Understanding Challenged Books

September 20, 2016

between-the-lines

 

 

 

Between the Lines is a series of posts focused on better understanding books, trends in writing, and the labels associated with these.

 


September 25th through October 1st, 2016 is Banned Books Week in the United States. This event was launched in 1982 as a response to surges in book challenging across the United States in schools, bookstores, and libraries. According to the American Library Association (ALA), more than 11,300 books have been challenged since the start of this advocacy week.

 

Wait. Is there a difference between challenging and banning a book?

Yes! A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict books based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those books.

 

Why does it matter if people challenge books?

This is a violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Removing access to literature, no matter what it contains, is a restriction of free thought and speech. Censorship can be subtle, or blatant and overt, but it is always harmful. Just because someone, or a group of someone’s, finds an idea offensive or disagreeable does not mean that it’s right. After all, as Noam Chomsky says:

If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.

 

Where are books challenged?

banned-books-where-challenged-infographic

As you can see from this infographic, an overwhelming 92% of all challenged books are in spaces frequented by children.

 

 Who challenges books?

banned-books-who-challenged-infographic

There is a wide range of people who challenge books. These people are often parts of groups with strong ethical, political, or religious beliefs. Sometimes, the group challenging books are not those who are the impetus for the change. In fact, it’s often due to outside pressure from parent groups or constituents. Check out this story about Tuscon Unified School District.

 

Why would people challenge books?

banned-books-why-challenged-infographic

I personally assume that most books are challenged by these groups with the best of intentions. As most challenges are presented to school and library boards, it’s safe to assume that the key motivator is a desire to protect children from what the person(s) believe are inappropriate. However, most often attempts are done to suppress anything that conflicts or disagrees with their own beliefs.

As you can see from the infographic above, almost every cited reason has to do with diversity. Reflect on the situation in Tuscon above and the idea that “No history is illegal”. Race, religion, sexuality, and politics are often at the top of the list for removing content.

(My personal favorite is “unsuited for age group”– who gets to decide that?!)

 

What can I do?

banned-books-featured-image

So many things! Obviously, start with reading. Over the course of the week, I’ll be posting a few lists of banned book recommendations for you guys. But if you want to start hunting now, I strongly recommend checking out these resources:

You can also talk about these books. As the wonderful Naz over at Read Diverse Books mentioned in a recent post,

…our reviews do matter. Perhaps not individually, but collectively we can make a powerful statement with the books we choose to read and discuss.

Don’t blog? That’s okay! Here are some other ideas on how to get the word out:

  • Write book reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, your library website etc.
  • Host book group discussions focusing on banned books
  • Write letters to the editor supporting the freedom to read and avoiding censorship
  • Tweet your opinions with the hashtag #bannedbooks or #bannedbooksweek

Look for some more awesome information on banned books throughout the next two weeks. I look forward to discussing with you!


What do you think?

  • Do you believe in the idea of challenging or banning books?
  • What is your favorite frequently challenged book?
  • Who in your life has most influenced your lofe of books and your right to read?
  • Which book would you be willing to go to jail defending?
  • Which banned book character would you want to have lunch with?

26 Comments

  • David Hollander September 20, 2016 at 9:48 am

    “Yes, books are dangerous. They should be dangerous – they contain ideas.” -Peter Hautman

    • Jackie B September 20, 2016 at 11:08 am

      “Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.” – Laurie Halse Anderson

  • thebookishlibra September 20, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    Great topic! I used to teach high school English and challenged books always frustrated me so much. I remember The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn being removed from our approved list of books because of a parental challenge.

    • Jackie B September 21, 2016 at 10:08 am

      That’s such a shame! Huck Finn is so important to read– particularly in high school, when they understand the subtext. What a shame. This is why we need to be vocal about such things!

  • M @ A Blog Of One's Own September 21, 2016 at 10:31 am

    I love this post. This is so important.

    I also wanted to let you know that I tagged you for the Sunshine Blogger Award 😛 Here’s the post:
    https://mreadsbooks.wordpress.com/2016/09/21/tag-sunshine-blogger-award/

    • Jackie B September 21, 2016 at 11:01 am

      Thanks, M! I agree as well. I hope to provide some lists of top 5 challenged books to read in different genres over the next two weeks– hopefully that will get people reading!

      Thanks for nominating me for the Sunshine Blogger award! I also nominated you for it a few days ago (– but it was my first award, so I’m still getting used to this. Oops! I should definitely comment on people’s blog with the link, shouldn’t I? Well communicated!

  • Brendon September 21, 2016 at 12:35 pm

    Very good and informative post. I agree, I do not think books should be banned. Access to information and critical thought is very important. I wonder though about texts that outright perpetuate systems of oppression using free speech as a convenient excuse for bigotry and hate. Banning is pretty extreme in my opinion, regardless. But it’s an interesting thing I’ve come across -> free speech as an excuse to do harm to minoritized groups.

    • Jackie B September 22, 2016 at 8:40 am

      Thanks, Brendon!
      That is quite observant– I’m sure there are texts that perpetuate systems of oppression, but I have faith that the text which educate us to the lives, cultures, religions (etc) of others are more populous. We just need to make certain we continue to propagate reading and education.

  • Lost In A Good Book September 27, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    Excellent post. So much good information!

    • Jackie B September 28, 2016 at 10:58 am

      Thanks, Crystal!! It’s super important that we talk about this. It makes me so happy to see other people talking about this on their blogs, as well. 🙂

  • Krysta September 24, 2018 at 10:29 pm

    I love that you explain the difference between challenging and banning, as I think Banned Books Week sometimes gives people the impression that challenged books are banned–but they aren’t, necessarily!

    I do sympathize with parents who think that their children may not be ready for some books. While I agree that it is difficult to determine what is suitable for a given age range, I do think that I would be concerned if I heard that something like, say, Watchmen was being taught in a middle school classroom. The graphic violence in it would make me think it would be better suited to a high school or a college setting.

    However, I think parents should also note that concern doesn’t have to result in banning. They may not want their children reading certain books (understandable–children mature at different rates), but that doesn’t mean no child can read it. It should remain in the library. Also, most teachers will give alternate assignments, so a parent could request that their child read something else if they are opposed to a book. Of course, this creates its own dilemma in that now the child may be singled out and feel awkward, may not be able to participate in classroom discussion, etc. So parents may have to weigh their options carefully.

    Basically, what I’m trying to say is that I totally understand parents wanting to protect their children and share their values. However, this impulse need not result in book banning.

    And I think we need to remember that setting a precedent for book banning is very dangerous. The fact that one’s values or political party is in power today might make banning seem like a good idea to people–get those “dangerous” books off the shelves! But when their values are no longer accepted or their political party is no longer in power, they have now set the precedent for their books to be banned.

    • Jackie B @ Death by Tsundoku September 25, 2018 at 9:20 am

      Thanks, Krysta! I agree with you– there is a fine line between banned and challenged books and they are often combined together in the public’s eye. I often feel uplifted looking at the list of challenged books vs. banned books from the previous year as often the banned list is MUCH shorter than the challenged. This gives me hope.

      Oh yes, I’m not suggesting we teach things like Watchmen in 2nd grade classrooms. “Unsuited for age group” always makes me sad because, as you pointed out, children mature at different rates. I struggle with the idea that parents and religious groups are using this as an excuse to ban totally age appropriate books.

      It’s important that teachers respect their students and what is appropriate for them. As a former public school teacher, I struggled with parents walking into the classroom and making demands. I never ran into a peer who asked their classroom to read content unsuited to the children’s age. But parents challenged that all the time.

      For example, I had a 4th grade teacher peer who asked her class to read Number the Stars. There are about 1.5 billion ways I can explain this is age appropriate. Yet, parents wanted to ban this book from the 4th grade curriculum because it was “unsuited for the age group”. Why? Because they didn’t believe in the Holocaust and they didn’t want our school propigating lies; they didn’t think the 4th graders could identify between the lies of the book and reality. O_o What.

      Parents trying to protect their chilldren and share their values is important. An essential part of children upbringing and developing society. Really, we need to educate parents more than children about what challenging and banning books truly means for the community. You’re so right that the impulse when you disagree shouldn’t be to ban a book. It should be to start a dialogue and come to meet each other on even ground.

      Sigh. It am exhausted just thinking about this whole thing. Why do humans feel the need to fight anything they don’t agree with?

      • Krysta September 25, 2018 at 11:35 am

        I wonder if sometimes parents object, too, because they aren’t very familiar with the text in question? Sometimes it does seem like they are going off what they have read ABOUT the text, instead of the text? I do have hope that in such cases some dialogue could be productive for both sides! For instance, one might be worried about Number the Stars because it’s about the Holocaust, but not realize it’s written for fourth and fifth graders, so no graphic violence. (Obviously, denying that part of history is a totally different story!)

        But teachers are supposed to be the experts and know what resources are geared towards different levels. So I think parents should at least keep that in mind when discussing curriculum. It just seems weird to me that teachers’ expertise is constantly being challenged. I wouldn’t go to my doctor and tell them I know more about medicine than they do because I know they went to school for that and presumably have ongoing education in the field–and I don’t. But people are very happy to assume they know more than teachers and can tell them how to do their job better.

        I think, in regards to Banned Books Week, it will be interesting to see if the ALA definition of “challenged’ and “banned” evolves. Right now, it seems to me, that there’s a lot of challenging happening on social media and lot of banning happening before a book is released and more than a handful have even read it. Where do such instances of these fit into Banned Books Week? Or are these cases being seen as “different” by the book community because the challenges are seen as justifiable?

        • Jackie B September 26, 2018 at 12:44 pm

          That’s a really good point! As an avid reader, I’m always shocked when I hear a parent is unfamiliar with a book their kid is reading and are jumping to conclusions about the text. I’ve often helped parents realigned their assumptions and expectations about texts (note – I’m not an English teacher; this is just something which happens with me and my coworkers/friends).

          I don’t know when/how our world arrived at a place where parents think they know more than the experts. When I taught, I was an instrumental music teacher. Parents were always criticizing what music we were playing or how we were rehearsing — I had one parent who was a professional musician, and I respect his opinion a lot. But the rest? I don’t even understand. And I know I was not in a unique position.

          That said, I feel like teachers get a bad rap. Everyone for some reason thinks they can teach and understand the best curriculum. Just because you spent XX years of your life in school learning does not make you an expert at teaching. But I feel this is the origin of teachers being questioned. Sigh. It makes me so sad. Someday, when I’m a parent, I will do everything I can to support my kid’s teachers.

          Oh, that’s interesting! I understand that social media is an outlet for challenging texts, but I don’t know if anything informal counts. Everything the ALA refers to are times a library or school board or even a legal case covers the challenge. Regardless of the nature of the challenge, a record of it must be filed with the ALA. But banning books before they are released?! I had no idea such things were happening! Can you think of any examples? I’m shocked.

          I don’t know where such instances should fall. But this is obviously the next evolution of where we are heading when discussing challenged and banned books. Social media can be a powerful way to spread a message– no matter the content. I wonder if the book community even *notices* the challenging of books in this environment, or whether this is accepted as part of the dialogue?

          • Krysta September 26, 2018 at 9:37 pm

            I’ve actually had a professor say we all know how to teach because we went to school. Frankly, I think that’s ridiculous. Most students don’t understand scaffolding or how to determine a grade-appropriate book or assignment, or how to make multi-modal lesson plans or what have you. Watching someone do something doesn’t necessarily qualify you to do it, as well. Or I’d definitely be a champion ice skater by now.

            I suppose the question of book twitter centers around whether pulling a book pre-publication is censorship. It is being removed from public consumption, but before more than a handful of people had a chance to consume it. So..what is that?

            But I would point to instances like The Black Witch and Carve the Mark, where readers asked the publishers not to release the books based on what an early reviewer said. (Neither did.) Or cases like The Continent where the book was delayed to be rewritten.

            This cases are interesting because it’s often adults deciding what teens be allowed to read in order to protect them. But, of course, not everyone agrees on what is problematic/what it is teens should be protected from. Many reviewers seen The Black Witch as being a book AGAINST racism, yet one reviewer’s interpretation lead to a movement to block publication.

            In these cases, I sometimes think of when people accuse Eleanor & Park of being “racist.” Or To Kill a Mockingbird. In both cases, there is a misreading of the text happening. People see Park as insecure about his looks and see it as racism instead of the critique of American media it actually is. In the case of TKaM, they see the “villains” saying racist things and ascribe those views to the author.

            On book Twitter, however, saying you want to read something to form your own opinion is seen by many as yet another bigoted act. You are supposed to believe the word of the one person who had a review copy. Except, as we see time and time again, sometimes misreadings occur. Or sometimes people can’t agree on what is problematic content. You can find some #OwnVoices readers defending a book and others wanting to stop its publication.

            So who gets to choose what gets published? Who gets to choose what teens are capable of reading?

            Also, yes, the book community has noticed this trend. There were two articles about it, one by Kat Rosenfield. I can’t remember the other author. But both lead to extreme backlash from book Twitter, who defended the need to keep certain books from hitting shelves.

            • Jackie B September 27, 2018 at 11:09 am

              Okay, Krysta. I fully expect you to write about post about this topic sometime soon. I’ve never considered how social media truly affects challenging and banning books! As someone who doesn’t use it often, I am only tangentally familiar with your examples (though I recall the Carve the Mark and Elenor and Park concerns – those somehow made my feed).

              It always make me super sad to hear people tearing each other down on social media. That’s not the point. The point is to learn and connect. I cannot believe people on book Twitter would attack someone who wants to read a book and understand the content for their own. Perhaps we need to start our own hashtag, #ReadToLearn or #FormYourOwnOpinion or something. XD Not that we’re social media mavens…

              • Krysta September 27, 2018 at 12:44 pm

                I’m going to be honest here and say that I’m afraid a mob will come after me if I posted about this. I do believe it’s important to discuss and that we need to look at how this kind of dialogue is, in many cases, counter-productive in producing the kind of change it seeks. And yet, I blog for a hobby. I’m not sure I want to deal with the emotional fallout of people attacking me. I also have to think of my coblogger because it’s not fair for me to subject her to attacks because of something I write.

                • Jackie B October 1, 2018 at 3:52 pm

                  This makes me so sad. Not because you wouldn’t write such a post. But because you rightfully fear aggressive fallout from the book community. I cannot believe we’ve come to this point. As a society, we’re losing all sense of moderation and debate. We just yell at each other without listening or learning anything. 🙁

                  • Krysta October 1, 2018 at 7:49 pm

                    This really saddens me. I don’t believe people change when they get yelled at. Real change happens when we approach others with kindness. But, when I try to express this to friends, they will often say that yelling is “warranted” and “needs to happen” because they are angry.

                    Sure. I understand being angry. But I also know that people tend to get defensive when attacked or they tune the person out. They don’t immediately agree with the other person. Yelling might make us feel powerful and justified, but it won’t effect meaningful change. Often, in fact, it’s counter-productive because people see personal attacks and conclude they are being made because there must be no real, rational argument to be made.

                    • Jackie B October 5, 2018 at 2:44 pm

                      It’s so hard to approach someone with kindness in the age of the Internet. Not only because your kindess gets washed out in the endles shouting, but because it’s so easy to lose yourself behind the anonimity of a computer screen.

                      I find the whole thing toxic and instead I just avoid the whole scene all together. It’s gotten to a point where I don’t even listen to the news any longer because I cannot find a calm, unbiased source! Bah.

                    • Krysta October 7, 2018 at 7:54 pm

                      I mostly read local news because it’s all positive stuff like new ice creams shops opening or whatever. 😉

                    • Jackie B October 10, 2018 at 10:36 am

                      This. <3 <3

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