Banned books?
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truehobbit
- Cute, cuddly and dangerous to know
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As no one has answered my previous question, I'll rephrase it:
But surely these books aren't really banned?
It's one thing to have groups lobbying to get rid of a book (bad enough, that, of course), but quite another to have the government really ban a book.
So, I can't imagine we are really talking about banned books, here, or are we?
Melly
about your library's policy!
I guess, that's because the children's books are so good and the adults' books so boring, they need to prevent that the adults take all the books away, leaving nothing for the kids!
Or - they fear the pernicious influence childrens' books have on the vulnerable psyche of a grown up! 
But surely these books aren't really banned?
It's one thing to have groups lobbying to get rid of a book (bad enough, that, of course), but quite another to have the government really ban a book.
So, I can't imagine we are really talking about banned books, here, or are we?
Melly
about your library's policy!I guess, that's because the children's books are so good and the adults' books so boring, they need to prevent that the adults take all the books away, leaving nothing for the kids!
Or - they fear the pernicious influence childrens' books have on the vulnerable psyche of a grown up!
but being a cheerful hobbit he had not needed hope, as long as despair could be postponed.
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Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
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Lists of "banned" books are usually lists of books that people have tried to have removed from libraries or schools. Sometimes they actually have been removed, if only temporarily. They're not banned in the sense that it's illegal to possess them, but they're under fire.
And once a book becomes "controversial," it's inevitable that other teachers or school districts will be more likely to decide, well, it's not worth the risk of having a controversy here; let's choose a safer, blander book for this lesson.
And once a book becomes "controversial," it's inevitable that other teachers or school districts will be more likely to decide, well, it's not worth the risk of having a controversy here; let's choose a safer, blander book for this lesson.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
*sigh*
When I was about eleven, I belonged to a library in the Ilac shopping centre in Dublin (gotta love that, a library in a mall.). And I had my own membership card and everything...but some books were marked as inappropriate for children under fourteen. I remember my mother had to authorise my checking out a sci-fi book about a girl whose brain was transplanted into a chimpanzee's body after a near-fatal car accident...I really thought it was stupid that I couldn't take the book out myself. But, there it was.
And you know what I'm worried about...okay, let's leave this to the parents. But even my very intelligent mother was doubtful of whether she should let me read a book that the library thought was inappropriate.
Is there even a way out of this? I suppose there are things a child should not read. But who should decide that? Doesn't a book's language usually match that of a child's...if they can get through it without getting bored and giving up, they're smart enough to read it?
Maybe we should just have parents explain to children that not everything you read is true, and that sometimes stories have a deeper meaning...
And then, if you tell a child a book like The Children of Zoogarten station is absolutely forbidden because it might cause the child to take drugs, you're doing nothing but insulting the kid's intelligence. Let them read, openly, freely. Let them know no one is mocking them or chastising them for wanting to read...later, they might just want to talk about the book instead of thinking 'my parents and teacher would never understand'.
edited for grammar...oi.
When I was about eleven, I belonged to a library in the Ilac shopping centre in Dublin (gotta love that, a library in a mall.
). And I had my own membership card and everything...but some books were marked as inappropriate for children under fourteen. I remember my mother had to authorise my checking out a sci-fi book about a girl whose brain was transplanted into a chimpanzee's body after a near-fatal car accident...I really thought it was stupid that I couldn't take the book out myself. But, there it was.And you know what I'm worried about...okay, let's leave this to the parents. But even my very intelligent mother was doubtful of whether she should let me read a book that the library thought was inappropriate.
Is there even a way out of this? I suppose there are things a child should not read. But who should decide that? Doesn't a book's language usually match that of a child's...if they can get through it without getting bored and giving up, they're smart enough to read it?
Maybe we should just have parents explain to children that not everything you read is true, and that sometimes stories have a deeper meaning...
And then, if you tell a child a book like The Children of Zoogarten station is absolutely forbidden because it might cause the child to take drugs, you're doing nothing but insulting the kid's intelligence. Let them read, openly, freely. Let them know no one is mocking them or chastising them for wanting to read...later, they might just want to talk about the book instead of thinking 'my parents and teacher would never understand'.
edited for grammar...oi.