knowledge is dangerous. Or worse, it may prevent students from developing a lifelong love of reading by limiting their exposure to prized works of literature or just fun reads. While not all books are appropriate for all grade levels, outright banning books from schools is not a suitable alternative to utilizing librarians who have been trained to curate and guide students.

After taking a look at the list of banned or challenged books compiled by the ALA, a few members of the Education Policy Program decided to share some books from the list that they found especially formative growing up:

Clare McCann: My favorite book--a dog-eared copy of the classic To Kill A Mockingbird--has been dragged from my childhood bedroom to dorm rooms to apartments and reread dozens of times, but it never gets old for me. After reading it in school, I bought my own copy to add notes and comments and exclamation points in the margin, and even fell in love with the movie, perhaps the only instance in which the movie is just as wonderful as the book. But not all students are so lucky. It's made the Top 10 Banned Books list twice since the turn of the century for--get this--racism. (The book tells the story of a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman, and the ensuing trial, in the segregated South of the 1930s.) The racism of that book led me down new paths in history, civics, and literature. It's an inexcusable shame other young students haven't always had the same chance.

Ben Barrett: If it hadn’t been for Captain Underpants and Goosebumps, I seriously doubt that I would have chosen to read in bed instead of watching brain-draining, late-night TV after finishing my homework. The potty humor of Captain Underpants unlikely made me any more perverted than your typical fourth-grade boy who had not read it, and even if it had, I am now confident that there was no lasting damage incurred. A love of reading has persisted because I was allowed access to books that met me where I was, but also because I was exposed to books that subsequently challenged my understanding. The Giver remains my favorite book, and I am disheartened that a middle-school student may not have a similar opportunity just because he was born in a setting where school, district, or state leaders find the book’s central message about the dangers of suppressing thought and feelings distasteful.

Abbie Lieberman: While searching for my favorite banned or challenged book, I was disappointed to see so many wonderful books that were required reading in my high school on the list, such as Beloved, The Catcher in the Rye, The Color Purple, Nickel and Dimed, and The Kite Runner. I was not an avid reader until high school, when exposure to these books piqued my interests in American history, social justice, and politics.  But for an early childhood selection, Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak was always one of my favorites—largely because my day care program put on this play in first grade and I was cast as Maxine (Max’s twin sister that goes on the adventure with him) and got to wear my pajamas.

Lindsey Tepe: Looking over the past decade of banned books, many of the titles stand out as favorites of my fifth-graders—everything from Captain Underpants and Scary Stories, to the Harry Potter series and His Dark Materials trilogy. These books ignite laughter, create suspense, and activate the imaginations of children discovering the thrill of reading.

Some of my best memories from teaching include read alouds of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone—timing Hogwarts’ Halloween feast to our classroom’s Halloween Party, we drank butter beer and joined Ron and Harry in their quest to save Hermione from a troll loose in the castle. After finishing the chapter, one of my students pointed out afterward that Hermione would never have needed saving if Ron and Harry hadn’t been so mean to her—she won most of the class over with her well-reasoned argument.

The themes of courage, loyalty, humility, and good versus evil resonate with children (and adults) of all ages—and the friendship of Harry, Ron, and Hermione is timeless. I look forward to reading these stories again to my nieces and nephews in the years to come, and hope that instead of inspiring censorship the magic of these books inspires the next generation of readers.

Rachel Fishman:  I went to a Catholic high school which you think would be a likely place to censor our reading lists. But many of the very books on my high school English syllabi were the very books that are banned from year to year. Of Mice and Men, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and The Bluest Eye were all an important part of my high school experience.  Discussing these books taught me how to think critically, enter another world, explore diverse themes and writing styles, understand our collective history, and how to become a better writer. I’m glad that my high school embraced these books as part of our curriculum, despite their appearance at the top of the banned books list.

Ebone Williams: I could very well see how the racial slurs in To Kill a Mockingbird could seem harmful or cause controversy over its plot. This classic novel was the first book I read in my literature class as a freshman in high school.  The fictional novel provides a lens for the history of injustice during the plot’s 1930's time period. The novel is criticizing [mocking] racism, not complimenting the use of verbal slurs. No, the book is not for immature readers, but to ban the book for upper secondary grade levels seems a bit absurd. The novel actually goes beyond a history lesson; there are important morals and alternative vernacular that isn’t often used in modern, everyday language.