Banned Book of my Week: Bridge to Terabithia

Despite knowing that this is Banned Books Week, I completely overlooked the fact that my children's literature graduate seminar had actively discussed a frequently challenged book this week: Bridge to Terabithia. And what a wonderful experience that was, since this was one of my all time favorite books as a child; reading it as an adult, I can easily say it remains high up there.At any rate, it did not dawn on me until now the status of Bridge and its relevance to this week.

Now that I've had time to ponder it, I can't help but feel perplexed by the reasons to ban such a novel. Having read it as a child, I latched onto the imaginary dreamscape the children concoct and make into a near-reality; the power of imagination felt like the most amazing gift of all and I constantly rooted for Jesse to bring the breadth of his artistic potential to life (while also yelling at him for not inviting Leslie. Just take her to the museum too, for goodness sake!). Ah, but I see that I've lightly touched upon one of those troubling "challenge-able" notions: power of imagination that can equate to magic. Because naturally that implies a disregard and turning away from faith and turning toward the occult. Naturally.

Viewing it through critical eyes now, I have a deeper appreciation for the purpose of that imagination, and the limits to its power. I can comprehend the conflict struck between the awesomeness of Nature -- the marker of rural, regional life -- and the cosmopolitanism the Burkes symbolize (as they hail from "the city"). I can see how we might break down the barrier between adult and child behavior and identify the wisdom that comes from forging a physical, tangible relationship with Nature in order to keep on going. Maybe the city identity acts as invader of the regional world, but hey, maybe not. Regardless, I see doorways leading to enormous ideas, challenging ideas, ideas that redefine what we might instinctively consider childhood, maturity, human development.

But THESE are hardly ever the reasons why certain peoples challenge these books. It goes back so often to the danger of exposing kids to profanity, to "magic" and blasphemous respectable characters, to issues of identity that don't coincide with the beliefs of some (here's an oversimplified list of reasons). These are so insubstantial though, and therein lies the truth of so many instances and issues of censorship -- a fear and loathing for the superficial characteristics of a novel that leave room for ghastly misinterpretation and vilification to enforce one's own agenda. In the case of children's literature, the excuse comes from wanting to shelter children, to guard them from the reckless perils of ungodly behavior. I for one loved the difficult books most, the ones that make your heart ache and then sing and then scream and then sigh.

And one blogger discusses this situation: the very things that get focused on are harmless and misunderstood and in fact, the very reasons one MIGHT ban a book like this are totally untouched. Of course, she jokes about the misleading title of Bridge to Terabithia (fair point) but the end result is that the novel offers so much more than the trouble-seeking eye permits. And children deserve the choice to decide for themselves if they want to take what it offers, what any book offers, for their own personal benefit. 

Banned Books Week 2013

It's that time of the year again: Banned Books Week (Sept 22-28, 2013), which too appropriately is coming on the heels of last week's news that Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man would be banned from school libraries in a North Carolina county.

A cool new feature of the Week, especially in its attempt to connect people to the voices that at times must fight to be heard, is ability to virtually "hang out" with banned authors via Google Hangout, including some fabulous young adult authors. Sherman Alexie was available yesterday, but 13 Reasons Why author Jay Asher will chat today and many more are on the list. Our society continues to struggle with censorship, unable to always strike that balance between evocative ideas and ideas that trouble one's belief set. A good challenge is healthy for anyone and anything; it only makes things stronger and thus demonstrates the resilience of so many of the "banned" books we love.

You can read some more about the importance of Banned Books Week here. And if you know of any local events, do share.

Links to Start Your Week Off

A bit of book news for you...

The Michigan School System was presented a proposal last week from a mother seeking to ban Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl from the curriculum due to one passage she found distasteful and overly sexual. The review committee has decided not to ban it however, citing that 'situational censorship' would be in play if they did. I wonder how the Chicago Board of Education justified supporting the classroom ban of Persepolis. It certainly helped book sales but was viewed as detrimental to kids as well.

independent publisher Pushkin Press has established a new imprint, Pushkin Children's Books,aimed at translating children's books from around the globe into English. This has been something of great import on my mind as well; consider the wealth of storytelling cultural awareness, and overall knowledge that children (and adults) are missing out on by not having access to stories everywhere. There is the Marsh Award for Children's Lit in Translation, which implies its importance, but still the movement has been relatively slow. Nevertheless, Pushkin is pushing the movement forward.

Pakistan will be holding their 6th Children's Literature Festival at the end of May, the first to be held in the capital city of Islamabad. I'll be writing some more on this really soon (let the final papers be done!), but in the mean time you can read up on the organization, making groundbreaking strides with each event.

And because it's Monday and we all deserve a tasty treat to set the week right (It's Children's Book Week by the way!), here are some delectable sights to behold: edible books and more edible books.

Links to Ponder (Thursday Edition)

Before the end of the week arrives, take a moment to peruse the following articles and issues that have cropped up lately. The topics presented here either raise or challenge questions that I feel are constantly prevalent in the discussion of children and "their" literature.

1. A recent NY Times  article titled The Stories That Bind Us discusses impact that family narratives have on children's development. "The more children knew about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives, the higher their self-esteem and the more successfully they believed their families functioned."  Simply by the act of storytelling. The article describes in brief the research efforts of psychologists from Emory University in assessing this hypothesis. It could have continued into a larger analysis on the implications of sharing family history, traditions, positive moments--particularly, the history and importance of oral narratives at all. Storytelling, especially for young people, takes on a deeper purpose and suddenly does not seem so "childish".

2. You may have heard or read about the ongoing battle over Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis in the Chicago Public School system. Originally it had been announced that the graphic novel would be removed from classrooms and school libraries, but that decision has since been altered and with the Chicago Board of Education's approval, it will remain in libraries but not be taught in 7th to 10th classes for now, only accessible to 11-th and 12th graders. Evidently officials fear presenting children with images and stories that include torture and violence, despite the growing relevance of those acts in our culture today. Is it inappropriate? Do we consider children incapable of handling these issues? And don't they realize that if you ban something as substantial as this, you will inspire protests and increase sales of the book in question--evidently one would be hard-pressed to find Persepolis in Chicago bookstores right now.

3. A little bit of interesting to wrap things up: Century of the Child: Growing by Design (1900-2000) Maria Popova highlights and describes the companion book to a the New York MOMA exhibit: "Through 100 years of toys, playgrounds, classrooms, clothing, furniture, posters, animation, books, and other ephemera, it covers such expansive and interrelated subjects as genetic engineering, the role of play in cultivating creativity, the importance of children in expanding 20th-century economies, the rise of comic strips, and the cultural significance of nostalgia."

Highlights on Banned Books Week

Banned Books Week is underway around the country (Sept 30 - Oct 6), celebrating its 30th year of challenging literary censorship. To get you up to speed on the most challenged books of the last year (including The Hunger Games, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, and To Kill a Mockingbird), Huffington Post put up an informative infographic breaking down the categories under which the Top Ten most banned books fall.The graphic also displays the number of challenges made over the past twenty years, a useful tool in examining the changing trends.

Check out Publisher Weekly's Banned Books Week at 30: New and Notable Efforts to learn details about some of the events and efforts being held across the nation.

Locally, the San Diego Public Library is holding an All-Day Read-Aloud Reading Marathon on Thursday October 4th at the Central Branch. It's being held in conjunction with their months long library project, Searching for Democracy: A Public Conversation about the Constitution sponsored by Cal Humanities. Check out their site for details and more events: http://www.sandiego.gov/public-library/news-events/index.shtml.

Lastly, we share an essay by Ray Bradbury, taken from the Introduction to The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012, which highlights his own adventure of falling in love with books:

"I asked big questions because of books. I dreamed because of books. I started to write because of books. I read everything from comic strips, to history books, to the fantastic tales of L. Frank Baum, Edgar Allen Poe, H.G. Wells, and many others. None of this reading was required, mind you. I just did it."

The essay can be found here.
Find more information on Banned Books Week on their website: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

San Diego City College Book Fair Begins October 1

The 7th Annual San Diego City College International Book Fair will be held October 1 - 6, 2012.

The weeklong celebration of books includes talks and readings that are free and open to the public. Coinciding with Banned Books Week, the Book Fair will also feature talks about and readings from several banned books, including a reading and signing by SDSU grad and young adult writer Matt de la Peña.

Check out the full schedule of programming here.