Dear Ms.
Berner,
November 11, 2013
I have received word that you have been
considering banning books in 6th grade libraries. I do not believe that you should do
this. I believe that banning these books is a form of censorship, a violation of our first amendment
rights, by prejudice. I think that if you stop the 6th graders from reading a
book, because of someone else’s beliefs, they will be less prepared for the real
world. I believe children along with their parents should decide what they should and shouldn't read, despite how disturbing a book may be. Only parents and their kids really know whether they are ready to handle a particular
subject. I believe that there are valuable life lessons to be learned, and understood from reading certain books, and many children want to have the freedom to read them.
To begin with, books are challenged because they have
topics that are considered inappropriate, such as drugs, death, and sex. Adults try to ban books with these things in them because they believe that
young adults shouldn’t be exposed to such harsh topics. People
also ban books because they feel that they violate their religion or their
beliefs. I feel that this is unfair because not everyone has the same beliefs.
Many books are written for a
purpose. There is usually a valuable lesson to be learned from the book.
The article, "'Sick-lit'? Evidently young adult fiction is too complex for the Daily Mail" by Michelle Pauli, states, “Children and
teens – well, all of us really – read to explore and experience other lives and
thoughts and situations in a safe way, not purely for escapism and adventures
and fantasy”. This is definitely true for me. For example, a
commonly banned book, “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green, is challenged
because of the tough topic of cancer, and death. I really enjoyed this
book, because I felt like it would help me tackle real-life situations.
It taught me about love, friendship, and family in midst of the horrible
situation they were in. Even though I haven't experienced these problems specifically, I can still relate to it because I know what it is like to go through difficult situations and I believe it will help me handle situations in the future. Most banned books have a lesson to be learned
that will help prepare readers for these tough issues in their own lives.
If people try to censor books, they aren’t
allowing the author to choose his words, and authors choose to use certain
words on purpose, no matter how harsh they may be. Some people want to
change the words, and I feel like they shouldn’t be able to do that.
There are already organizations that regulate author’s content. Writers
of children and teen books, have to adhere to
certain rules of conduct. “They
also adhere to codes of suitability around the three Ss – swearing, shagging
and slaughter – to a much greater extent than writers in other forms of media
regularly consumed by teens.” states Michelle Pauli in her article "'Sick-lit'? Evidently young adult
fiction is too complex for the Daily Mail". Further editing by prejudice and judgmental people is not
only a violation of the constitution, but it is just plain wrong. Come
on, when they are banning Captain Underpants, a hilarious children’s book, it
is getting ridiculous. According to the article "Why ‘Captain
Underpants’ Is The Most Banned Book In America" by Pamela Engel, when the
first book of the series came out, there was a Sturgeon General’s Warning that
said, "Some material in this book may be considered offensive by
people who don't wear underwear.” It received other criticism because the main character was flying around in his underwear. What kind of message are we telling kids about their bodies, when we can’t see a comic character flying around in a
cape and his underwear? Who didn’t do this as a kid in his or her own
bedroom? And I haven’t seen one kid come to school in his underwear, so it
doesn’t affect them in that way. Books like these, we can relate to, and
they are funny.
In conclusion, please do not ban books because reading different kinds of books including ones with
tough topics such as sex, depression, death, and illness, all issues that we
are going to face eventually, help prepare us for life. The books soften
the blow, because they are not real life, yet.
Sincerely,
Louis Celi
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