Hello Dear Readers-
I've you've been following my blog, you will know that Banned Book Week is usually a very big deal to me. It still is, but this year was one of those times when life just got in the way. I've been super busy gearing up for the first week of classes next week and my blood sugars got out of whack after a nasty stomach bug. But writing unfortunately was the furthest thing from my mind.
I would have to say that reading as a close third- after eating. So I don't have a Family Comic Friday selection this week. But since I am feeling up to it, I decided to write an opinion piece on kids and banned books.
The following titles have something in common:
Weird Science, Huckleberry Finn, Bone, Dragon Ball, Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, and To Kill A Mockingbird.
Wanna guess what that common denominator is? If you guessed that all of those books have been challenged in either a school board or court room setting in hopes of being banned from libraries nationwide- then make a star out of gold tin foil and give it to yourself. You are right!
Banning materials doesn't just have to be of books. It can be TV and movies, clothing, even toys and games. But when it comes to those items, it's a little harder to fight against their banning because those are items that can become a legitimate distraction at school.
Take the fidget spinner for instance. Does it help children with learning and attention deficits be able to focus better in class? Absolutely, However, when every kid in school has one because it has become the latest fad for all the students to have it; then becomes an item that distracts everyone. At that point, then some parent or teacher gets mad and decides that the item needs to been removed from school premises for the sake of learning.
I have a friend who is in his 30s and works full-time and is a stand up guy. But last year, he was banned from his child's school because he wore a Darth Vader t-shirt when picking his kids up. Vader happened to be welding his light saber, a weapon, and thus under the school's weapon policy, was considered a potential threat to the school. My God, if that's the case, I'd be on death row! Because I have picked my kid sister up from school with Princess Leia holding a blaster in her hands.
The argument about whether my friend's shirt was going promote someone to go on a rampage is clearly not as dangerous as if my friend actually brought a working light saber to the school. It's also a lot easier to ban clothing than it is a book. But people still try.
Here's the how and why:
1. So the school makes a ruling that weapons of any kind cannot be on school property. Whether this be real, toy, fake, or on clothing and other accessories.
2. Then someone gets the bright idea that books have weapons in them. Take the classic Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Why, that book is about a war. Wars have guns. People die in wars from guns. Thus, the Red Badge of Courage must be banned from school because it may influence little Timmy to reenact the battle of Gettysburg at recess one day.
Maybe this example is too extreme. So let's look at one that is hitting very close to home for many parents and students right now- racism. I think we can all agree that the N-word is a word that shouldn't be used- especially to describe someone. Well, I know this might shock you but some of the greatest works in American literature use the N-word. One of those books is my favorite book of all-time is To Kill A Mockingbird.
TKAM was written by a white Southern woman named Harper Lee. But when she used the word in her book it wasn't to glorify it. Instead, it was to illustrated the harsh way blacks were treated in the pre-Civil Rights era. Lee herself was a member of the PRO civil rights movement and very vocal against the use of prejudicial treatment against of those of color. Yet every year, as sure as corn grows tall in the field, at least one school board in the US must hold a hearing in which someone challenges the right for Lee's book to be available in school libraries.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a charity very near and dear to my heart. Even though the charity was formed to help provide legal representation for comic book creators and sellers who find themselves in hot water for selling 'offensive material', the CBLDF has fought against censorship of books in school and public libraries nationwide. They also bring awareness of oppression to creators in foreign lands such as Iraq and Singapore who have been imprisoned because their comics challenged the rule of regime-like leadership. The CBLDF supports the First Amendment and the right of freedom of speech. The CBLDF also supports the right to read and own such speech and they will put up a legal fight when those freedom's are challenged.
Before I close, I want to make something clear- what is the difference between censorship and advisement? When I write reviews on my blog Madman With a Book for my weekly Family Comic Friday post, I give said work a grade based on 1-10 stars. I also tell parents that a book may have foul language, nudity, violence, or scary imagery. But I do not let those elements affect my grade for the book. I grade a book on quality of artwork, story structure, cohesion in the plot, and other elements of good storytelling. So if I grade a book 7 out of 10 stars and also say it's scary and has swears, the grade isn't due to that but because I found a number of flaws in the book's readability.
The purpose of my Family Comic Friday posts are to help parents, guardians and adults looking to introduce children to comics and graphic novels. There's a lot of stuff starring Wolverine that is for kids and even more that isn't. It is up to the parent to decide what to buy or not buy for their child.
The CBLDF believes that it is the individual's right to determine what to read and not read. I feel the same way. But as an educator, I also understand that some adults are clueless as to what is age appropriate and need guidance sometimes. Heck, even librarians need help too- Watchmen should never be put in the kids graphic novel section- no matter hard hard you try to draw pants on all the images of Dr. Manhattan. Which a novice librarian's helper actually offered to do when I pointed out that it had been miscategorized.
For more information about the CBLDF and Banned Books Week, check out their web page here.
I've you've been following my blog, you will know that Banned Book Week is usually a very big deal to me. It still is, but this year was one of those times when life just got in the way. I've been super busy gearing up for the first week of classes next week and my blood sugars got out of whack after a nasty stomach bug. But writing unfortunately was the furthest thing from my mind.
I would have to say that reading as a close third- after eating. So I don't have a Family Comic Friday selection this week. But since I am feeling up to it, I decided to write an opinion piece on kids and banned books.
The following titles have something in common:
Weird Science, Huckleberry Finn, Bone, Dragon Ball, Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine, and To Kill A Mockingbird.
Wanna guess what that common denominator is? If you guessed that all of those books have been challenged in either a school board or court room setting in hopes of being banned from libraries nationwide- then make a star out of gold tin foil and give it to yourself. You are right!
Banning materials doesn't just have to be of books. It can be TV and movies, clothing, even toys and games. But when it comes to those items, it's a little harder to fight against their banning because those are items that can become a legitimate distraction at school.
Take the fidget spinner for instance. Does it help children with learning and attention deficits be able to focus better in class? Absolutely, However, when every kid in school has one because it has become the latest fad for all the students to have it; then becomes an item that distracts everyone. At that point, then some parent or teacher gets mad and decides that the item needs to been removed from school premises for the sake of learning.
I have a friend who is in his 30s and works full-time and is a stand up guy. But last year, he was banned from his child's school because he wore a Darth Vader t-shirt when picking his kids up. Vader happened to be welding his light saber, a weapon, and thus under the school's weapon policy, was considered a potential threat to the school. My God, if that's the case, I'd be on death row! Because I have picked my kid sister up from school with Princess Leia holding a blaster in her hands.
The argument about whether my friend's shirt was going promote someone to go on a rampage is clearly not as dangerous as if my friend actually brought a working light saber to the school. It's also a lot easier to ban clothing than it is a book. But people still try.
Here's the how and why:
1. So the school makes a ruling that weapons of any kind cannot be on school property. Whether this be real, toy, fake, or on clothing and other accessories.
2. Then someone gets the bright idea that books have weapons in them. Take the classic Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. Why, that book is about a war. Wars have guns. People die in wars from guns. Thus, the Red Badge of Courage must be banned from school because it may influence little Timmy to reenact the battle of Gettysburg at recess one day.
Maybe this example is too extreme. So let's look at one that is hitting very close to home for many parents and students right now- racism. I think we can all agree that the N-word is a word that shouldn't be used- especially to describe someone. Well, I know this might shock you but some of the greatest works in American literature use the N-word. One of those books is my favorite book of all-time is To Kill A Mockingbird.
TKAM was written by a white Southern woman named Harper Lee. But when she used the word in her book it wasn't to glorify it. Instead, it was to illustrated the harsh way blacks were treated in the pre-Civil Rights era. Lee herself was a member of the PRO civil rights movement and very vocal against the use of prejudicial treatment against of those of color. Yet every year, as sure as corn grows tall in the field, at least one school board in the US must hold a hearing in which someone challenges the right for Lee's book to be available in school libraries.
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is a charity very near and dear to my heart. Even though the charity was formed to help provide legal representation for comic book creators and sellers who find themselves in hot water for selling 'offensive material', the CBLDF has fought against censorship of books in school and public libraries nationwide. They also bring awareness of oppression to creators in foreign lands such as Iraq and Singapore who have been imprisoned because their comics challenged the rule of regime-like leadership. The CBLDF supports the First Amendment and the right of freedom of speech. The CBLDF also supports the right to read and own such speech and they will put up a legal fight when those freedom's are challenged.
Before I close, I want to make something clear- what is the difference between censorship and advisement? When I write reviews on my blog Madman With a Book for my weekly Family Comic Friday post, I give said work a grade based on 1-10 stars. I also tell parents that a book may have foul language, nudity, violence, or scary imagery. But I do not let those elements affect my grade for the book. I grade a book on quality of artwork, story structure, cohesion in the plot, and other elements of good storytelling. So if I grade a book 7 out of 10 stars and also say it's scary and has swears, the grade isn't due to that but because I found a number of flaws in the book's readability.
The purpose of my Family Comic Friday posts are to help parents, guardians and adults looking to introduce children to comics and graphic novels. There's a lot of stuff starring Wolverine that is for kids and even more that isn't. It is up to the parent to decide what to buy or not buy for their child.
The CBLDF believes that it is the individual's right to determine what to read and not read. I feel the same way. But as an educator, I also understand that some adults are clueless as to what is age appropriate and need guidance sometimes. Heck, even librarians need help too- Watchmen should never be put in the kids graphic novel section- no matter hard hard you try to draw pants on all the images of Dr. Manhattan. Which a novice librarian's helper actually offered to do when I pointed out that it had been miscategorized.
For more information about the CBLDF and Banned Books Week, check out their web page here.
