Book Blogger Hop!

It's Friday and that means it's time for the Book Blogger Hop! Hosted by Jennifer at Crazy For Books it's a fun, weekly gathering of over 200 book bloggers and a great way to get to know the community. This weeks question is in honour of Banned Book Week:
What is your favourite banned or frequently challenged book?

One of my favourite books is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I read it in high school and at the time didn't see anything wrong with it, and I still don't. In fact, it was one of only two books that I read in high school that I enjoyed and was interested in. One book from the 2010-2011 list that I really enjoyed is Push by Sapphire. I wouldn't have a problem with my children reading it in their teens.

I am against banning books. There may be some that I feel are inappropriate for certain age levels, but I think that's the responsibility of parents to pay attention to what their children are reading and talk to them about it. I'm especially against banning books that are classics just because they present values that go against the ones we have today.

Example - here is the listing for Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (which I haven't read) - A resident had objected to the novel's depiction of how blacks are treated by members of a racist white community in an Alabama town during the depression. The resident feared the book would upset black children reading it.

I would have no problem with my children reading this book and I doubt it would upset them. The reason for this is, we've already explained to my four year old how things once were. This summer we visited the Martin Luther King Jr Historical Site in Atlanta and sat down to explain everything to her. And over the years we will continue to explain things to her as she matures and has a better understanding of things. A book like this shouldn't upset her when she's in high school because she will already know that this is how things really were. We're not going to sugarcoat what is history.

Comments

  1. Oooh - I just bought The Handmaid's Tale and can't wait to read it!

    And I agree with your sentiments - do people actually read these books before banning them??

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just blogging by.

    http://tributebooksmama.blogspot.com/2011/09/book-bologger-hop.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stopping by from the blog hop.

    There are a lot of books on that list that I love. :)

    Elizabeth

    http://silversolara.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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