My daughter throws all of the books off of our giant bookcases on a regular basis and I’m always reshelving. A couple of weeks ago, my husband spotted this book on the floor after one of her tirades and he laughed. “Why would you want to teach a banned book?” he asked in a puzzled though amused tone. I stared at him as if he were a completely ignorant alien from outer space and explained that bans on books are often arbitrary and that it’s more important to help guide young readers through these often challenged texts so they can grow and learn from them. With that, he seemed content, especially when I started mouthing off some books that he’s familiar with that have been banned in the past (and/or are still banned in some school districts), such as Harry Potter, A Wrinkle in Time, The Outsiders, Lord of the Flies, and even Where’s Waldo?.

Though I had taken his question as an attack on First Amendment rights, he may have been questioning why I own the book in the first place. See, I’m not a teacher. I’m not a reading specialist or a librarian. I don’t even work with kids. Right now, I’m a stay-at-home mom raising a toddler. But I used to work at a children’s book review magazine and I still freelance for them. I’ve gotten well acquainted with book challenges and censorship during my on and off eight years working there. In some cases, if school districts don’t have a book challenge policy in place, a book can be removed without question from the library’s shelves with just one parent’s complaint. When I saw this book several years ago, I knew I better hold onto it. I planned at that time to get my master’s in library science and figured I’d one day cross paths with a distressed parent. And even if I didn’t, I wanted to be able to sing the glories of some of my favorite children’s books to the children I’d one day be working with.

NUTS AND BOLTS
As the subtitle indicates, there are 12 teacher’s guides in this 134-page paperback. All are geared for middle graders and include a 2-3 page plot summary of the banned book in question, about two pages of discussion questions/topics, a page of activities, and 2-3 pages of additional books that could be tied into the lesson.

The first lesson guide is slightly longer and doesn’t cover a particular book. Instead, it deals with teaching the First Amendment. The discussion topics range from examining the difference between a book challenge and censorship to interpreting a quote. For instance: “Interpret the following quote by Oscar Wilde: ‘The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.’” That’s pretty thought provoking no matter what your age. The activities for this chapter range from conducting a poll about whether/why adults feel scary stories are bad for children to writing a tribute to deceased Justice William Joseph Brennan, who ruled in favor of students’ rights on the Board of Education vs. Pico censorship case in the 1980s.

The books that are covered in the following lesson plans are all fairly well known by avid children’s book readers. Judy Blume’s Places I Never Meant to Be, a compilation of short stories by various censored writers, and Blubber are included. Brock Cole’s The Goats, Robert Lipsyte’s “Summer Trilogy” (One Fat Summer, Summer Rules, and The Summerboy), and Suzanne Newton’s I Will Call It Georgie’s Blues are also covered. Five of the books discussed have won the Newbery Medal: Mildred D. Taylor’s Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia; Lois Lowry’s The Giver; Jean Craighead George’s Julie of the Wolves; and James and Christopher Collier’s My Brother Sam Is Dead. Christopher Paul Curtis’s Newbery Honor-winning The Watsons Go to Birmingham� is also discussed in a chapter. The books span the 70s, 80s, and 90s, with Blume’s 2001 Places I Never Meant to Be being the most recently published. All have endured banning. Scales provides recommended age levels for each book as well as the year it was first published, the publisher’s name, and the page count. The book ends with a fairly extensive bibliography and a well-organized index that includes titles and authors of all books mentioned, even those in passing, as well as some general phrases like “book challenges.”

I believe this book retails for around $30. It costs slightly less for members of the American Library Association.

READING ENCOURAGES THINKING AND “THINKERS ARE LESS LIKELY TO BECOME CENSORS”
Pat Scales is a librarian on a mission. Don’t expect this book to pacify those who challenge books. She believes that the First Amendment applies to everyone and children need exposure to books and Web sites that give them a clear picture of the real world. She argues that it’s not the job of educators to dilute facts, but to use them as an opportunity to teach and expand children’s experience.

Scales is one of the eminent figures at the American Library Association (ALA) working to promote intellectual freedom. She won the Intellectual Freedom Award in 1983 and has served on numerous awards committees. She has been a librarian for over 30 years and has taught children’s literature at Furman University almost as long. Her background and her desire to promote the reading of all books might make you think that her writing would be either sugary or scathing. It is neither.

MY THOUGHTS
Though I don’t plan on becoming a teacher and I’m wavering on my library science degree, I am a parent who encourages my child to read. With that role comes a responsibility to teach and guide my daughter as she grows up so that she’ll understand what she’s reading and be encouraged to learn from the issues she encounters.

I think this book is wonderful for that purpose. It’s certainly not comprehensive with its 12 guides, but it does address those 12 topics/books well. I’ve learned a lot from this book. I wondered, for instance, what the big fuss over Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia was. To me, it seemed like a harmless book that combined innocent exploration of imagination with real-life pain and ended with sibling bonding. What could be wrong with that? Apparently, that book has been challenged on the basis of “offensive language,” “disrespect of adults,” and being “an elaborate fantasy world that might lead to confusion.” Though Scales doesn’t go into depth about these accusations, she asks readers and their students to discuss those aspects of the story and come their own conclusions.

This is the case for all of the books she discusses. There isn’t a section that explicitly relates why the books were/are challenged and how to defend them. Instead, the issues are raised in passing through the discussion questions and activities. For me, that’s a little disappointing since I’m very curious about the why of some of these bans and would’ve liked to be able to quickly access that information.

Still, this book provides a lot of guidance for teachers, librarians, parents, and students and will come in handy when discussing these often banned books.

Though I wouldn’t call her tone neutral, she does do a good job of promoting education over the politics of the issues. So there isn’t any ranting or raving about how anyone could possibly ban such a wonderful book as [fill in the blank]. Instead, this is a book filled with educational tips on encouraging kids to read and think. In fact, it's all very readable. The plot summaries are thorough and give a good feel for what the original texts are about. Though I’ve read half of these books, I didn’t remember a lot of the details and the summaries really helped jog my memory. In particular, the description of Blubber, which I read more than 20 years ago, really brought back a lot of the choked-up feelings that book about taunting inspired. The discussion topics are varied and seem like they’d work for an even larger audience than the middle grade educators and parents that Scales is targeting.


Teaching Banned Books: 12 Guides for Young Readers
Written by Pat R. Scales
Published by ALA Editions in 2001
ISBN 0-8389-0807-1

This review has been part of pestyside's Banned Book Week write-off.

Here is a useful link to a resource on anti-censorship put together by the National Council of Teachers of English that may come in handy in conjunction with this book or others like it. http://www.ncte.org/about/issues/censorship


Recommended: Yes