Ten books that give school librarians headaches

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Ten books that give school librarians headaches

Morning Mix
By Sarah Kaplan April 14 at 3:59 AM
@sarahkaplan48

A novel about a Native American teenager who attends an all-white public school. An Iranian artist’s memoir of her childhood during her country’s Islamic Revolution. A picture book chronicling the true story of two male penguins who raised a chick together at New York’s Central Park Zoo.

These are the three books Americans have tried hardest to keep people from reading.

On Monday, the American Library Association put out its annual “State of America’s Libraries” report, which details trends and challenges at U.S. libraries — chief among them, demands that certain books get taken off the shelves.

According to the report, there were 311 cases of books getting challenged at schools and public libraries around the country — though since most challenges go unreported, that number could be five or six times as high. A “challenge” is defined as any formal, written request that a book be removed from a library because of content or appropriateness. More than a third of this year’s 311 requests came from parents, although patrons also sparked a sizable chunk of challenges. (Notably, “students” is not one of the categories of challenge initiators listed in the report.)

[LWolf]

1. As a former school librarian,

I was once at the forefront of many of these battles. It was always a parent, or a group of parents, who challenged, but they'd often been trained, coached, and pointed at their targets by their churches.

One group tried to have every book about dinosaurs removed. Happily, they were unsuccessful.

[Art_from_Ark]

2. My high school's librarian tried to remove all books

that contained even a hint of nudity. I though I was back in elementary school when I entered that library.

But somehow, she missed "1984"

[LWolf]

11. Was it the librarian?

When it's a librarian removing books, it's usually because of a school-board directive, which comes about either because of vocal parents or because the community elected book banners to the school board.

Librarians themselves tend to be more aligned with the ALA.

[Art_from_Ark]

13. It was definitely that librarian

She had long had the reputation of being a censor, and she retired the year I graduated. I heard from underclassmen I met after that that the school library underwent a major transformation.

And yes, I found a few books in that library that had actually been in my elementary school library (the elementary school had been next door to the high school, and its stamp was in some of books in the high school library!)

[LWolf]

14. Sigh.

There's always a few.

I hope the library got to be a library when she retired.

[Art_from_Ark]

17. I believe it became more like a high school library after she left

At least, that is the impression I got from talking to students who were there after she retired, and a teacher I kept in contact with.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Some of the kids had a little fun at her expense

If we wanted to go to the library during study hall, we had to fill out a special library slip and put it in the in-box at the library, then get it stamped by the library when we left and give it to the study hall teacher as proof that we had actually gone to the library (which was about 20 feet away from the study hall). If students did not retrieve their library slips, the librarian would come into the study hall and read off the names on the slips, ostensibly to make sure the errant students were back in study hall. Some kids would write fictitious names on the slips, and it was a hoot to hear her yell out "names" like "Chuck Roast" and "Dick Breath"

[Brickbat]

3. The books don't.

Busybodies do.

[BeeBee]

4. I love lists like this...

they help me decide what to read next.

[FSogol]

6. I highly recommend everything by Sherman Alexie.

His book, "Diary of a Part-Time Indian" is the only juvenile fiction he has written.

[BeeBee]

7. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

is the next book on my Kindle. I'm looking forward to it.

[Electric Monk]

9. Any book worth banning is a book worth reading - Isaac Asimov (nt)

[distantearlywarning]

5. Cool!

I had already read several of these, including the Sherman Alexie book, but this prompted me to buy several others for my Kindle. Thanks for posting this article.

[MisterP]

8. and then of course there's

http://awfullibrarybooks.net/

I'm surprised "The Amber Spyglass" isn't on there as a Popery-bashing strawman, since Philip Pullman sounds a lot like Ian Paisley these days

[closeupready]

10. Because when it comes to homosexuality, hide the truth from children.

Or if necessary, insert heterosexuality in every conceivable plot point (and some which are perhaps inconceivable).

[B Calm]

12. So "50 Shades of Grey" didn't make the list. . .

[jmowreader]

15. Here's what I don't get

All the things that get a book challenged fall into three basic categories: sex acts, homosexual content, and any form of drug use including smoking and drinking.

Which should, in any rational world, get Ayn Rand's 3500-page wheel chock "Atlas Shrugged" - a book with more sex than some pornos and enough smoking to make the Marlboro Man cringe - challenged so many times they'd paint its title on a board and nail it to the top of the list with railroad spikes. But it's not even on there. WTF?

[yortsed snacilbuper]

16. Sarah Palin bullied and fired the town librarian in Wasilla, after she refused to ban three books!