Helen on Banned Book Week

Banned Book Week. How strange that we celebrate this, but I think it's such an important issue. I totally understand that a parent might want to keep a certain book away from their own child, but to try to take it away from everyone? Seriously? What happened to freedom of speech? Don't these banners understand that books are more interesting when they are banned?

Wait! I get it, the people who ban are really trying to get their kids to read by making it seem more enticing, right? No? Oh well, silly them.

Here are some of my favorite banned books because they are linked to fond life memories.

• Judy Blume's books--who can forget discovering what it's all about through Are You There God, It's Me Margaret and Then Again Maybe I Won't.

• Go Ask Alice--I remember passing this one around in sixth grade and encouraging each other to read the dog-eared pages. Decades later this is still a favorite amongst students at the high school where I work.

• The Harry Potter series--every darn one of these (and the movies) is dear to me. When I got to see Platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station in London, I was SO excited!

• Of Mice and Men and To Kill A Mockingbird--both of these were books that I actually enjoyed reading in school even though they were required.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Last week I read and reviewed To Kill A Mockingbird, easily naming this as one of my now all time favorite reads. The book was so well written, so smart, so engaging…. I just fell in love with it and I am so impressed with Harper Lee’s writing style and the story that she tells.

After finishing the book, I knew I wanted to see the movie and was lucky enough to find it at one of our few remaining video rental stores (uhhh yeah… whats with all the Red Boxes anyway?). I brought the movie with us camping this weekend and watched it with my husband as well as with our company which included two young girls ages 9 and 12. It is fair to say that i was actually a little jealous that they were able to experience this show at the ages they are where I am currently in my 40′s and seeing it for the first time.


The movie was… well, wonderful. Gregory Peck made an incredible Aticus and listening to him was just as I had pictured he would be, evenly tempered, wise in his speech, and gentle in his manner. It was wonderful to watch the book come alive before my eyes, and having just finished the book I enjoyed watching how it all played out on the screen.
As in all movies, parts of the book are lost. One of my favorite parts in the book was the end when Scout is walking home in the turkey costume and while that is in the movie, they cut out a lot of the story behind that part of the book, which I missed.
Over all I would highly recommend that everyone first read the book – you will not be sorry, and secondly, watch the movie, both are worth your time and you will forever have this wonderful piece of culture known as To Kill A Mockingbird.

Did you know that To Kill A Mockingbird was a banned book?

Fact: Challenged in Eden Valley, Minn. (1977) and temporarily banned due to words “damn” and “whore lady” used in the novel. Challenged in the Vernon Verona Sherill, N.Y School District (1980) as a “filthy, trashy novel:” Challenged at the Warren, Ind.Township schools (1981) because the book does “psychological damage to the positive integration process ” and “represents institutionalized racism under the guise of good literature:” After unsuccessfully banning Lee’s novel, three black parents resigned from the township human relations advisory council. Challenged in the Waukegan, III. School District (1984) because the novel uses the word “nigger.” Challenged in the Kansas City, Mo. junior high schools (1985). Challenged at the Park Hill, Mo. Junior High School (1985) because the novel “contains profanity and racial slurs:” Retained on a supplemental eighth grade reading list in the Casa Grande, Ariz. Elementary School District (1985), despite the protests by black parents and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who charged the book was unfit for junior high use. Challenged at the Santa Cruz, Calif. Schools (1995) because of its racial themes. Removed from the Southwood High School Library in Caddo Parish, La. (1995) because the book’s language and content were objectionable. Challenged at the Moss Point, Miss. School District (1996) because the novel contains a racial epithet. Banned from the Lindale,Tex. advanced placement English reading list (1996) because the book “conflicted with the values of the community.” Challenged by a Glynn County, Ga. (2001) school board member because of profanity. The novel was retained. Returned to the freshman reading list at Muskogee, Okla. High School (2001) despite complaints over the years from black students and parents about racial slurs in the text. Challenged in the Normal, ILL Community High Schools sophomore literature class (2003) as being degrading to African Americans. Challenged at the Stanford Middle School in Durham, N.C. (2004) because the 1961 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel uses the word “nigger.”
Review by Sheila (Bookjourney)

To Kill A Mockingbird - Wendy's Review

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." - From To Kill A Mockingbird, page 103 -

What can I say about To Kill A Mockingbird that hasn't already been said a million times? Harper Lee's beautiful novel set in the sleepy county of Macomb, Alabama in the 1930s defines the adage 'still waters run deep.'

Scout Finch, a vibrant, curious tomboy narrates the story which spans a period of nearly three years beginning when she is six years old. The cast of characters is vast and enjoyable. From Atticus Finch (Scout's father who is a man of decency and honesty), to Jem Fitch (Scout's brother, striving to follow his father's example), to Dill (Jem and Scout's summertime companion who embodies a sense of adventure and mischief), to Tom Robinson (the black man falsely accused of rape), to Miss Maudie (Scout's next door neighbor with a heart of gold and the best cake in the country), and finally to Boo Radley (the mysterious next door neighbor who hasn't been seen in twenty-five years), Lee weaves a tale that latches onto the reader and never lets go.

Lee doesn't restrict herself to merely telling a story. She includes astounding insight into the roots of racism and the idea that one man's courage to stand up against inequality may be all that's needed to begin to shatter the beliefs that sustain hatred. Perhaps what is so inviting about this novel is that its narrator is only a child. Scout Finch brings to the book an innocence and perception which only children share. Her reflections, void of the internal restraints that inhibit adults, bring a truthfulness to the novel that resonates with the reader.

This is a book I will read again…and again. It is a timeless classic, beautifully written and one I highly recommend. I read it March 21, 2007 and rated it 5/5.

Some of My Favorite Passages:

About Courage: I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do. - From To Kill A Mockingbird, page 128 -

About The Love of Reading: Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing. -From To Kill A Mockingbird, page 20-

About Racism: If there's just one kind of folks, why can't they get along with each other? If they're all alike, why do they go out of their way to despise each other? -From To Kill A Mockingbird, page 259-

Why Was it Banned?

This novel has been challenged due to its racial themes. Challenged--and temporarily banned--in Eden Valley, Minn.(1977); Challenged at the Warren, Ind. Township schools (1981), because the book "represents institutionalized racism under the guise of 'good literature'." After unsuccessfully banning the novel, three black parents resigned from the township human relations advisory council. Banned from the Lindale, Tex. advanced placement English reading list (1996) because the book "conflicted with the values of the community."