I got the idea after reading this book:
I don't remember what it was that got me reading that book, but I felt obligated. I read it. I loved it. I knew that it was on "The List" (meaning the banned/challenged books list) and thought that, especially today with all the media bullying is getting, and just how awful the bullying problem is, that middle schoolers and high schoolers should read this book. The book gave such a great lesson and was written with such conviction and reality that I thought it would do people good to read it. I wonder what other books people may be afraid of that are actually fantastic and poignant and can teach me a lesson about life and how to live it?
I know!
I'll read down the list of the most challenged books of the last decade! Brilliant!
But I don't want to do it alone. Who will I talk to in order to discuss how wonderful or awful the books are and talk about why they were banned and perhaps get a good debate going? Also, how can i drum up support for local libraries?
Ah Ha! Shout out on Facebook! Now I have a great group that discusses books in an intelligent and very cool manner and checks them out at their various libraries. Win and win. Best part is, they don't have to live by me. Some of them do, but some of them don't. It is completely virtual. Another tip of the hat to technology.
Our first book was Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. I was excited to read the book. I had heard about it, it has been on the list since it was published and people just generally get nervous and upset when the book is around. Perfect. I want to know what it is that gets their knickers in a wad.
A cursory glance at why it has been challenged (I always give the members of the group a heads up, so if they feel they don't want to read it, guess what? I make them. *Just kidding. They don't have to if that don't want to* Just wanted to put a little irony in there) lists that the book was reviled for racial slurs, vulgar and offensive language and sacrilegious reasons. That's a good start for me. It's got everything but homosexuals (which really gets people riled up, but we'll get to the gay agenda later).
So we read the book. It is quite a short book. I read it in a span of a couple of days. The consensus of the group?.......it was depressing. HA! No mention of the language, no mention of racial slurs, no mention of sac-religiousness. Just "wow, those characters were sad, lonely and that book was depressing". Love it. Interestingly enough, the bulk of the conversation centered around Curley's wife and how insignificant she was and felt and how badly she wanted to be someone else and somewhere else and how she loved to create drama and how naive and misunderstood her character was. It was a great start.
Now, the gay agenda:
This book has more controversy surrounding it than...well...I don't know. It's pretty controversial. And Tango Makes Three is Undesirable #1.
See those two penguins? Yeah, they are both males. See that adorable little fuzzy baby penguin? That is their adopted baby. The two males raised that penguin as their own.
Some of the controversy surrounding the book:
Candi Cushman from Focus on the Family Action swears that the book is pushing a gay political agenda on to small children. (I'll let you think about that for a minute...kinda hurts your head, doesn't it?)
In Shiloh, Illinois, some parents of students at Shiloh Elementary School requested in November 2006 that the book be placed in a restricted section of the library and for the school to require parental permission prior to checking the book out. The school's superintendent resolved instead to keep the book freely available.
In Charlotte, North Carolina, Peter Gorman, the superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, ordered the book removed from school libraries on December 20, 2006. Gorman agreed to let a committee review the decision due to concerns that the policy on challenging books was not followed.
In Calvert County, Maryland near Washington, D.C. a mother requested that the book be removed from the children's section and placed in an area specifically for books about "alternative or non-traditional families." The library board of trustees denied the request, concluding that libraries should disseminate information fairly and without bias or judgment. Shortly thereafter, in November 2008, the Calvert County Library Board of Trustees heard another challenge to the book. A parent, describing the book as presenting issues of sexuality to children too young to understand them, asked that the book be removed from the library, shelved with adult books on sexuality, or marked with a "red dot" to alert parents to its controversial nature. The parent charged that the book's statement that penguins Roy and Silo "slept together" is a reference to sexual behavior between the birds.
After the case in Calvert County, Maryland ACLU got involved. So this book was PERFECT! What Of Mice and Men lacked in controversy, And Tango Makes Three definitely made up for.
And the conversation did not disappoint. We had an intelligent and divided conversation about the book. There are people of different lifestyles and religions in the group and I was totally impressed with what everyone had to say. The members talked about as being mothers what they would want for their children regarding the book, but as for telling other people, what right did that have? Yeah, they think it is inappropriate, BUT know that they don't have a right to tell someone else that it is. It was great! Faith in humanity restored (that may be an overstatement). I may be updating from time to time on conversations we have, the books we read or just basic intellectual freedom news.
I know I'm not consistent, but I'll try to humor you a little more often, if you'll humor me.
Peace out!
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