Sep 30 2008
Banned Books Week
image from ALA website
Every year during the last week of September, the American Library Association celebrates Banned Books Week. We all have the right to choose what we read, and I certainly want my son to have that freedom as his reading skills develop.
Books are challenged - proposed for banning - for several reasons, but some of the most common have to do with content that could be construed as offensive. I find this ridiculous. The world is an imperfect place, and there are things in it that are less than pretty. There is violence and sex (which is not in itself something I would consider problematic) and foul language interspersed among the more beautiful aspects of human existence. While I may shield my children from some of these things, at some point, they should be exposed to them. They should be able to ask questions and look at those things critically.
Gus is an avid reader. Gus will probably have to deal with ugliness in his lifetime: discrimination, possibly bullying, heck, as much as I don’t want to think about it, sex will be an issue at some point. Should I put him in a bubble so that when he is confronted with confusing situations he’s completely shocked by them? Or should I let him experience them in a safer way when we can then deconstruct them together?
For kids on the spectrum, things like social stories have been regularly used to illustrate behavior in a wide range of social situations. This shows that reading and processing that information can be helpful in helping them understand how the world works before being confronted by situations. I think for many kids, on and off the autism spectrum, some of the books, classics of literature, that have been consistently challenged can offer great value.
The Junie B. Jones series is #74 on the list of the Top 100 Challenged Books of this Century . I think we’ll break out Boo! And I Mean It and re-read it this week in celebration of the freedom to read.
