A (mini) rant on censorship of books

The top ten complained about books to the American Library Association in 2012 in list format. I am proud to say I have read all of these except #4. I have taught # 2, #3, and #7.  I put #2, #3, #6, #7,  and #10 ten in a school library. I don't particularly like #1 and I have no plans to read #4 on this list, but that is my choice.  This brings me to my mini rant.

I  have a strong opinion on censorship of books.  My first opinion is, if you don't like it then don't read it.  My second opinion is, how can you know you don't like it if you have not read it?  My third opinion relates the fact that six of the ten books are written for an audience under the age of 18.  The American Library Association (ALA) said that in the case of these six books mostly adults were complaining about the material in these books on behalf of children.  Are these adults/parents letting their children watch rated "R" movies? Are they monitoring their internet usage?  Isn't it better that children learn about issues in life in well written books that address the issues than to pretend that life doesn't have some rough edges?

And the list now that my rant is over:
1) Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey (offensive language, unsuited for age group)
2) "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie (offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group)
3) “Thirteen Reasons Why,” by Jay Asher (drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group)
4) “Fifty Shades of Grey,” by E. L. James (offensive language, sexually explicit)
5) “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell (homosexuality, unsuited for age group)
6) “The Kite Runner,” by Khaled Hosseini (homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit)
7) “Looking for Alaska,” by John Green (offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group)
8) Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz (unsuited for age group, violence)
9) “The Glass Castle,” by Jeannette Walls (offensive language, sexually explicit)
10) “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison (sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence)

 If you want to read the whole article on the ten challenged books here is the link:  http://www.ala.org/news/state-americas-libraries-report-2013/intellectual-freedom

And I won't even get started on my opinion on this but here is a link on information on the new edition of "Huckleberry Finn" where they replace the "N" word with "slave."  Here's the link on that if you are interested: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/01/04/132652272/new-edition-of-huckleberry-finn-will-eliminate-offensive-words

And PLEASE if you have a comment about censorship leave it in the comments below even if it disagrees with mine. I may not always agree with an opinion, but I'll be respectful about it.

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