Banned Book Week

It's a little late in the week, but better late than never. It is banned book week.

Here's the list of the 100 most challenged books

I've read 25 of them, including all the Harry Potter books, but just one of the Goosebumps books.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is probably my favorite book of all time. Of Mice and Men is another favorite. Flowers for Algernon is one of the few books that's actually brought me to tears.

Whenever somebody challenges Huck, it makes me laugh, but it also makes me sad. Generally, they object to the racism and the racist language in the story. But if they'd actually read the book, one of the most important passages in the book comes when Huck comes to the realization that he'd rather judge Jim by merits rather than his color.

It's also got one of the funniest scenes in all of literature, when Tom and Huck want to stage a grand prison escape for Jim, but in order to accomplish this, they break Jim out of his makeshift jail in order to round up all the materials necessary.

The irony, to me, is that the people that challenge these books (especially in the state of Tennessee), are the people that generally aren't even capable of reading books on the level of a Toni Morrison or a J.D. Salinger, or even a J.K. Rowling.

Go read one of the books. Or better yet! If you have a school age child, read the book with your school age child! It'll piss an ignorant Bible Belter off, especially if you check the book out of a school or public library.

Personally, I think if these people spent a little more time at home parenting their children and a little less time ranting in public forums about why Harry Potter is of the Devil, we'd be doing a little better as a society than we are now.

Links seen at a Moveable Beast and at A Perfectly Cromulent Blog.