WARNING: ACCORDING TO SOME  PARENTS IN TOWNS ACROSS AMERICA THESE BOOKS ARE NOT APPROPRIATE FOR YOU

“Vulgar…”

“Inappropriate…”

“Damaging…”

Summer: for some it means a time to work, for others a time to play, and for many it’s a time, after 9 months of assigned school reading, to choose your own books, to decide what you want to read.

Unfortunately, if the last week is any indication, summer is also a time for some parents in towns across the country to challenge young adult literature, a time to fight to ban books from schools and public libraries.

Today the Chicago Tribune reports that some parents in Antioch, IL, just outside of Chicago, want Sherman Alexie’s National Book Award-winning novel, The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian, eliminated from the incoming freshman summer reading curriculum (even though an alternate book is offered).  Meanwhile, down in Leesburg, Florida last week, two moms were interviewed on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” morning show because they want the Gossip Girl series removed from the young adult section of their local library (a request which was rejected by the library’s board). In New Hampshire a group of parents succeeded last week in dropping short stories by Ernest Hemingway, Stephen King, and David Sedaris from English curriculum while the D.C. public school system, working below the radar, yanked every single LGBTQ-themed book from summer reading lists. And, in West Bend, WI, a group of citizens are  fighting for their right to burn – yes, burn – their local library’s copies of Francesca Lia Block’s Baby Be-Bop, a book that is part of the Weetzie Bat series, and, according to Block, “a very sweet, simple, coming-of-age story about a young man’s discovery that he’s gay.”

Books and stories for young adults have a long history of being challenged. (Check out Chris Crutcher’s website to see how  many times his books have been challenged in the last year). But, does the spate of book challenges across the country in dicate a growing trend towards more censorship of books for young adults or are these situations a cluster of isolated incidents?

In almost all these instances parents object to the “vulgar” language in these stories, claim the books are “racist,” and are offended by the description of (or reference to) sexual acts included in the books. Often times in these situations, as in West Bend, WI, the protesters claim that the book(s) defy Christian principles.  (Read an interview with one of the people fighting t o protect Baby Be-Bop from these attacks.) Some parents claim they don’t want to ban the books, but want warning labels affixed to their covers (like those on movies, video games, and music). What do you think? Is a warning label a form of censorship? Is it censorship if a young adult librarian is forced to remove books from her collection to another part of the library? Should a small group of parents get to decide what a library’s patrons or a school’s student body can and can not have access to?

LATE UPDATE: The Tribune reports that the Antioch school board has decided to keep Sherman Alexie’s book  on the reading list. The board reached this decision in part because many parents voiced their support for the book.

LATER UPDATE: For those curious, none of the embattled books pictured above were removed from schools or libraries as a result of their challenges.  In all cases both school boards and library boards stood by the books and kept them on the shelves.

Sherman Alexie’s website reported recently that The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the winner of the 2008 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and all-around fantastic read, has been banned in a high school in Prineville, Oregon. A quick Google Maps search shows that Prineville is approximately 370 miles from Spokane, WA, where Alexie’s story takes place. The school – Crook County High – included Part-Time Indian in its freshman English curriculum until the father of one of the students picked it up and was “shocked” by its content. Read about this act of censorship here and if you haven’t read the book, read Christy’s original review and then stop by The Loft to pick up a copy – we have about 3 on hand. (Jarrett, The Loft)

Update:

The Crook County school board voted by a count of 4-1 recently to continue the classroom ban on the book, but has agreed to make it available to students in the school library.

Note: Part-Time Indian just won the 2009 Odyssey Award for the best audiobook produced for young adults in English in the United States.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is this year’s winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. (Little, Brown, 2007)

Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, is born with “brain grease” (hydrocephalus, or excessive accumulation of fluid on the brain) which in his words “mucked up the works.” Junior has 10 extra teeth, a large head, a lisp, a stutter, and eyeglasses by age three, and he rapidly becomes a candidate for the black-eye-of-the-month club thanks to school bullies. To avoid being beaten up, he stays inside and draws cartoons and reads books. The son of an alcoholic father and “long suffering mother,” life on the reservation (Spokane Indian) poses its share of challenges for Junior.

So he decides to take a chance on an “all-white” school 22 miles away where the only Indian is the school mascot. A new world opens up for Junior, but many of his reservation friends, including his best friend Rowdy, think he has sold out. Juggling these two worlds leaves Junior feeling like a part-time Indian. Through it all he keeps drawing, and his cartoons keep him afloat: “I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.”

Thankfully for us, while Junior keeps drawing, Alexie keeps writing (and laughing). Move over Holden Caulfield – meet Arnold Spirit! (Christie, The Loft)

November 7, Wednesday, 6-7:30 pm. Northwestern University, 1897 Sheridan Rd, Hagstrum Room, UH 201. free and open to the public (recommended for High School and up). map

Junot Diaz “Shadows of the New World: A Reading,” by fiction writer-in-residence at Northwestern University, Junot Diaz. Diaz, born in the Dominican Republic and raised in New Jersey, is the author of the recent novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, as well as many short stories. He was selected as one of the 39 most important Latin American writers under the age of 39 by the Bogot Book Capital of the World and the Hay Festival.

November 8, Thursday, 7 pm. Barnes & Noble, Old Orchard Center, Skokie.

Sherman Alexie Presentation and signing by Screenwriter, Novelist, & Poet, Sherman Alexie. Alexie has written his first novel for young adults that was recently nominated for the National Book Award. At once heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian chronicles the life of teen Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, as he leaves the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend a school 22 miles away where the only Indian is the school mascot. (Junior High, High School)