I think I was very lucky. I grew up a voracious reader. My parents never checked on what I was reading. They never really noticed what I was reading—probably because I read all the time. Me with a book in my hand just sort of blended in to the fabric of their lives.
And so I read, uncensored and unfettered.
I read everything I could get my hands on. I read my grandmother's collection of Grace Livingston Hill books. I read my mom's Reader's Digest books. I read Scholastic books from the book fair. I read books from the school library. I read books from the bookmobile. I read The Hobbit for the first time in 3rd grade. I'm sure I didn't absorb all the nuances, but that's okay. I read it again the next year. And the year after that. I read LOTR before I left grade school. Teachers noticed my reading and passed me books. One teacher in high school noticed and after I finished the class assigned books, she'd assign me extras. At the time I thought it was unfair (I was working full time by my junior year and was sleep deprived a lot) but in hindsight she did me a favor. She introduced me to books I might not have read without her.
When I was in high school I did a research paper on WWII. I read bits of Mein Kampf. If ever a book should be banned, this would be one. A book written by one of the most reprehensible people ever born. But it wasn't banned and reading it only showed me what evil looked like. That research paper helped me avoid falling under the spell of charismatic leaders who spend a lot of town preaching hate of "Others." My paper (which got an A+ btw) would have been less without the insights the book provided. I would have a more limited world view without knowing what evil lurks in the hearts of some men. I think it helped me find my firm belief that while I'm only one person, I can send positive energy out in the world. I can choose love. I can choose empathy. I can choose putting myself in someone else's shoes and try to see the world from their perspective. I think me free-range reading led me to my writing career.
So when I hear that school districts around the country have begun banning books, I feel a crushing sorrow. Sorrow that people are so small minded that our country's history (messy as it is) threatens them. Sorrow that people are so small and scared that "Other" scares them.
That. That is what the banners fear. That our kids will discover empathy. That they'll realize the US has a very checkered history, but—as I tell the Minions—we can make it better. It's our job to make it better. We can make it fairer. We can simply love others and realize their differences make us a stronger country. The banners don't want us to realize that our color, our religion, or sexual identity, our country of origin, our... They're all just facets of who we are. They're what makes us who we are. And who we are is absolutely perfect.
So, buy banned books. Read banned books. And even more importantly, read banned books with your kids. Make sure they have a diverse collection of books to read. Teach them to see all the diversity in the world...and realize how beautiful it is. Teach them about the troubled moments in our country's past...and present. But teach them they can make it better. They can help America live up to our ideals.
Holly
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A View to a Kiln: A Harry's Pottery Mystery
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Have you missed any of my Hometown Hearts series? Here's the list:
Something Unexpected: A Hometown Hearts short story
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A Hometown Christmas: Hometown Hearts #8
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I agree 100%. History will repeat itself again and again if we can’t read it for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteThat's just it.
DeleteWhen I was in 6th grade, my teacher told us that he had found "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in our school library and that he was warning us to avoid it. Naturally, the first thing I did was to make a point to check it out of the library. Needless to say, I've never been good at being told what to do and what not to do, except by my parents. (When my husband and I were getting married, I even told the minister that I would agree to love, honor, and listen to reason but that I would not make a vow to blindly obey. Fortunately, he said he didn't even include "obey" in his services.) Anyway, as the year progressed, I came to the conclusion that warning us off the book was his way of making us cu rious about it without getting in any trouble with our parents by being accused of telling us to check it out. He remains one of my favorite teachers. The book -- not so much, but I was still glad I'd read it. He read us The Hobbit that year, complete with character voices. I still remember his rendition of Gollum saying, "My preciousssssss!" I remember his teaching penmanship, during which he'd pass our desks and make suggestions for improvements or praise our efforts until he got to one particular student with really terrible penmanship. When he reached him, he reached down, pulled his paper out of his notebook and wadded it up, and said, "Start again!" He was tough but fair, and he made learning fun. I can't imagine banned books, although some school systems are doing just that. The only way to avoid the atrocities and errors of the past is to learn about it and know about so that we can do better.
DeleteThose kind of teachers are the ones that stay with us. He sounds amazing. And you know I love his reading choice! And yes, learning about what we did wrong in the past makes us better now. I'm so sad about this new wave of censorship. I'm with you...I try to listen to reason, but don't do orders well! LOL
DeleteHe also warned us against Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye".
ReplyDeleteI do think I'd have loved him! LOL
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