Banning Books Should Be Banned

Banned Books

Think about the latest book you read. Was it scary? Funny? Dramatic? Now think about it in more depth. Did it seem offensive to you? Use bad language? Or talk about tough situations? You could be easily reading a book that many people in the world want banished. “Reading is the key to future success; it builds vocabulary, it enriches the imagination, and it opens new worlds.” (Book Banning 50) Books have been around for thousands of years, and they help us develop our writing skills as a nation. No book is safe from the judgemental people in our world today. Even the most innocent books still get challenged or banned for the silliest reasons. Reading is supposed to be entertaining, or a hobby for certain people. We shouldn’t have to “tip-toe” around certain books, because they are “not suitable for our society.” We should be able to read what we want, even if others don’t like it. However as Sarah Yung mentions in her article, “Local Ban on Books Stirs up Controversy on Censorship,” “Some people attempt to look on the bright side of book banning: claiming that, at the very least, banning awards those books attention from their intended deprived audiences.” (Yung 1) This is not what censors want, they think banning books is better

for people.

However the book, “Banned Books” states, “Banning books usually has the opposite effect desired by censors; it makes the book more popular.” (Banned Books 76) Banning a book is only going to make people want to

read it more. People get more curious when something is restricted or kept secret. Banned books are likely to get more attention than non banned ones.
In our world today, people tend to overreact to what they read in books. We quickly jump to conclusions about everything we read and often time we act without thinking. Authors for young children do not set out to isolate or humiliate one group of people. However according to Banned Book Awareness Week, “Many entertaining, informative, and seemingly innocuous books, from “Winnie the Pooh” to “Harry Potter” to “Little Women,” have been challenged for reasons as absurd as piglet being offensive to Muslims, promotion of witchcraft, and not being feminist enough, respectively.” (Yung 1) None of these stories were specially meant to displease the public. They were written to share the wonderful world of literature with other people. These are innocent stories that are supposed to be loved and shared, no author wants this kind of publicity. A.A. Milne, J.K. Rowling, and Louisa May Alcott don’t deserve to have such such silly challenges on books they worked very hard on for a long period of time. For example, Harry Potter’s champions argue that, “The series is teaching kids strong positive values, they include trust, loyalty, friendship, and standing up for what’s right.” (Dell 27) In the wizarding world of Harry Potter, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who are the main protagonists, head to Hogwarts. At the wizard school, they must face many evil villains and creatures who they must defeat. It is a series full of true courage and friendship. They meet at school as strangers, but through working together as a team they all become really great friends. That is the message J.K. Rowling wanted to give across in her “Harry Potter Series.” Through friendship and teamwork, and a lot of courage you can tackle any challenge thrown your way. Some schools tend to overreact to certain books in their libraries. For example, Venado Middle School in Irvine CA, decided rather than banning the book “Fahrenheit 451” they utilized an expurgated version of the text in which all the “hells” and “damns” were blacked out.” (Banned Books That Shaped America 2) Normally an author will put bad words into a story, because that’s what fits the book best. If you remove all the bad words not only are you making a big deal out of it, but you're also ruining the story. Authors don’t add bad words randomly they add them, because that’s what connects best with the story. Authors shouldn’t have words scratched out of their books just because their “bad.” We need to not focus on the language, but the story and message of the book. Also founding fathers of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, “If all printers were determined not to print anything until they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” (Banned Books 34) In our current time people will find anything to get worked up about that they read. Nothing out there is completely, 100%, free of anything offensive or hurtful. There are too many things that books books can be flagged for, racism, sexism, or offending certain people. Our world will stop at nothing to find one little detail of a book and create a big deal out of it, when more than likely it wasn’t intended that way at all. We are very quick to immediately call out something that we don’t like, however it is not okay to ban a book for something slightly offensive. Anyone, Anytime, Anyplace can find one aspect of a book to get angry about, but in the end you have to ask yourself. Did the author really intended it to mean this?

In our generation, teens do not read nearly as much as they should. With all the new technology we have, very few of us will put down our electronics to pick up a book. Youtube over rules libraries nowadays, and hardly any teens read for “fun.” A Common Sense Media study last year showed that, “45 percent of 17-year-olds only read once or twice in a year for their own enjoyment.” (Breslin 1) Teens and Children are starting to forget about the joy brought through reading a book. Not only is it fun and exciting, but reading helps improve your vocabulary and use of grammar. Banning more books and not allowing kids to read them is restricting their reading choices even more. Since they are already struggling to read if you take away some of their choices then soon the 45% that do actually read for fun is going to drop. Many books are limited to younger children, because of the language they contain. However Liz Breslin, author of “Banning a Novel Won’t Help Teens With Real Life” states, “Teenagers and kids already know that bad words exist, and writing a world where they don’t may be one reason that people are turned off by the reading experience.” (Breslin 1) People think that they are protecting kids from not letting them read bad words, and they think it’s better to wait until their older to know these things. When really it’s not, if kids are want to read books with bad language then who has the right to stop them? If one book has an excellent plot and storyline then it shouldn’t be banned just because it has a few words. If we really are the mature society we think we are, then shouldn’t we learn to move past the bad language, and focus on the better aspects of the book? Futhermore, age requirements for books is a long, debated topic, and it’s changed and morphed over the years. Many great stories are limited to certain age groups because of mature content and language. Though perhaps, as Sarah Yung said in her article, “Local Ban on Books Stirs up Controversy on Censorship”, “Who really has the authority to say a 12-year-old is too immature to read such things as drastic as the inevitability of death? What if they have experienced bereavement in their life, and their merely searching for relatable situations within the pages of novels? What gives one group the right to assert their opinion of a literary piece above the rest?” (Yung 1) No one really has the authority to ban a book for the entire public, or even just for a school district. Reading a book is a thing you can do without having to put much thought into it. You can relate to the words on the pages without even having to talk to anyone. How at all is it okay for someone to take that away? People always ask me, “What’s your favorite book?” and I normally respond with, “I don’t have one.” The fact is that it’s true, because there is so many different genres and themes out there. It’s not fair to compare them. All authors are different, and they all write uniquely in a style that defines them. Some people write “the books” that make adults feel uncomfortable, books that they worry about kids reading. In reality, these are the kinds of books that most kids enjoy. Kids like to know what is going on in the world, without much sugar coating. Kids don’t need to be “protected” from these types of books. It’s better to read uncomfortable books at a younger age and not grow up dancing around the uncomfortable topics.