Thursday Aug 30, 2007
Banning the Tango....
Banned Books Week is about a month away, and the A.P. recently ran a piece on the American Library Association's list of most challenged or banned books for 2006. The update has a real Rorschach test aspect for me...
First,
the bad news. Overall, the number of "challenged" books last year
reached 546, a 30 percent increase over 2005. And the year takes on an
even glummer perspective for me because the most challenged title was And Tango Makes Three, "for homosexuality, anti-family, and [being] unsuited to age group," according to the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom. For anyone who has not had a chance to read (or to read about) And Tango Makes Three, bookseller Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City wrote a great description when the title was selected as a Book Sense Pick:
Based on actual events in New York City's Central Park Zoo, this gently illustrated picture book tells of two inseparable male penguins that care for an egg until it hatches and then nurture the chick as their own.
It's rough when the animal kingdom refuses to march to the tune set by a particular set of believers, but I digress....
The good news in the ALA's update on challenged titles was that the current level of challenges is lower than in the mid-1990s, when the number of challenged or banned titles reached a high of more than 750. As Judith Krug, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, told the A.P.:
The good news in the ALA's update on challenged titles was that the current level of challenges is lower than in the mid-1990s, when the number of challenged or banned titles reached a high of more than 750. As Judith Krug, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, told the A.P.:
We're still in ... the mid-range in terms of how many challenges we get.... Books aren't banned nearly as much now as they used to be, because communities are much more active in fighting that.
And
as the two sides of the scale balance out, what's clear is that Banned
Books Week remains a singularly important event in the bookselling
calendar. Independent booksellers, and librarians, are the most trusted
and influential spokespeople on behalf of the provocative, intimate,
insightful, and, often, challenging voices speaking to us in children's
and adult titles. Books have no parallel in their power to change lives -- censors recognize that, and that knowledge fuels their zeal.
Booksellers and librarians defend the First Amendment and free expression rights 52 weeks a year. That should make our celebration of Banned Books Weeks, in the end, a proclamation of good news.
And here are a few related sites you might want to bookmark:
Booksellers and librarians defend the First Amendment and free expression rights 52 weeks a year. That should make our celebration of Banned Books Weeks, in the end, a proclamation of good news.
And here are a few related sites you might want to bookmark:
- The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE), and ABFFE President Chris Finan's blog,
- The ALA's Banned Books Week resources,
- As If! -- a great blog from young adult authors supporting intellectual freedom.
Posted at 01:13PM Aug 30, 2007 by Dan Cullen in General | Comments[2]
Post a Comment:
Comments are closed for this entry.
Posted by Suzanna @ Oblong on September 01, 2007 at 11:26 AM EDT #
"
Well said, Dan! I confess, I just don't get the concept of banning books. Making a personal or family decision not to support a book? Sure. But trying to make the book inaccessable to anyone in your community? Why??
Posted by Maryelizabeth Hart on September 22, 2007 at 11:31 AM EDT #