Read Any Good Books Lately?

The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger
To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee
Beloved- Toni Morrison
1984- George Orwell
Their Eyes Were Watching God- Zora Neale Hurston
Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison
Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Mark Twain
A Separate Peace- John Knowles
The Chocolate War- Robert Cormier
The Giver- Lois Lowry
A Wrinkle in Time- Madeline L'Engle

Do you know what the above books have in common? Aside from all being classics, they all have been frequently challenged and targeted for removal from libraries.

Just look at the list. Can you imagine American culture, literature classes, and libraries without these texts? I certainly don't want to even think about teaching American literature without discussing Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby or Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, two of my all-time favorite novels.

Thankfully, American society does not leave it up to individuals or to the government to determine what should or should not be published. I will freely admit that my husband and I closely monitor the television that our children watch, the music they listen to, the movies they see, and the books they read. As parents, we strongly feel that we, not some amorphous government body, are responsible for teaching them about the world in bits that are not too advanced or mature for their ages. While I am not going to hand Lois Lowry's The Giver to a third grader, I will readily discuss it, with its setting of a dystopian society which manipulates every aspect of its citizens' lives including their sexual desires with my seventh grade daughter, and in high school she and I will also read and discuss Orwell's 1984, which extends the themes of The Giver. Even though I don't support tweens reading books with sexual themes, I certainly believe that we should value all literature and don't support banning books based on my or anyone else's personal opinion.

As a society, we must be willing to openly discuss issues, not cut each other off without calmly sharing our views. I'll never forget witnessing an audience member's reactions to a performance of To Kill a Mockingbird many years ago. You may remember that Harper Lee's classic novel is set in a racist southern society. When I saw the play, an older gentleman became so unsettled by the racist setting in the beginning of the play that he stormed out of the play loudly saying how inappropriate it was. If the gentleman had only stayed, he would have witnessed the play openly address racism. In other words, we can't jump so quickly to personal conclusions about literature that we fail to see the larger themes embraced by the works. While I do not like Twain's use of the n-word in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I believe that its use in the novel offers an opportunity for readers to ponder the importance of avoiding racially-charged speech.

As Americans, we frequently take our rights for granted. When I taught U.S. History to fifth graders, students were always amazed to learn that many countries do not enjoy the freedoms which are enumerated in our Bill of Rights. Banning books based on a particular person or group's opinion places society on a slippery slope of government intervention and control. While I may not like or agree with some books, music, television shows, or movies, I'd much rather live with them than live in a country which censors its citizens and their freedoms. As Evelyn Beatrice Hall wrote in 1906's The Friends of Voltaire, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

September 26th- October 3rd marks Banned Books Week. Celebrate your freedom and our rights as Americans by reading a banned book. For more information about frequently challenged and banned books, check out http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm.

Self-Indulgent Summer Reading

Aaaahhh....Summer.....I have really been looking forward to summer break this year and perhaps enjoying a bit of self-indulgence during the sweltering heat.

Aside from schlepping Curly Girl and Car Guy to and from swim practice and their other activities, I plan to exercise, write, and read.

I'm most excited about engaging in more reading time this summer and what better time is there to read than when lounging by the pool?? Car Guy is finally swimming well enough that I can actually sit in a chair by the pool, instead of having to be in the water with him- yea!!!!! Don't laugh; he spent the entire summer when he was three decorating the pool deck with a paintbrush dipped in water. You don't know how thrilled I am that he can finally swim a lap with a legal stroke.

Everyone in our family loves to read, but to add a bit more excitement this summer, our crew is embarking on our Family Summer Reading Contest. (Thank you very much for the idea, Melanie.) The rules are simple: You get one point for each book you complete during June, July, and August. Whoever has the most points at the end of August gets a $20 gift card to a store/ restaurant of their choice. (I tossed in "restaurant" just in case I can weasel an evening at The Melting Pot out of this.)

Assigning one point per completed book seems to be the fairest thing for everyone involved. Car Guy has just started reading chapter books on his own and will probably focus on Magic Tree House books this summer. Even though his books are shorter, it takes him longer to read them. Curly Girl reads voraciously, but tends to stop and start books without always finishing them. Having a stack of half-read books lying around drives me absolutely crazy, so I am hoping that assigning points for books finished, not pages read, will light a fire under Curly Girl to complete what she begins.

My guess is that one of the kids will win the contest, but I'm at least going to try to beat them. I'm currently compiling my list of books in which I want to indulge. It includes classics I've never read (Cervantes's Don Quixote), rereading favorites from long ago (James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man), some non-fiction selections (Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea), popular books that I just haven't taken the time to read (Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl), and some chick lit and maybe a trashy romance or two for some super-fluffy summer reading.

So here are my questions: If you had to recommend just one book for someone to read, what would it be? Also, what books are on your summer reading list?