Banned Book Week Scratch-Off Cards

I LOVE Banned Books Week, so I'm highlighting a project I did for Banned Books 2015 - Banned Book Scratch-Off Cards! There's something about promoting books that people love challenging,  that I just love, and I always try to do something cool to promote it - whether it's a display, program, or activity. I'm a huge proponent of intellectual freedom in all forms, so I took to the black hole of the internet for inspiration: Pinterest.

Pinterest is a dangerous place. I mean it. You start looking for one thing, and then BAM! You're in deep, eyes bulging, fingers twitching, and it's five hours later than you thought it was.

I found a recipe for home-made scratch off tickets, and they were being used as wedding party favors. I'd seen this before. Small beans... but then, a great flash went across my vision, and the lightbulb came on in my head. BANNED BOOKS WEEK SCRATCH OFFS - because what better way than to un-censor a book than to uncover it from beneath a layer of whatever-the-heck-that-scratch-off-stuff is made of. Amiright?

I adapted this pin from a Better Homes & Gardens article.

So here's what you'll need:

• A way to create an easy-to-print bookmark (I used Microsoft Publisher)
• A good printer
• Cardstock 
• White crayons
• Black acrylic paint
• Dish soap
• A paintbrush
• A paper cutter

Here's what you'll do: 

1. Create and print your scratch-off tickets. I used Microsoft Publisher to create these. First I made these ones that have five different banned books that I chose to highlight. The reason they are challenged are beneath, so you can have fun guessing which book it is and then be properly horrified when you find out what book goes with which reasons. I made a different set that says "You won a free book!" so that we could give some free books away at our Banned Books Week Reading at the Tin Whistle Irish Pub (Tuesday, Sept. 29th at 5pm!) 
• A helpful hint: Images weren't as clear once they were scratched off, but the black text on the white cardboard did fine. I used both the book cover image and text and that worked out. 
2. Scribble white crayon over the part that you want to have be the scratch-off part. I found it helpful to have the lines around the area to guide me. 
3. Mix one part dish soap to two parts black paint (you could use whatever color paint here, but black is the easiest to use to cover, and you'll only need one coat). Don't stir too vigorously, or else you'll get lots of little bubbles. 
4. Paint mixture evenly over the white crayon. 
5. Dry thoroughly. 
6. Test it out! You'll want to try all of them, but don't, you'll ruin it. 

A Review: Forever...

Image from GoodReads.com

A Book Review of:

Forever..., by Judy Blume

Summary:


Katherine is a senior in high school and when she meets Michael, he makes her feel really special. Together, they explore their sexuality together, moving as slowly as Katherine needs to feel comfortable. It's the first time Katherine or Michael has ever said "I love you," to anyone, and when they finally have sex for the first time, they just know that they will be together forever. But when summer comes and they both take summer jobs in different states, their forever will be tested.

Blume, J. (1975). Forever. New York, NY: Bradbury.

Impressions: 

This book is frequently banned or challenged due to its unabashed look at a romantic young couple's first sexual experiences. The book doesn't hold anything back, and I can see why

Banned Book Week 2011

What's your favorite book? Got one? Okay, good. Now imagine that because one person thought that book was offensive to them, it was removed from your local libraries-- school, public, and academic.  How does that feel?

 Banned Book Week is a week to celebrate all of the books that have been banned and challenged in the past. Censorship is a big issue in libraries, as librarians and library boards struggle to appease the angry people who think a book should be removed from a library due to its "offensive" nature, and their duty to provide all patrons the opportunity to read what they want to read. This year's Banned Book Week is going on now-- from Sept. 24 to Sept. 30th.

Image from http://www.forcesofgeek.com

Intellectual freedom is your right to access information and ideas, on any subject, from any writer, in any medium, regardless of content. Intellectual freedom, then, incorporates the ideals of free speech and free expression, which are listed in the First Amendment in the Constitution of the United States of America. If writers and authors don't feel comfortable expressing their views for fear of being censored, or their books being banned, that prohibits our intellectual freedoms. If books are censored and banned, then that doesn't allow us to have the freedom to access ideas and information, and that prohibits our intellectual freedoms.

Image from GoodReads.com

The list of banned and challenged books will no doubt surprise you. Some of them might not. But whether or not a book is "appropriate" isn't the same to all people. My favorite quote about censorship is from the sharp-witted Mark Twain, who said:

“Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.”
― Mark Twain

Does taking a book away from the public just because it offends one person make sense either? No.  

If you don't want to read something, then don't read it. But don't take away other people's rights to read it either. If you don't think your child should be reading something, then monitor what they read. Go to www.commonsensemedia.org to check out the ratings, etc. on a book before you let them read it. Or create a rating on it yourself if you want to warn others.

 Banned and Challenged Books from This Year: 

Note: This is not a COMPLETE list. For the entire list, go here.

(images from GoodReads.com)

1. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Contains a sex scene. When I saw this on there, I thought, "did I miss that part?", that's how significant the sex scene is.
2. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. A perennial favorite on the banned book list-- because it is "soft pornography" and "glorifies drinking, cursing, and premarital sex." Having just read this, I'll have you also know that it is a book about a girl's difficult freshman year of high school after she gets raped by an older boy at a party, and spends her first year in high school an outcast. But let me ask you, does rape "glorify premarital sex"? 
3. Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares. Banned because some of the characters have sex and drink a little.
4.  Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Why? Because it includes sexual material and homosexual themes. ??? Again, I missed something here. 
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I don't know if you realize how big these books are right now. At our library, there are 92 holds on this book. Why was it challenged? It gave a woman's child (11 years old) nightmares, and could make kids insensitive to violence. 
6. My Mom's Having a Baby by Dori Hillestad Butler. Why? Because it is inappropriate for children. Naturally, because telling them the truth about where children come from is absurd. 
7. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. Why? Because this book about a boy with autism who tries to solve the mystery of a neighborhood dog's murder contains foul language.  I thought this book was wonderful, and again, this book doesn't stand out in my mind as being very linguistically offensive.
8. The Koran. I'm sure you remember the news about Pastor Terry Jones burning the Koran earlier this year. If you don't, try this Washington Post article on the subject.
9. Bone graphic novel series by Jeff Smith. Despite being hailed by Time as “best all-ages graphic novel ever published," this book was challenged by a parent because it contained some scenes of "smoking, drinking, and gambling".
10. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. Another book frequently on the banned books list. Why? Inappropriate language.

 

 For a list of the 100 most banned/challenged of the past decade, click here.

I'm sure it's no surprise that the Harry Potter series is at the top of this list, but maybe you want to check it out to see which Eric Carle book (of The Very Hungry Caterpillar fame) is on the list? I'm still confused as to the how and why of it... 

Why Books Are Banned/Challenged:

Image from ALA.org

References:

1. Bill of Rights. U.S. Constitution, see http://www.constitution.org/billofr_.htm
2. Quote about censorship by Mark Twain on Goodreads.com: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/239451 
3. Other quotes about censorship from Goodreads.com: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/censorship
4. A great website for parents who want to see how appropriate a book, film, or video game is for their child-- with age-level recommendations and rating systems for violence, sex, and even good role models, you can use this to help select great new titles for your kids that won't offend. www.commonsensemedia.org
5. Washington Post article on Pastor Terry Jones' burning of the Koran: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/florida_pastor_terry_joness_koran_burning_has_far_reaching_effect/2011/04/02/AFpiFoQC_story.html 
5. For a complete list of the books banned/challenged from this year, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/free_downloads/2011banned.pdf 
6. For lists of books banned/challenged from previous years, go to: http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresources/free_downloads/index.cfm
7. For a list of books most frequently banned/challenged in the past decade, go here: http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/2000_2009/index.cfm
8. For more information about banned books, go to the ALA website about banned books week:   http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/

Deemed Appropriate

A preteen boy asked me today for the first of the Twilight books by Stephanie Meyer. He's already seen the first two movies, and his mom won't let him see the third.  His mom was pretty concerned about him reading this series, and questioned me about it's "appropriateness". Appropriate means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  I've seen moms that are ultra-protective over what their kids read, and some who let their kids pick without thinking much about it.

When a patron asks us as librarians "Is this book appropriate for my kid?", how are we supposed to answer? 

Here's the thing... parents are really the only ones who can say what is or isn't appropriate for their sons and daughters to read. Librarians can't do that for you. If you ask us our opinion, then we can give that-- but just know that it doesn't mean that you'll think it's appropriate for him/her.  

After this incident, a woman came into the library complaining about the overly-violent and sexual nature of some of the graphic novels from the teen section. She only noticed this once she had taken them home and looked through them that they were inappropriate for her son to read. She asked "Why would you let someone his age check them out? I thought it would be safe to let him take out stuff from the library." She proceeded to fill out forms asking the library to reconsider these items for our collection (read: she wants them withdrawn or moved to the adult section).


Some things to note for library users: librarians aren't there to monitor what you or your kids read. Any of you. The only materials we'll tell you you can't have are the ones that don't circulate, like reference books. But this also means that if your 5th grader decides to check out a book on how to make beer at home, we're not going to stop him. Minors need a parent's signature on their library card application, and after that, all the content checked out on their card becomes the responsibility of the parent and the minor. 


So how do you know whether or not materials are suitable for your kid (based on your own judgments)?  


First of all, monitor what your kids are selecting before letting them check out if you are concerned.


Second, there are plenty of websites out there that rate books and other materials to determine appropriateness. One example is Common Sense Media, a website that lets people (parents, kids, etc.) rate all sorts of materials -- books, video games, movies, etc. The site lists the age people have stated the material is most suited for, and rates it on key things like: 

• educational value
• positive message
• positive role models
• violence
• sex
• language
• consumerism
• and drinking, drugs, and smoking

It lets you search by title, author, etc. and you can also browse books or other content based on the age level you are looking for. It's a great way for parents to monitor what their kids are reading, and offer suggestions for appropriate materials to them. 


That said, I am a firm believer in the freedom to read -- and the freedom to choose what you want to read. If you don't like something in the library, then don't read it. But don't try to take away someone else's choice to read it.