On Sept. 28, 2017, Stephen F. Austin State University’s English honor society, Sigma Tau Delta, hosted an event dedicated to banned books. To support people’s freedom to read, students and faculty of the Liberal Arts department gathered to hear excerpts from different novels that were at one point banned from being read.
Before each person read, they would talk about why the book was banned and how it shaped them personally or how important the text was to society. Books like “Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret?” by Judy Blume, poems written by Shel Silverstein and famous classic, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, were read aloud. Each of the novels above was banned at some point by towns and societies that deemed these books inappropriate.
Below follows a description of each novel and the reason it was banned.
“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret?” by Judy Blume is a book about a young girl growing up. The book was banned due to the fact that the novel is about a young girl getting her period. The reader at the SFA event read the final scene where the character, Margaret, finally gets her period. People thought this text was inappropriate for young girls to read even though it is a part of life that every girl must go through. Judy Blume was being honest with her readers with her detail on female menstruation.
Poems by Shel Silverstein were banned in libraries because parents thought some of Silverstein’s work was teaching children to disobey their parents. Silverstein’s “How Not to Have to Dry the Dishes” had people believing that it urged children to drop a dish on the floor so, “Maybe they won’t let you dry the dishes anymore.” Another poem by Silverstein, “Little Abigail and the Beautiful Pony”, was also banned because according to parents, it promoted child suicide. The poem talks about a little girl who wanted a pony and died because her parents didn’t get it for her—”And she did die, all because of a pony her parents wouldn’t buy.” Adults took this quote a too literally in thinking that children really would kill themselves for not getting what they wanted.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” to this day is one of the top most challenged books and is also one of the best novels of the twentieth century. The book was banned for its racial and sexually-charged themes that were deemed unsuitable for young readers. This classic novel has been banned at least nineteen times for everything, from racial slurs and profanity to sexual and political content. Some people call this book degrading, but like most novels that have been the winner of the famous Pulitzer-prize, this book is a classic that does not deserved to be banned.
One thing that each of these books have in common: Every book listed above was a large part of my childhood. When I was sitting in the lecture hall listening to all the readers talk about these banned books, I would have flashbacks about each book or poem and see how each one affected my life. My mom has always been an avid reader, and that was a trait that was passed down to me and ultimately made me who I am today. When it came to presents for my birthday or Christmas, books were always a gift that was welcome. Books were never banned in my childhood home and books will never be banned in my household. Books are meant to be read. Some people may disagree, but I will always be an avid reader just like my mom. People have the right to read whatever they want, whenever they want, so that’s why Banned Book Week needs to be celebrated and recognized every year.
Banned Book Week is in the last week of September so next year, pick up a classic like “Fahrenheit 451” or “The Great Gatsby” and read away! Free to Read!!
Books mentioned in this article:
Blume, Judy. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. New York :Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2001. Print.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. New York :Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2006. Print.
Silverstein, Shel. Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Poems & Drawings of Shel Silverstein. New York: Harper and Row, 1974.