Banning Books! Are you crazy?!

Call me crazy, but the banning of books because they might disturb our gentile sensibilities is insulting to my intelligence. If the content of a book makes the reader uncomfortable, then put the damn book down! However, if you continue to read it because you are titilated by the words or the scenes that are written and then complain, you are doing the rest of us a great disservice.

There is a clear distinction between the inclusion of a child rape scene so that some pervert might get his kicks and the inclusion of such a scene to show the deep and everlasting betrayal between two friends.

This particular reference is to the recent challenging of the wonderfully written and highly educational novel, The Kite Runner, in California. This novel has so much to teach its readers about the Afghanistan culture and conflicts, as well as the depth of friendship and family as a powerful theme to which most of humankind can relate.

Having just finished a "banned book review" with my students, I found it important to talk to them about the content of books that have far more positive aspects than what is controversial about them. As I try desperately to creat critical thinkers in my classroom, I encourage each of them to analyze the author's purpose for the inclusion of language, violence, and sex. Toni Morrison's Beloved would not be as poignant without the violent rape of Sethe, and in turn her violent attempt to save Beloved from the white slave owner. Holden Caufield's views of humanity would not be as bitter or angry without the profanity that made him feel more grown up than his years. Walter Dean Meyer's Fallen Angels would give a fluffy and rose-colored image of the Vietnam war without the graphic descriptions of the pyschological and physical damage that the war did to the young men who fought for a cause they did not understand.

So before you condemn a book for its content, you must ask yourself WHY. And was it necessary to use to get a point across to the reader? And then, if you still find the book offensive, for God's and the rest of our's sake, put the book down! But please don't take that right away from the rest of us!