Artifact Three

Suzanne Fisher Staples."WHAT JOHNNY CAN'T READ, Censorship in American Libraries". 1 Nov 2005. 1 January 2007.http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter96/pubCONN.html

Though America never had to go to great lengths like Germany did during WW2 to destroy books that could possibly corrupt it's citizens minds to oppose the government, it has, however, banned a majority of novels that shouldn't be banned.

Books are banned because their content is deemed inappropriate for a specific audience. You wouldn't want a children's book that contained racist messages or pornographic images. But what happens when a beloved American novel such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn just because it mentions the "n" word a few times to help make the story more authentic? Or when Black Beauty mysteriously pops off the shelves because it refers to animal cruelty? There is a thin line between when a book is appropriate or inappropriate for readers.

There are instances when a book is banned for no good reason. In Ablemarle County, Virginia, Katherine Patterson's National Book Award winner, "The Great Gilly Hopkins" was banned in all the school libraries because she swore a little and "used God's name in vain". The parent who filled said complaint went through the book, listing all the profanities and never bothered to really read the book. When the complaint went to the Ablemarle County School Board, a large majority of the board voted for it to stay on the shelves while the superintendent sided with the parent and the book was removed from the shelves. What those people never realized was in the book "The Great Gilly Hopkins", Gilly Hopkins was a foster child who had a rough life until her grandmother takes her out of foster care. She only swore to express her fellings, not to tell choldren that swearing is okay.

The problem is that most people misconstrue, or misunderstand the message that the story is trying to teach children. For example, if a book has a rebellious child, they believe the novel will make their children will become rebellious just from reading it. Or that a book that talks about love will make children become sexually active. Librarians sometimes take books off the shelves secretly because they think they are doing the right thing, or they fear for their jobs. Parents also slip books off the shelves because they think they are preventing their children from reading obscenities.

Parents pay too much attention to what their children read. While preventing them from reading racist books or smut is okay, not letting them reading an American classic because it mentions the "n" word is going too far. Parents don't realize that their kids will hear worse obscenities and not read graphic scenes, but see graphic scenes in front of them in real life.