From staff reports
news@joplinglobe.com
Every year, the American Library Association and other groups celebrate Banned Books Week, a celebration of titles that have been challenged or banned in local and school libraries across the country.
According to the association’s Web site, the annual observance was started in 1982 as a way to celebrate “the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them.”
The Joplin Public Library has a display of frequently challenged titles up in observation of Banned Books Week, which runs Saturday through Oct. 4.
“We do it just to highlight the reasons that books are banned,” said Susan Wray, director of the Joplin library. “Public libraries are open to anyone and everyone, therefore what you’re comfortable reading may not be what someone else is comfortable with. But the purpose of a library is to appeal to the entire community, not just individual segments.”
She said the titles in school libraries are the most frequently challenged, but public libraries are not immune. In her 2 1/2 years as director of the library, she said there have been two challenges made — one a request to move a graphic novel from the teen section to the adult section.
In honor of Banned Books Week, test your knowledge of titles that have been challenged around the country. Match the excerpt from the book with its title and author, and you could win one of two prizes: a $25 gift certificate from Changing Hands Book Shoppe, and a Joplin Public Library tote bag.
E-mail answers to contest@joplinglobe.com. Put “Banned Books” in the subject line and include your address and phone number. Entries can also be mailed to P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802, or faxed to (417) 623-8598. Winners will be selected by a random drawing from correct entries received by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Excerpts:
1. “Little Tony Makarios wasn’t the only child to be caught by the lady with the golden monkey. He found a dozen others in the cellar of the warehouse, boys and girls, none older than twelve or so; though since all of them had histories like his, none could be sure of their age. What Tony didn’t notice, of course, was the factor that they all had in common. None of the children in that warm and steamy cellar had reached the age of puberty.”
2. “Wouldn’t they be surprised when one day I woke out of my black ugly dream, and my real hair, which was long and blond, would take the place of the kinky mass that Momma wouldn’t let me straighten? My light-blue eyes were going to hypnotize them, after all the things they said about “my daddy must of been a Chinaman” (I thought they meant made out of china, like a cup) because my eyes were so small and squinty.”
3. “I’ve got guts. Jerry murmured, getting up by degrees, careful not to displace any of his bones or sinews. A telephone rang in his ears. Hello, hello, I’m still here. When he moved his lips, he tasted the acid of dirt and grass and gravel. He was aware of the other players around him, helmeted and grotesque, creatures from an unknown world. He had never felt so lonely in his life, abandoned, defenseless.”
4. “Last night while I lay thinking here, some Whatifs crawled inside my ear, and pranced and partied all night long, and sang their same old Whatif song: Whatif I flunk that test? Whatif green hair grows on my chest? Whatif nobody likes me? Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?”
5. “But don’t get the wrong idea about these two. Harold and George were actually very nice boys. No matter what everyone else thought, they were good, sweet and lovable ... Well, OK, maybe they weren’t so sweet and lovable, but they were good nonetheless.”
Books:
A. “The Adventures of Captain Underpants,” by Dav Pilkey
B. “The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
C. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou
D. “The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman
E. “A Light in the Attic,” by Shel Silverstein
Frequently challenged
The following titles were the most frequently challenged books of 2007 as well as why they were challenged, according to the American Library Association.
• 1. “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-ethnic, sexism, homosexuality, anti-family, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
• 2. “The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Sexually explicit, offensive language, violence
• 3. “Olive’s Ocean,” by Kevin Henkes
Reasons: Sexually explicit, offensive language
• 4. “The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman
Reasons: Religious viewpoint
• 5. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain
Reasons: Racism
• 6. “The Color Purple,” by Alice Walker
Reasons: Homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language
• 7. “TTYL,” by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
• 8. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou
Reasons: Sexually explicit
• 9. “It’s Perfectly Normal,” by Robie Harris
Reasons: Sex education, sexually explicit
• 10. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, unsuited to age group
