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Tom Germond
Celebrate the freedom to read
By TOM GERMOND
Article published on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007 |
Have a happy banned book week – Sept. 29 through Oct. 6.
I plan to celebrate quietly – by reading something from the list of most challenged books in 2006. Something irreverent, biting and full of bad words.
Over the years I’ve read many articles about attempts, particularly in the schools, to prevent children from being exposed to controversial thoughts expressed in print.
Of course, in my late teens and early 20s, the mere fact that somebody was trying to ban a book made me want to read it – such as Joseph Heller’s great World War II novel, “Catch 22.” Still the funniest book I’ve ever read.
I’ve also been involved professionally in controversy surrounding books.
As a reporter for the Winter Haven News-Chief in the early 1980s, I had to listen to our managing editor’s tirade about us getting scooped by the Tampa Tribune on a story about an attempt at a local high school to keep the late Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpiece, “Slaughterhouse Five,” out of the school library.
Have to hand it to the Tribune reporter; she did a great job, quoting the school superintendent, other officials, and, of course, the principal, who said he never read the book.
Wonder if he ever read a book?
But the reporter took an extra step, too, and placed a telephone call to Vonnegut, who ripped apart Polk County school officials.
He called the superintendent a “sparrow fart.”
Score: Vonnegut 100, Polk County bumpkins, 0.
This controversy probably pales in comparison as to what other communities have undergone over books, many of which are considered literature.
Take “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee. The novel has been challenged frequently because of its racial themes. It was temporarily banned in Eden Valley, Minn., in 1977, and challenged at the Warren, Ind., Township schools in 1981, because the book “represents institutionalized racism under the guise of ‘good literature.’”
Not on this year’s list of challenged books but have been for several years are the “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain.
In fact Twain’s “Finn,” which may be America’s greatest novel, was on the American Library Association’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000, ranking fifth. That’s downright scary.
Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye,” was challenged by Concerned Citizens of Florida who wanted the book removed in 1991 from a high school library in Leesburg due to “profanity, reference to
suicide, vulgarity, disrespect, and anti-Christian sentiments.”
Note to the Concerned Citizens of Florida: Get a life, you huckleberrys.
Another one of my favorite nonfiction works that has been targeted is “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” by Dee Brown. It was removed in 1974 in Wild Rose, Wis., by a district administrator for being “slanted.” According to the American Library Association, the administrator also said “if there’s a possibility that something might be controversial, then why not eliminate it?”
Hmm, If there is a possibility that the administrator was a moron, why not fire him?
Banned Books Week was first observed in 1982 and reminds Americans not to take “this precious democratic freedom” (to read) for granted. The event is sponsored by the American Library Association and several other organizations.
Help me celebrate. To wit:
“Those who do not read don’t have an advantage over those who cannot read.”
Tom Germond is executive editor of Tampa Bay Newspapers.
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Article published on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007
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