Quote

I really LOVE the following quote:

"Ideas are only lethal if you suppress and don't discuss them. Ignorance is not bliss, it's stupid. Banning books shows you don't trust your kids to think and you don't trust yourself to be able to talk to them."
- Anna Quindlen

Anyone who knows me at all, will know that I am very against banning books. In fact, I have gone to the extreme of choosing books to read off of the most frequently banned book list. In my opinion, these books really inspire people to THINK. More specifically, they inspire people to think outside of the nice, comfortable, little box that we are all suppose to fit in. I am proud to say that I have never, and will never fit inside that box.

I am also against censoring books from our children. We cannot shelter them from real life. And by attempting doing so, we are sending them the message that we don't really trust them, and we don't really believe that they are capable of thinking. Open and honest and constant dialog with our children is the ONLY way that we can show them who we really are - our beliefs, our morals, our values. I really believe that opening their eyes to the horrible things in our world and discussing it with them, will not encourage them to be bad people - it will encourage them not to be.

Lolita - Jessica's Review

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita is the story of Humbert Humbert, a pedophile, a murderer, and a European who has migrated to America. He falls in love with his landlady's 12 year old daughter, Dolores Haze aka Lolita. He ends up marrying the landlady, whom he despises, to be closer to the child. After the accidental death of his new wife, he becomes the sole custodian to Lolita, since she has no other living relatives. They then spend the next two years traveling across the entire United States in order to hide their relationship. She eventually leaves Humbert, and he spends three years trying to locate her. When he finally does find her she is 17, married, and very pregnant. Lolita ends up moving to Alaska with her husband and Humbert ends up on death row for killing the man (another pedophile) who originally stole her away from him.

Despite the story line, the book is beautifully written! I honestly think that it is the language of the book that keeps Lolita on lists such as the 100 Best of the Century. However, the subject matter keeps it on the most frequently banned list. It was a definitely a book worth reading, and although it was very disturbing, the author does not give an overly descriptive account of Humbert and Lolita's relationship. It is by no means pornographic. The author tackled the subject very tactfully. And even though a large part of me wanted to throw the book in the trash, the language kept me reading. Although the book is based on the subject of pedophilia, and is narrated by a confessed pedophile, it does not advocate the practice at all. Humbert himself, thinks that he is disgusting and knows that there is something wrong with him. He expresses an incredible amount of guilt for stealing Lolita's childhood.

This book is very hard to read because of what it is about. But if you do choose to read it, read the entire thing or else you will be left with the wrong impression.

Little Black Sambo ~ Bonnie's review

Little Black Sambo was written by Helen Bannerman, a Scot who lived for 30 years in Madras in southern India. Many people have challenged this book for being racist. But let's look closer. This drawing for the original 1899 edition was made by Helen Bannerman herself. Yes, the boy has dark skin, but remember that this woman spent her life in India. Tigers, which are a major component of this story, are in India. People in India have dark skin. The boy is wearing shoes with curled-up toes. In no way does this book depict racism directed against blacks in the United States.

Aside from the drawings, the story itself is very positive, showing a child outwitting wild animals. This little boy is brilliant! He figures out all sorts of really clever ways to save himself from the tigers, who want to eat him. He gives one his beautiful little red coat, another his beautiful little blue trousers, a third gets his beautiful little purple shoes with crimson soles and crimson linings, and the last one takes his beautiful green umbrella. (It's a colorful book!) But wait! What would a tiger do with two shoes?

And Little Black Sambo went on, and by and by he met another Tiger, and it said to him, "Little Black Sambo, I'm going to eat you up!"

And Little Black Sambo said, "Oh! Please Mr. Tiger, don't eat me up, and I'll give you my beautiful little Purple Shoes with Crimson Soles and Crimson Linings."

But the Tiger said, "What use would your shoes be to me? I've got four feet, and you've got only two; you haven't got enough shoes for me."

But Little Black Sambo said, "You could wear them on your ears."

"So I could," said the Tiger: "that's a very good idea. Give them to me, and I won't eat you this time."

Ah, clever young man! Little Black Sambo escapes tiger after tiger and then watches as the tigers argue about which one is the grandest tiger in the jungle. The tigers, in a frenzy, chase each other around a tree in such a blur they turn into butter. Or "ghi," as it is called in India. What a smart little boy! There's no reason this book should be banned.

But let's look at changes to the story over the years. I have a copy of the book from my library with three copyright dates: MCMXXV (1925), MCMXXVIII (1928), and MCMLV (1955). The boy's looks have changed, as you can see in this picture, captioned, "Oh! Please Mr. Tiger, don't eat me up." The little blue pants are longer, and the toes of the little purple shoes with crimson soles and crimson lining no longer curl up. But his mother does, even in this version, make pancakes.

And she fried them in the melted butter which the Tigers had made, and they were just as yellow and brown as little Tigers.

This version has cute drawings, but something's off about these pictures. When Sambo hides behind "a palm tree" to watch what the tigers do, it is so very obviously NOT a palm tree, as you can see in this illustration. Maybe it's an oak tree, like those we have here in the southern part of the United States, but in no way is it a palm tree. Who made these changes? The artist? The publisher? Why? I have no idea, but this may be the version that seems racist to some. The problem is the drawings, not the story itself, which is STILL about a clever boy who saves his own life from four ferocious tigers. Not a mean feat, you know.

My verdict? Helen Bannerman's Little Black Sambo (1899) is not racist. A Scottish librarian agrees with me. Since she says the book is "one of my childhood favourites," she may even agree with my rating of the book: 10 of 10.
__________

NOTE: This is cross-posted on my Bonnie's Books blog.

On My Honor ~ Bonnie's review

On My Honor ~ by Marion Dane Bauer, 1986, YA fiction

How serious are you, really, when you promise something? Your honor is at stake when you promise, as Joel learned after he and his friend Tony swam in the river. Joel's father had said:

"On your honor? ... You'll watch for traffic and you won't go anywhere except the park? You'll be careful the whole way?"

"On my honor," Joel repeated, and he crossed his heart, solemnly, then raised his right hand (p. 8).

On the way to the park, however, Tony dared Joel to swim in the river they had promised never to go near -- and Tony disappeared in the water. Joel tried to find Tony, even got help from a passing teenager. But Tony could not be found.

Joel was devastated, but he was also terrified at the thought of having to tell his parents and -- worse -- Tony's mother. So he didn't tell. And the longer he waited, the harder it was to admit what they had done. Joel tried to carry on that afternoon, rolling and delivering newspapers on his route, pretending he didn't know where Tony was, but he wanted to yell at Tony and struggled with his feelings:

Why did he feel so responsible, as though he had pushed Tony in? Why did he always have to feel responsible for everything that happened? If they had gone climbing on the bluffs and he, Joel, had fallen, Tony wouldn't have blamed himself. Would he? (p. 66)

Yet Joel was also feeling protective of his little brother, thinking he "would have to teach Bobby how to swim" (p. 67). Near the end of that awful day, Joel learned something he hadn't known when Tony's mother said,

"Tony can't swim. He'd know better than to go near the river."

"He can't swim?" Joel asked... "Really?" (p. 71)

When he got home, Joel wondered:

Why hadn't Tony thought about his mother, about the way she worried, before he had decided to go for a swim? (p. 72)

But he still couldn't bring himself to tell the adults what had happened. This wasn't the first time I'd read this book. Both times through the book I was thinking like any parent:

"It's the not-knowing that's the worse" (p. 70).

"Nothing could change what had happened ... ever" (p. 82).

What Joel's father said, after everyone knew what had happened, are the words I'll remember:

"But we all made choices today, Joel. You, me, Tony. Tony's the only one who doesn't have to live with his choice" (p. 88).

I rate this Young Adult novel 10/10, a book I couldn't put down.
__________

I have seen this book on lists of banned or challenged books, but I can't find out why. If anyone knows, please leave me a note so I can update this post. Thanks.

Find more challenged books

On this last day of Banned Books Week, let me suggest an additional way to learn about books that have been challenged. Laurie Halse Anderson knows what it's like to deal with challenges. Her sites document not only challenges to her own books, but also others that are being singled out. Here are links to some of her online writings, where you may find something interesting to read:

Her official site.
Her blog, entitled Mad Woman in the Forest.
She's on Facebook, if you want to become a fan.
Here's one of the Facebook notes where she lists other books challenged along with her own.

Where's Waldo? Too racy for the library...

I've seen lots of blog posts about it this week due to the Banned Books Week buzz, and people asking, "Why? Why would they do this to him?"

Who is "him?" Why, it's Waldo, of course. Our favorite time-traveling, globetrotting, striped-shirt wearing everyman. Who would attempt to ban Where's Waldo?, and why? Can anyone explain this?

I can!

Well, I can at least provide some assurance that yes, it is true that Where's Waldo? is one of the most challenged books of the 1990s. I did a little research at the library this afternoon and found printed corroboration of one particular story of the book's removal from a public school library in New York, and the reasoning behind it.

As reported in both the New York Times and US News & World Report, as well as confirmed by the American Library Association's lists of the most challenged books in the United States, Where's Waldo? is a problem for libraries all over the country. The usual concern is that on the beach page of the original Where's Waldo? book, there is a topless woman lying face down on a beach towel, one extremely tiny illustrated breast partially exposed amidst thousands of other illustrated beach goers.

Author Anna Quindlen responded to the book's removal from the Springs Public School library in Long Island (and expressed frustration over challenges of other books) in her New York Times column, saying, "Winnie the Pooh does not wear pants. Just a warning."

It's been a long time since I've opened a Where's Waldo? book. However, what I remember about them was that I had a great time searching for the bespectacled world-and-time traveler in scenes from around the world. I never found anything about it offensive (and indeed, never noticed the topless woman on the beach page). High art they are not (there were no words, so fine literature is out too), but they were well-drawn in a cartoony style appealing to kids. The settings were always new and interesting, and every time you looked at a page it was possible to find something new in your search for good old Waldo.

Where's Waldo? was a perennial favorite in my elementary school library, and I hope kids today have the chance to search for him, too.


Cited:
ANNA QUINDLEN. (1993, April 7). The Breast Ban. New York Times (1857-Current file),A23. Retrieved September 28, 2009, from ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2006). (Document ID: 116337167).

Speak up about SPEAK

"A good education depends on protecting free speech and the right to read, inquire, question, and think for ourselves."

You should read the whole letter that comes from.

You can also listen to a video of Laurie Halse Anderson reading a poem that includes words written to her by a lot of young people after reading her book Speak. One sentence stood out for me: "Your book cracks my shell." Because the book is entitled "Speak," Laurie entitled the poem "Listen." You should. You should listen to her poem. She reads it well, though the words may be hard to hear.

And if you are on Facebook, read Laurie's notes, a continuing series of reports about what's happening to her books. Just this past week Twisted was one of several books challenged by a parent.

To read what some of us have posted here on this blog about Speak, click here. If you've read the book, tell us about it in the comments.