Catcher In The Rye Banned

The Grapes of Wrath. The Catcher in the Rye. The Diary of Anne Frank. The Scarlet Letter. The Great Gatsby. These literary classics have been vital to the education of many, especially for the children and adolescents. Unfortunately, these books along with other novels have been banned at one point from school shelves even though they teach important values and educate children about world affairs and classic themes. In this essay, I will write as to why public schools should unban these book as well as stop banning them because it is an infringement of the First Amendment, education should be open to everyone, and that parents should be responsible and monitor what their own child reads but not have the authority to ban books to where other children can’t read them.

An example of a difficult topic that some books handle, is homosexuality. Books like "Heather Has Two Mommies," by Leslea Newman and "Daddy's Roommate" by Michael Willhoite (both books written for youth with gay parents) were banned because they talked about homosexuality, an issue that some parents want to tell their children themselves or not tell them at all. Although it is a valid argument, it is only dancing around the big picture. One of the reasons why schools ban books is so that they can protect the children and their innocence, but by doing so, it is just preventing the child from learning about these uncomfortable topics. This act of prohibiting books is just the parents way of evading the conservation with their child about these sensitive topics. The books listed earlier were banned because they informed the child about homosexuality. Homosexuality and other touchy issues are a part of everyday life, and by banning the books so that children can’t learn about these issues is not helping