26 กันยายน
Blame the Books?
Blame
I wrote such a beautiful book for you
'Bout rainbows and sunshine
And dreams that come true.
But the goat went and ate it
(You knew that he would),
So I wrote you another one
Fast as I could.
Of course it could never be
Nearly as great
As that beautiful book
That silly goat ate.
So if you don't like
This new book I just wrote-
Blame the goat.
~From A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
I love Shel Silverstein. Before I could even read, my mother recorded an audiotape of her reading his poems so that I could listen to them at night when I couldn't sleep or when I was scared of the dark. As I got older I started flexing my vocabulary muscles by reading his books myself and, of course, his drawings still make me laugh today. I suspect I'm not alone in my love for
A Light in the Attic and
Where the Side Ends - I'm sure many of you enjoyed them too when you were growing up.
So would it surprise you to learn that
A Light in the Attic is number 51 on the list of
The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000?
My good bud Mocha came up with
this great plan to spotlight Banned Booked Week, which runs from September 23-30, by writing about some of her favorite banned books and why she loves them. I think it's a wonderful idea and I hope others of you will go to this
American Library Association website to learn more about book challenges and bans and perhaps write about your favorite banned books.
However, what really surprised me as I read Mocha's post was how many commenters didn't know that that books were still being banned in this country. I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised - unless you’ve been involved with a book challenge or work for a library that has fought one, there's really no reason for you to know. Me, I didn't have much of an option about that since my mom is a retired middle school librarian. I well remember her fighting book challenges in her school, in fact two of the books that were challenged in her library are in the top 30 of the most banned books list.
The banning of books always confused me as a child, I just could never wrap my head around the idea of books being a bad or dangerous things, something that I needed to be protected from. Part of that was because my parents, both avid book lovers and passionate supporters of free speech, never put limits on my reading habits. There was nothing that was forbidden to me and I was encouraged to follow my interests wherever they lead. And I think my childhood was the better for that freedom, it allowed me to discover who I was and what I was passionate about very early on...and what I was passionate about was words. Weird and wonderful words, like the kind I found in Shel Silverstein's poems and another well loved children's book (and number 25 on the Most Banned Books List)
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak.
As an adult, I understand the impulse to protect children a little more...the world is a scary place and parents have to work harder than ever to keep their kids safe. But I'm still a little puzzled at how a book of poems about buckin' broncos, unscratchable itches, and a girl who turns everything she touches into jello is really a threat to childhood innocence. I also wonder how adults make the leap from deciding that they don't like a book and that they don't want their kids to read it, to deciding it should be removed from the library's shelves so that no one can read it.
All this week, I'm going to try my best to write a few posts about banned books, libraries, and librarians (although perhaps not in that order). I can't promise you any answers, just a lot of opinions and a passion for the written word.
Oh, and since I started this thing with my good friend Shel, let me end with my favorite of his poems:
Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS
The impossibles, the WON'TS
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me-
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.
~"Listen to the Mustn'ts" by Shel Silverstein
For more on this topic, go to
my other space:
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