A Brown Bag Special for Banned Books Week

Posted September 26, 2014 by kbryan

Even if you haven’t entered library school, you’ve probably noticed that us librarians like to get our geek on for different celebrations. Certain events in the library calendar are designed to unite library and informational professionals near and far, make us feel a little less alone in our geekiness, and get us thinking creatively about the larger purpose behind the event.

If the ALA annual conference is like our Christmas, Hanukkah, or Festivus, then Banned Books Week is akin to a Fourth of July weekend, minus the raucous festivities. We mourn the inclusion of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and The Perks of Being a Wallflower on the ALA’s “Top Ten Challenged Books List.” And then we celebrate the qualities we cherish about these books, and the privilege of living in a country whose constitution protects our right to read freely.

In the school library where I work, we’ve scoured our collection for the books the ALA says get people in a tizzy. We then covered those books with brown lunch bags (50 for $2.99 at Stop ‘n Shop!), and wrote the grounds for which the books were challenged, according to the ALA. “Sexually explicit,” “offensive language,” and “violence” are common grievances. Or, we quoted the complainant directly, though not always by name. (As a citation-conscious librarian, I should point out this idea didn’t come from my noggin, but from the good folks at the Shepherdstown, W.V., public library. Our library director saw the idea shared on the Massachusetts Library Association’s Facebook page, and passed it along to yours truly.)

Zooming in, let’s focus on the book that elicited this response from the President of the Ohio State Board of Education.

Yikes, those are some strong words! What title, pray tell, stoked such ire?

The board director’s goal of having this Toni Morrison classic removed from the state’s suggested reading list for high school provides a teachable moment. She may not want The Bluest Eye within a 50-mile radius of her grandchildren. But what about other parents, and grandparents? Shouldn’t they have the opportunity to decide whether a book is appropriate, instead of someone else making that decision for them?

Interestingly, the reasons people give when challenging The Bluest Eye are similar to the reasons they object to the most challenged book of 2013 — even though the two books couldn’t be more different.

… which has been the most challenged book, or series of books, for two years running.

I suspect Captain Underpants is a series loathed by parents, because of its saucy tone, and because no one wants to see a grown man running around in his underwear. But these aren’t sufficient grounds for removing a book. And besides, “there are so many kids who are reluctant readers who are reeled in by Dav Pilkey, and by the naughtiness of Captain Underpants,” said Judith Platt, the chair of this year’s Banned Books Week committee, in an interview with NPR.

Reading about specific book challenges may cause my blood to boil. But I also see cause for hope, in that most book challenges don’t hold up (thank you, U.S. Constitution!). And I see at least one sign of progress.

One of the most frequently challenged books of the first decade of the 21st century was a children’s tale about a family of penguins. Amazingly, it was considered by some to be “anti-family” and unsuitable for children.

This year, And Tango Makes Three didn’t even make the ALA’s Top Ten list. That, my friends, is cause alone for celebration.