Catcher at number six
Malcolm Lawrence (malcolm@wolfenet.com)
Thu, 25 Sep 1997 17:16:02 -0700
Happy Banned Books Week, everyone! Just found this on the CNN website.
Anyone have any ideas on how we can protect the mild sensitivities of
parents without endangering their rights?
Cheers,
Malcs (ashamed to be a grown-up when he reads articles like this)
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'Goosebumps,' 'Huck Finn' on list of banned books
September 25, 1997
Web posted at: 3:53 p.m. EDT (1553 GMT)
CHICAGO (AP) -- A Florida mother says the "Goosebumps" series of scary
stories for kids are so violent, gory and vengeful that children
shouldn't read them. A Chicago librarian says kids love the scary stuff.
One woman's horror story is another's literary landmark. And this year's
list of 100 banned and challenged books includes a number that are
considered American classics, including Mark Twain's
"Huckleberry Finn" and John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."
The Chicago-based American Library Association releases the list each
year to raise awareness
about censorship. This year's list coincides with the 16th Banned Books
Week, which ends Saturday.
The list includes Alice Walker's "The Color Purple," Herman Melville's
"Moby Dick" and Nathaniel
Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter."
Newer books that made the list include Earvin "Magic" Johnson's 1992
book "What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS," and the "Goosebumps" stories that
R.L. Stine began writing in 1982.
Mary Dempsey, who heads Chicago's public library system, says Stine's
tales -- admittedly scary and gory -- are wildly popular with the
younger set.
"There's no reason I would ban 'Goosebumps,'" she said. "The kids love
to read them. They're the `Nancy Drew' of the '90s."
Lisa Clinton, the Florida mom, tried unsuccessfully to get the
"Goosebumps" books banned in her third-grade daughter's school district.
She said her daughter's teacher stuffed cotton in the girl's ears when
she asked not to hear Stine's "Night of the Living Dummy III."
"The Goosebumps series goes beyond being scary -- it is filled with
violence, fear, cruelty, revenge and murder," Clinton said.
The library association says freedom is at stake when books are banned.
"This is our nation's literary history," says Judith Krug, director of
the Office of Intellectual Freedom for the association.
"We're not dealing with cruddy literature. We're dealing with some of
the best literature that's come out of the American pens."
Among the ALA's critics is the Colorado-based Christian ministry Focus
on the Family.
"Banned Books Week is nothing more than an attempt to bully any parent,
teacher or librarian who may disagree with the ALA's agenda," Tom
Minnery, a Focus on the Family vice president, said in Chicago last
week.
Krug said the ALA compiles its banned book lists through newspaper
reports and that it's fine for parents to watch what their children
read.
"Saying, 'I don't want my child to read material is OK,'" said Krug.
"But saying, 'I don't want my child to read this book and to protect my
child I want you to remove the book so no one else has access to it,'
that's a horse of a different color."
The most frequently challenged books of 1997:
1. "Goosebumps" series, R. L. Stine
2. "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," Mark Twain
3. "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" Maya Angelou
4. "It's Perfectly Normal" Robie Harris
5. "The Chocolate War" Robert Cormier
6. "Catcher In The Rye" JD Salinger
7. "Bridge to Terabithia" Katherine Paterson
8. "Forever" Judy Blume
9. "My Brother Sam Is Dead" James Lincoln Collier and Christopher
Collier
Source: American Library Association