“I’m beginning to HATE this woman.”
Sent at the end of a forwarded email from a complainer!!!
Categories: 2007 Banned Book Week Reviews
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by SB Sarah • Friday, October 05, 2007 at 09:00 AM
Our Grade:
Author: J.K. Rowling
Publication Info: Arthur A. Levine Books October 16, 2007, ISBN: 0545044251
Genre: Top 100 Banned Books
Submitted by Delia
Parents focus on the witchcraft aspect of the books rather than the naughty fanfiction, claiming that the portrayal of in a positive light is inherently evil. Porn-inspiration aside, the series is no more evil or even complex than a typical Disney movie. A boy is orphaned and forced to live with abusive relatives until he learns that he has a secret talent that makes him special and leads him to be mentored by a well-intentioned (if just a bit misguided) grandfatherly figure who dies before the strapping young man can learn everything he needs to know, at which point he is forced to think for himself and defeat the bad guy on his own.
But the beauty of the series isn’t the universal theme of good triumphing over evil, it’s that this is a wildly popular children’s book that has characters who blur the line between good and bad, and a villain who is well and truly evil. Voldemort isn’t just a bully who steals your lunch money and later reforms to become a law-abiding citizen—he’s a bitter, manipulative, racist, power-hungry, murderous monster. He is what Harry could have become, had his choices in life been different. The series presents real-world problems that kids have to face sometime in their lives (racism and prejudices, injustice, bad first impressions, death, and even crushes and detentions) in a fantasy setting that makes for a quick and enjoyable read. Kids can get wrapped up in a story that transports them to a magical make-believe place that really isn’t all that different from their own lives. Despite its faults—plot holes, entire books made up of clichés, a terribly flat main character who is obsessed with his school nemesis and YELLS IN ALLCAPS FOR NO REASON—millions of kids are reading as a result of Harry Potter because, magic or not, they can relate to it.
The Harry Potter series would deserve an A rating if it was retitled Severus Snape and the Annoying Brat Who Refused To Die, since Snape is the most complex and developed character. Plus, Snape is played by Alan Rickman in the films. ‘nuff said.
by SB Sarah • Friday, October 05, 2007 at 06:00 AM
Our Grade:
Author: Roald Dahl
Publication Info: Puffin April 26, 2000, ISBN: 0140374248
Genre: Top 100 Banned Books
“Then, one day, James’ mother and father went to London to do some shopping, and there a terrible thing happened. Both of them suddenly got eaten up (in full daylight, mind you, and on a crowded street) by an enormous angry rhinoceros which had escaped from the London Zoo.”
Like any good parent, Mr. Trelease anxiously looked to his young son, expecting he’d need to offer reassurance. “No, mommy and daddy aren’t going to die. No, animals cannot escape from the zoo. And even if they did, rhinoceroses are herbivores.” But his son was not even fazed. In fact, his only question was, “Is there a picture?”
In the tradition of most great children’s literature, James and the Giant Peach features an orphaned protagonist (James) who must thwart oppressive adults (the evil Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker) to escape a dreary life and find adventure with true friends (in this case, an assortment of overgrown insects). It’s the exciting, humorous story of a seven-year-old boy who crosses the Atlantic Ocean in an enormous fruit and lives to tell the tale. As a child, I must have read it a dozen times, and to my recollection, it isn’t the least bit titillating. (Well, okay, it contains the word “ass.") Yet this book is #56 on the Banned Books list. Why?
Well, probably partly because it contains the word “ass.” Others have accused the book of “promoting” drugs and alcohol, because the Centipede sings a song that mentions monkeys chewing tobacco, hens taking snuff and porcupines drinking wine. But I’m guessing mostly this book gets challenged for reasons like those of a Stafford County, Virginia, school district, which (according to DeleteCensorship.org) placed Dahl’s book on restricted access in the library because it “encourages children to disobey their parents and other adults.”
Yes, there you have it. Like many of the children’s books on the 100 Most Banned list, James and the Giant Peach contains the most enduring and subversive message in children’s literature: kids can make it on their own. I don’t know about you, but as a kid, I loved to read books in which children outwitted evil and/or clueless adults. I’d go so far as to say I lived to read those books. And Jim Trelease’s son was certainly eager to read them, too. Because kids crave this message. They need to hear it, whether the people in Stafford County, Virginia, like it or not - that people, even very young people, possess the wit and courage to triumph over injustice, oppression, and peach-eating sharks.
When you were a child, which books empowered you to believe you just might be able to make it, even if your parents fell victim to an enormous angry rhinoceros? Along with James and the Giant Peach, some of my favorites were The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (no, the protagonists of these books are not orphaned, but they are on their own in Victorian England and New York City, respectively - close enough).
by SB Sarah • Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 09:00 PM
Our Grade:
Author: Ken Follett
Publication Info: NAL Trade October 2, 2007, ISBN: 045122213X
Genre: Top 100 Banned Books
Submitted by Heidi
Well, after all the fanfare, I set about reading the book with great enthusiasm and was not disappointed. At the time I was in my late 20’s, a die-hard mystery, detective, espionage reader, having sort of drifted out of romances through college. I mean, wouldn’t night after night being pawed by drunken college fraternity boys in dank, beer-smelling bars put you off romance too?
But this book, with it’s tales of ribaldry and romance...errrr, early English architecture and the feudal system with knights and the monarchy and the CHURCH with all it’s pomp and circumstance, was captivating. It really was. Follett was a master of drawing you into the rich characters and the satisfying storyline. I really enjoyed it. It was so different from what he normally wrote, but it was GREAT!
Okay, the only ooookey part that I hold against it now, since I have nursed 3 children, is that when they deliver the baby at the beginning of the book and then nurse the baby at the mother’s breast---there would NOT be breast milk there, sorry Ken. Look it up. Milk does not come in until the 3rd day or so. Ask my hungry bruiser babies who chewed my nipples off.
What any person could have against this book PILLARS OF THE EARTH is beyond me. My 84-year old AUNT and 86-year old UNCLE liked it and found nothing insulting about it. My aunt was buying copies for all of her old friends, for crying out loud. Will they ban the bible next because it discusses nudity? I can remember being a child and asking my mother how someone impregnated someone else when I was reading my “children’s bible” and she said the sperm got into the lady and I asked “How, did they crawl across the sheet?” and my mom, paragon of help that she was, just made a vague wave and left the room clutching her side and then I heard her thru the bathroom vent that night guffawing her head off about it with my dad. I never asked her anything again. Thank goodness someone drew that anatomically correct drawing on the back of the stadium bathrooms in 5th grade or I’d never have found out. ~sigh~
by SB Sarah • Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 06:00 PM
Our Grade:
Author: Margaret Atwood
Publication Info: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 25 Anv edition February 20, 2007, ISBN: 0374400113
Genre: Top 100 Banned Books
Submitted by Christine
It is a dystopian novel set in Gilead, the former USA. Congress has been murdered, the constitution thrown out, by religious zealots. Women no longer have any rights, even reading is forbidden. The current government has divided women into groups. The Wives are the wives of the elite, Marthas, the maids, and Handmaids are for breeding. Pollution of the planet has caused high rates of infertility and birth defects. Young women, especially mothers, are prized for their fertility, and are held captive by elite males hoping to have children. But it’s worse to be an Unwoman, either old or infertile, who end up working in “The Colonies” disposing of bodies or toxic waste. Living in this horrifying world is Offred.
Offred is a Handmaid, it is her tale. She tells of her life before the coup, with a husband, a daughter, a mother and a career. She relives the night she was captured and her retraining at the Red Center. This is her second try at being a Handmaiden, if she isn’t pregnant soon she fears what will happen to her.
It’s written like a diary, so we only know what Offred knows, which isn’t much, and we can only speculate if what she sees and hears is truth or rumour. There are many unknowns, even though Atwood does answer some later. We’re supposed to question how this happened and could it happen to us. Of course, all over the world things like this have happened and will happen again. It scares me to think you could wake up and suddenly you are without rights, hardly even human. Atwood seems to say that this has happened slowly over time, with hardly anyone noticing at first, then it’s too late to do anything about it.
This novel was often hard to read, for me especially when she talked about her child, who was the same age as my child when she was taken from her. It often felt hopeless and full of despair. The women’s own attitude towards each other was also aggravating. They were hostile to one another, blaming each other for their situation instead of banding together. Still, the writing was engaging and poetic.
For me, I can say that this book will stay with me for a while. I know I will see echoes of it on the news and in the newspapers. I will think about it when I go to the store, put on lipstick, hug my kid, read a book…
by SB Sarah • Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 03:00 PM
Our Grade:
Author: Mark Twain
Publication Info: Prestwick House Inc. January 1, 2005, ISBN: 1580495834
Genre: Top 100 Banned Books
Submitted by Elyssa
Huck Finn is our narrator, the typical misunderstood bad boy, living with two older women. Until his alcoholic, abusive father returns, kidnapping Huck to his place in the woods. In order to escape his father, Huck fakes his own death, taking a raft to a nearby island. There he meets Jim, Miss Watson’s runaway slave, who explains why he needs to make it North––he was going to be sold and separated from his family. Deciding to see if the situation is as precarious as it seems, Huck goes into town––dressed as a girl. There he finds out that his “death” has made the rounds, but also Jim and Huck’s father are suspects. At that moment, Huck decides to help Jim become free.
Faster then you can say “Brokeback Mountain,” Huck and Jim hop on a raft on the Mississippi River. Even though you get the sense Jim loves Huck, it’s an interesting dynamic since they are of different races and power. Jim has to agree with Huck’s decisions because Huck is white while he is a runaway slave. In one pivotal scene, a dense fog separates them; afterwards, Huck plays a trick on Jim, convincing him it’s all a dream. When the truth comes out, Jim’s disappointment makes Huck see Jim as a person and not as a “slave.” Saving Jim now becomes a very real thing, and not just some adventure.
Unfortunately, they end up not going North but deeper into Southern territory. After a steamship overrides them, Jim and Huck are yet again separated, and Huck lands on shore, meeting the Grangerfords who have a long-standing feud with a neighboring family. When a mini-war breaks out due to an elopement between the two families, Huck makes his escape. He reconnects with Jim, and they come across two con artists, the Dauphin and the Duke. The two men include Huck and Jim on their schemes; however, the Dauphin captures Jim, getting the reward money.
Huck discovers that Silas Phelps, Tom Sawyer’s uncle, has him. Tom’s aunt mistakes Huck for Tom. When Tom actually appears, he pretends to be a cousin and convinces Jim and Huck to an elaborate escape plan––one that fails, resulting in their capture. A whole mess of secrets comes out: Aunt Polly (a different Tom Sawyer aunt) reveals who Tom and Huck are; Tom reveals Jim has been free this whole time (Miss Watson’s died); Jim reveals that Huck’s father is dead. Knowing he doesn’t want to be civilized and tamed, Huck decides to head West.