Each year there are groups and organizations that seek to ban books that they do not feel are appropriate for the public or for the age group targeted to read these books. My question to them is this- Why do you feel you should be able to chose which books are appropriate for me or my children? I have never understood the thought pattern behind the whole belief that some books should be banned. Yes there are some books that I find disturbing but I don't feel the need to force my beliefs on anyone else. Everyone has different tastes and needs when it comes to reading.
When I first looked at the banned list for the past several years, many titles jumped out at me because I had read them. I decided that I needed to find a book that I had not read and read it with the knowledge that someone found this book inappropriate. I wanted to see if I could understand their view. One author's name jumped out at me-- John Green. Why? Because several of our teen patrons have been recently asking for his books and also because I just purchased a set of his books for my teenage daughter. I had never read any of his books so I figured his book Looking For Alaska which was on the challenged list in 2012 would be perfect.
Looking For Alaska by John Green was listed on the Challenged List of 2012 as being challenged because of offensive language, sexually explicit text and that it was deemed unsuitable for the age group it was written for. What did I find? Well I cannot say that the language was that bad. Surely all teens have heard far worse on tv and in movies if not from adults or peers in their life. I cannot say that any profane language really jumped out at me. In terms of sexually explicit writing, well they did include some references to sex and some sexual acts however it did not go into detail nor did any of the characters actively participate in sex during the book. These characters are teenagers, of course they think and talk about sex....a lot. It is something teenagers have done for a long, long time. Last but certainly not least, is it unsuitable for the age group it was written for? The main characters are all teenagers, in high school, dealing with daily teenage life. Yes the characters talk about sex. Yes the characters smoke cigarettes illegally. Yes the characters drink alcohol illegally. Yes the characters partake in some questionable activities. Please show me a high school that does not have issues with all of these concepts. If you took out the computers and cell phones, this story could have been set in the 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 1990's or 2000's. These same issues have plagued teenagers during all of this time.
All in all, the book actually was quite interesting. I enjoyed watching the characters grow throughout the book and how they changed. Will I recommend it to patrons at work? Most definitely. It was well written, showed life at its worst and how teenagers deal with it.
So my question still stands....Why do you feel you should be able to chose which books are appropriate for me or my children? Because right now books about witches and vampires are undesirable to some. Books about puberty and growing up are disliked. Books that focus on what teens see every single day are considered bad. What is left? Books about unicorns running on rainbows? Do you really think this would appeal to teenagers? I really don't think so. For me, whatever interests my daughter, whatever gets her to pick a book up, I am all for it. We can discuss what she has read, what bothers her, what questions she might have about what she read.....but at the end of it all, she chose to read. For that I am forever thankful!
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