It’s a sad truth that almost nothing garners greater interest in something than controversy or out-and-out banning. I’m just as guilty of this as anyone else. I can go from no interest to need to know every little detail in a heartbeat.
For me, this was the case with The Perks of Being a Wallflower. A parent, as seen in the video below, found his son attentively reading a copy of this book. Apparently the 11th grader’s interest in what he was reading was what tipped off his father that something wasn’t “right.” His logical conclusion? While I hope a conversation with his son about what intrigued him so much about the book was involved, apparently it was having a talk with school leaders.
Tell me, is this the face of the person you want to determine what’s acceptable reading material for your children?
Still, without this parent, Wallflower might have never made it on my radar. I absolutely loved this novel and couldn’t be more thankful that the challenge of this book in my own backyard made me almost trip over myself to get a copy of my own. I wasn’t the only one. The person who checked me out at Barnes & Noble told me there had been a run on the book ever since the story broke. It still gives me great pleasure to think of all the people who have read this wonderful slim paperback in the Roanoke Valley because of this ignorant parent.
You see, Mr. Davis, you are right to feel that books are hold power. They hold more power than just about everything else in this world. The problem, Mr. Davis, is that it’s not the power isn’t one of perversion. You feel that way because you’re ignorant. I don’t mean this as an insult necessarily. If seeing your child read voraciously concerns you rather than delights you, you’re acting out of fear, not experience. The power contained within the covers of a book is that of enlightenment and discovery. It engages your imagination and expands the mind.
Challenging and banning books only serves to bring them to everyone’s mind. It’s tempting to come up with a list of some of my favorite books that aren’t getting enough attention and marching into the local town council meetings. “Simon Van Booy kisses women on the cheek after briefly meeting him. He must be a degenerate! We must protect our daughters and our wives from his work!” “Peter Bognanni makes otherwise level-headed wives consider taking off in their cars simply to head to Minnesota and thank him for his writing. What kind of warlock is this man? Does he weave the power of Satan into the ink?”
I could go through that dog and pony show, but isn’t it a better idea to read (or not) and let read? If there are books or other types of media you prefer not to have in your home. By all means, don’t allow it. I’d bet the likelihood is great that someone in your house will end up reading/listening/viewing on the sly. Wouldn’t it make more sense to use a controversial book to start a conversation with your children about their thoughts and why they’re interested in the book? Wouldn’t that be preferable to them having those conversations outside of the home? How better to know your child and discover what he or she is thinking? Or is that what really scares you?
It’s fun to foil book banners. Why not combine the Banned Books Week celebration with #indieThursday and buy a banned book from your local Indie bookseller?
Great post! I have been loving all the posts this week regarding banned books week & have been building a “to read” list from them. First on my list is a few YA titles from Kevin Henkes as I was shocked that he was banned.
I love this post! The man in that video comes across as a doofus, but he’s right, banning books makes people want to read them! People want to ban books out of fear that their archaic ideas will be challenged.
He’s the reason I not only reread the book, but bought a copy without hesitation. Book buying wasn’t exactly in my budget at the time, but I didn’t care. That book will always stay on my bookshelves.
I just started up a baby storytime at the Vinton Library. In preparation of this storytime I read a really fantastic book called Reading with Babies, Toddlers and Twos by Susan Straub and K. J. Dell’antonia. You wouldn’t expect it in a book like this – at least, I didn’t – but they make the case for reading scary books. They make the same point you did in that last paragraph – not reading scary books isn’t going to make them, or scary things in general, go away, and the best place to read them is in your own home, where the child is safe and you can talk to them about what they’ve read. (I wish I had the book here so I could quote that paragraph in its entirety but, alas, it was overdue and I had to return it.) Anyway, it was one of those fantastic passages that makes you want to shout, “Yes!” and make everyone around you read it
Foiling book banners IS fun! I did my part yesterday, when Better World Books had their one-day 50% off sale. I picked up two of the top ten books from last year that I had never heard of: What My Mother Doesn’t Know and Nickel and Dimed. Hurray!
Love this post, Jennifer! There are books on the Banned List that have left me speechless. My quiet retaliation is to buy all the banned books that I currently don’t already own!
Great post, Jennifer. I’m lucky to live in a country where book banning doesn’t happen as overtly, but I’m sure it happens in more covert ways. (And our film/video game censorship is notorious)
I’m definitely inspired to seek out these banned books and familiarise myself with them!
I missed linking you Jennifer – sorry about that! I am going to add you to tomorrows link – this is a wonderful discussion about this book.
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It is sad that the man thinks that anything his child is interested in must automatically be bad.
I have to tell you that I loved this post! I had no idea books were even being banned anymore… I guess that shows how politically aware I am…LOL!! Of course, I hopped right over to your list of banned books and began looking for ideas of what I might like to read! I’ve already download the ebook version of American Psycho, and late last night, out of sheer curiosity, I downloaded Fanny Hill!! LOL
Very enjoyable post! I’m going to Stumble it for you!
Smiles, Jenn@Misadventures in Motherhood