Arkansas Parent files complaint about 70 ‘sexually explicit’ books in school libraries

gypsy librarian says:

The 70 books?
I hate to be cynical, but if the parent in question found them on a “personal audit,” it sounds like she was going on a fishing expedition and looking for a fight, so to speak. Looking at the list, I see Judy Blume, which gets challenged anyhow, and Palahniuk, also known (or better know to some readers) for _Fight Club_. The article states she has been concerned previously over explicit books being available to minors without parental consent. To which I answer that it is laudable that as a parent she wants to be aware and regulate her children, but to which I say she has no right to regulate what I read, or anyone else for that matter. I do agree that people should be able to object to a book and have an “objective” review panel review the request, but the more I read about this, the more it seems like someone with an ax to grind, which lowers the credibility. Not to mention it implies young people are not smart enough to decide what they may or not read. I would be interested to see the rest of the list.

gypsy librarian says:

Re:Letter to the editor
I definitely agree with the commenter’s observation. Very often, or most of the time, those that complain about a book have not even read it. More often then not they hear some quote or passage out of context from someone else who heard it from someone else, and then they get the urge to go complain. It is a perfect example of hearsay. I have no problem with an individual deciding based on their values a book is not for them, but they should not be trying to dictate for a whole community. And, if they feel the need to complain anyways, they should at least read the work(s) in question and have a thorough understanding, not just go on the word of some other person who likely did not read it either. Indeed, let us hope the school does not cave in to this blatant effort at censorship. By the way, the story is featured again in the latest issue of the NCTE’s Inbox Newsletter. I think you can find it on the NCTE.org website (I get it on e-mail, so sorry for not linking). At any rate, people who believe in freedom of intellect and reading should be denouncing those censors at every turn. Robert Heinlein once said this. He was referring to governments, but it applies very much to any group or organization seeking to suppress reading. He said, in If This Goes On, “When any government. . .undertakes to say to its subjects, ‘This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,’ the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives.” I keep that quote nearby to remind me that people who want to banish knowledge need to be denounced and countered at every turn. They represent nothing more than another form of tyranny.