Harry Potter. Of Mice and Men. The Catcher in the Rye. All of the Gossip Girls series.
This isn't a recap of your summer reading list, but a showcasing of popular titles frequently pulled from shelves for context deemed inappropriate for school and local libraries. In fact, they are included in the American Library Association's top 50 challenged books from 2000-2007. The ALA defines a "challenge" as a "formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness."
In celebration of our First Amendment right to speak freely, The University Libraries of The University of Memphis will observe Banned Books Week, or BBW, beginning Monday, Sept. 29 with public readings from banned or challenged books.
In the middle of the rotunda in the McWherter library, readers will present excerpts from books on 2007's list of the most frequently challenged, compiled by the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom. Over 400 challenges were made last year, down from 546 the year before.
Holding the top spot for the second year in a row is And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. The tale of two male penguins who parent an egg, based on a true story, was challenged for a variety of reasons from being "anti-ethnic" and "sexist" to complaints against "homosexuality" and of being "anti-family."
Mark Twain's The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is no newcomer to the list at No. 5, and The Golden Compass came as no surprise after the widespread protests of the movie. Other popular reads in the top ten included Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings for sexually explicit material, as well as The Color Purple by Alice Walker.
"Libraries are tax-supported institutions and taxpayers have expectations that their money will be spent on something they approve of," said Ed Frank, curator in the Special Collections Department of the library.
"I understand there is offensive stuff out there, but I don't think the solution is suppression," he said.
Frank has been working in the library since 1976, and he signed up to read in the rotunda again because he wants to "defend the principle" of the freedom to read what one wants. There is no reason to ban a book, said Frank, no matter what the content.
"I think it (BBW) is a valuable initiative to remind people that freedom of information is often challenged," Frank said.
Last year, Frank read from Final Exit, a book viewed by many as a handbook for suicide, to illustrate his focus on the principles of freedom, not the content of the books. He also said calling this week Banned Books Week is misleading, because the books are more often challenged and rarely banned an can only be performed on a local level.
Agreeing that banning books is wrong by principle is Jacob Neal, a graduate student in the philosophy department. Neal found it ironic that people who challenge books may actually contribute to greater exposure.
"Banning them interests us even more so in the books," he said. "These books have now achieved some status of fame."
An example of a book gaining popularity after being challenged is A Visit to Cuba, according to BBW coordinator Tom Mendina. In the book, author Alta Schreier portrayed Cuban children as having lives some Miami residents felt was too liberal and infused with freedom. The book was pulled form shelves and then started receiving heavy attention from the media.
"Who in Memphis would have heard about this book, if this thing hadn't hit the streets in the newspapers?" asked Mendina. "The ironic outcome is all of the sudden the eyes of the world are watching, and the sympathy grows for the people being oppressed."
Parents and administrators are the most avid challengers, and sophomore Courtney Renee said she can relate because she has a five-year-old. Renee said she would not read a book that had been challenged to her child and said her child could make decisions about what to read at an older age. As an elementary education major, Renee said she would not teach a controversial book because she feels a book like And Tango Makes Three would only "confuse" a child.
"People appoint themselves as gatekeepers for what other people should read, and I don't agree with that," said Christopher Ratliff, a library assistant in the archives department.
Ratliff is still on the fence about whether the principles hold steadfast with children's books. There needs to be some kind of restraint to protect children, he said. If parents aren't doing the job, someone has to, he added.
Banned Books Week is sponsored by the ALA, which tracks books that have been challenged or banned from libraries or bookstores in the United States. It is observed during the last week of September each year. Beginning in 1982, the annual event's purpose is to remind Americans not to take our "precious democratic freedom for granted," according to the ALA website.
Volunteers are still needed for readings which will begin at noon each day and continue until around 2 p.m. Mendina said the audience is normally small and 'waxes and wanes" throughout the day. Most readers make introductory remarks about why the book was banned, Mendina said.
If you would like to volunteer to do a reading from a banned book, contact Tom Mendina at 901-678-4310 or tmendina@memphis.edu, or Kay Kroboth at 901-678-2209 or kroboth@memphis.edu
