Banned Books That Shaped America

The following comes from the fabulous Banned Books Week website, endorsed by the Library of Congress and sponsored by a host of organizations including:  American Booksellers Association, American Library Association,  American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Banned Books That Shaped America:

"Books that Shaped America" is an exhibit created by the Library of Congress, exploring books that "have had a profound affect on American Life".  Some of the venerable books in the exhibition that have been challenged or banned include:


The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, 1884

One of the most frequently challenged books of all time, was called "trash and suitable only for the slums" when first published. For over a century, censors decry the book, alleging it to be "oppressive,"  "racially insensitive" and guilty of "perpetuating racism."  

The Call of the Wild, Jack London, 1903

This staple of reading lists was burned in Nazi Germany bonfires, and banned in Italy and Yugoslavia in the 1920s and 30s. Age inappropriate due to dark tone, violence and blood are oft-cited reason censors claim why they are against what is considered Jack London's best work.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960

Promoting white supremacy, racist, degrading and profane. These are the terms used by censors who want the Pulitzer Prize winning book removed for high school American Literature classes.

Beautiful New Books

Among the new books on the library shelves are three award winning titles that are a joy to behold:

   

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang  Call #: G 741.5 YAN
"...more than just the story of a Chinese-American childhood; it's a fable for every kid born into a body and a life they wished they could escape. The fable is filtered through some very specific cultural icons: the much-beloved Monkey King, a figure familiar to Chinese kids the world over, and a buck-toothed amalgamation of racist stereotypes named Chin-Kee. Jin's hopes and humiliations might be mirrored in Chin-Kee's destructive glee or the Monkey King's struggle to come to terms with himself, but each character's expressions and actions are always perfectly familiar." 
                                                    -  From Publishers Weekly 2006.

 The Arrival by Shaun Tan     Call #: G 741.5 TAN

"By placing photorealistic human figures in abstract, surreal environments, Tan evokes the intimacy of an individual immigrant experience without ever settling on a specific person, time or place. His drawings depict architecture and clothing that are at once historic and futuristic. Shadowy dragons’ tails haunt the Old Country, while the new land consists of structures and creatures that look like a 6-year-old’s drawings brought to three-dimensional life."                                                                                      - From The New York Times 2007.

Drawing From Memory by Allen Say  Call #: G921 SAY

"Say tells the story of how he became an artist through a vibrant blend of words and images. Beginning with his boyhood in World War II-era Japan, he traces his life-changing relationship with Noro Shinpei, an illustrious cartoonist who became his surrogate father figure and art mentor. Illustrations are richly detailed and infused with warmth. Exquisite use of light makes night scenes glow, and the mid-20th-century Tokyo setting is captured with vivid authenticity."      - School Library Journal

Quotations About Censorship

"Don't join the book burners... Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book." 

                                    - Dwight D. Eisenhower  









“[I]t’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers.” 
                                             - Judy Blume

“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed." 

                                   - Benjamin Franklin 

"Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas. The source of better ideas is wisdom. The surest path to wisdom is a liberal education." 

                                   -Alfred Whitney Griswold 

"Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings." 

                        - Heinrich Heine (19th Century German Poet)

"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there." 
                                                               - Clare Booth Luce







Thanks to the New Mexico State University Library for the great online resource guide about Censorship and Banned Books, the source for the above quotations.

Banned Books Week 2013

It's Banned Books Week!
Though for librarians and other folks interested in the freedom to read, every day is an opportunity to take a stand against censorship, this week comes with special events and bookmarks! (Come to the library to get your limited edition place holder.)

From the American Library Association (ALA):
"Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular"


Authors such as Sherman Alexie, Laurie Halse Anderson and others are on board too!

Some of  the most challenged or banned books books during 2012-2013 are:

For a comprehensive list of the top 10 most frequently challenged books (by year) of the 21st Century, click here.

Censorship attempts can take many forms. Curious about the difference between a challenged and banned books? Click here.
"The American Library Association promotes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinions even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them. "

Library Access to Text Books

Forget your Bio textbook?


Is your Chem tome at home?


The library may have an extra copy of what you need for class or to do your homework.

Thanks to the good service work of Lainy Lesnau, there are even more textbooks available, as well as other books often used in Roeper classes.

Lainy has embarked on a multiyear project to earn a Girlscout Silver Award. She collects textbooks and other print resources for the library.

Here she is, processing the recently acquired books, adhering the eye catching zebra duct tape to the spines, indicating they belong back in the library after use.





                     
                 

Studying in the Library: It really does happen!

And I have proof:

I also have a computer helper!

Look! Look! New Books!

A bunch of boxes of books have arrived in the library. Stop by and check out (literally and figuratively) some of the new titles:

Middle School:
     Fiction -

Upper School:
     Fiction-

     Nonfiction -

Borrowing Books: It Can Be Done!

Though the online catalog is not yet functional on our Birmingham Campus, and the self check out some 6th and 7th graders are used to from the Children's Library is not set up yet, you can STILL borrow a book from the M/U School Library. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Selected a book (fiction, non-fiction, graphic novel, even a magazine, as long as it's not the current issue) form the library collection.

2. Locate Alison Ernst (either in the library office or roaming around.)

3. Let Alison know you would like to borrow this book.

4. She'll jot down your name, homeroom, and the books title and author.

5. Take the book, read it, and return when done.

Then you are good to go!

So far this week 8 items have been borrowed using this old school method.

Library Pictures from Week 1