From the article: Censorship: Challenged and Banned Children's Books
The American Library Association defines censorship as "A change in the access status of material, based on the content of the work and made by a governing authority or its representatives. Such changes include exclusion, restriction, removal, or age/grade level changes." Should children's books and books for teens be censored? If so, by whom? Share Your Opinions
we do not fogive we do not forget
- This is another subject the hacker group" anonymous" should combat. It's simply another way to control the people through lack of parental control. Will you let the goverment raise your children for you? I would hope not. We all have diffrent values we would like to teach our kids, but some things they have to learn on their own. So why would you limit what they can learn to a single minded view; it simply isn't right to do so!!
- —Guest Anonymous
whathavewedone
- Really? is this the New America? Why bother being a parent if parents today are mocked because they love their children enough to teach them right from wrong through reading! Sheltering a child? Really, because we don't curse, or expose sex, or give them rights? Really, is that why we should not ban books? My American heritage taught me that we already banned the Greatest book, in 1963, from schools, and public places, that book is the KJV Bible. God Help Us!
- —Guest wisdom
Books Help Us Learn
- Last spring I read Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn out loud to my 10 year old. It was painful, and I could not bring myself to say the "N" word and changed it to a PC version, but I did tell him the word and why he should never say it (and what I would do if he did). I suppose it was a form of censorship, I simply couldn't say it over and over. We had gotten the book from a family member and I had never read it before. I didn't know how my son would react as the story unfolded. As we read I would stop a certain points to discuss why this or that was wrong, how these thing really did happen in the past and in some parts of the world today. It was very educational and entertaining. Twain's wit wasn't lost on my son. We laughed out loud several times. We both learned a lot and I appreciate the fact that there was a way for my son to be told about many wrongs in the world in a form he could understand and learn from. We must learn from past mistakes, but you can't if you've never heard of them.
- —applepie3
Censoring Books in This Day and Age
- The true value of any book is seeing the character/s as they really are in an age when children of all ages are already exposed to such language and content. Language is a form of expression and the only means of knowing ones true character. I think it helps in the development of critical thinking skills when they read the books in the manner in which they were intended. It also forces the readers to ask questions, something families don't partake in anymore. The only thing worse than sheltered lives is culture shock!
- —Guest Donna Bobb
It's Just a Story
- When I was five, I got it in my head that it's just a story, and that since it isn't real it can't hurt me. I feel no differently today. Does that mean we shouldn't learn from fiction as to what and what not to do? In many books, main characters do horrible things, and the book is based around that. What does the kid think a) I want to be just like this (horrible) character or b) Oh, I don't want to be like that. Kids aren't as easily swayed by fiction as you think we are. I'm thirteen, and the idea of censoring maddens me. My little sister read The Hunger Games when she was ten years old. Did she then think that it's okay for kids between twelve and eighteen to kill each other? NO. When I feel disturbed by fiction, I put the book down. Unlike popular belief, we kids and teens do not have our personalities warped by what we read. We are not as malleable. And how can a word be bad? They're just words. Even poor Harry Potter turned out to have a Christian symbolism in the end.
- —Guest Ally
My Opinion
- Depends, I personally think that some websites should be banned, but the thing is, where will the real world be when these children become adults? In my childhood, I grew up reading many explicit and fantasy books. You see the problem with that is that the child ends up thinking of themselves in those types of worlds. That is what happened to me. The same is kind of true for banning junk food from a child. What happens is that the child begins craving that food so much, that when they become 18, they eat an non-ending supply of junk food. So really, the parents shouldn't ban anything or else the adult will have more or less, a craving for the banned books and fantasy books.
- —Guest elenm786
To ban books is like burning freedom
- To ban books is like blocking freedom of thought and expression. I just viewed a documentary on Hitler and burning books. This to me is horrid - to ban a book rather than letting we the readers and educators have the right to bring forth creative thoughts.
- —Guest Pompeii
Let parents be parents
- As institutions no longer act "in loco parentis", then how are parents supposed to monitor every single books their kids read or are exposed to? I have 2 avid readers, and how exactly are parents supposed to monitor every thing they read or run across in the school library? I think the school library should at least be a "safe haven" (at least up through high school) where the hot-button issues are avoided (I think we all know what they are). People can still access whatever they want through bookstores, public libraries, etc. This is not censorship, or banning, which is done when government entities prohibit an item from being published. School libraries don't need to provide every weird book ever published.
- —Guest Librarian
About that First Amendment...
- Kids have rights. It is unconstitutional to ban books. Honestly people! My library has no banned books at ALL!!! It's time to speak up against this crime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SPEAK UP!!! I am a kid and we have rights to access whatever books we want.
- —Guest Whitney123
it happens in life, why not in books?
- I believe that books should not be banned. Take, for example, The Bluest Eye, banned for sexual references. Rape happens in everyday life, so why cut it out for talking of it? And Huck Finn, taking out the "n" word. The "n" word makes the story what it is. That is how Twain intended it to be and it should remain that way. If people really have a problem with them, then they need to make sure their kids don't read them; do not ban them from everyone else.
- —Guest donna.. a student
Banning of Books
- No book should be banned. Parents should be the ones to censor what their children read. If the members of these committees do not want the children they know to read certain books then keep them out of their reach, but don't impose your right to censor or ban on others' rights to read and enjoy!!!!!
- —Hawaiianeys
Parents are the monitors
- As a library worker, I support the comments of readers that parents are reponsible for monitoring what their children read. If a child was truly disturbed by a book, the parent should read the ENTIRE book and talk about the issue with their child at the appropriate time. It is important to keep the issue in the context of the book's plot, and within the context of the problem/time period in which the book is written. Am I right that a key discussion (i.e. racism, drug abuse) that happens at the right time can be a cause of growth?
- —Guest Tina
Horror and Thrillers for Young Children
- I have a child who comes home from school library with books that a would be front page news nation-wide if it happened in real life. It is not good to desensitize a child to graphic language describing choking, stabbing with daggers, and other excessive forms of torture. A young child's brain is not yet able to process. I am not talking fairy tales of spells and daggers. These are far more extreme.
- —Guest Carly
Why ban them? Some people like them
- Some things are meant to be banned, and some aren't. Books are not meant to be banned, because some people like them. Just because some people think it shouldn't be in public libraries doesn't mean they're right. I think books can't be banned.
- —Guest jacob
The Role of Parents
- I have been an avid reader for years. I was nurtured by my grandmother who told me I could travel by reading. This encouraged me to travel around the world through books, and I have since actually done so. I feel as though parents should determine what books are suitable for their younger children and monitor what their children read per their maturity level. This is to monitor their character building, morals, and values as the adult sees fit. I also would encourage parents to go to the library to see where their children's interests lie and encourage them to grow intellectually.
- —Guest brendawomack2010@hotmail.comwh
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