Picture by Clarita
The funny thing about doing research before you write your blog is that you get sidetracked.
Today I am writing about banned books. The week that spotlights book some groups of people try to hide from the rest of us starts on the 25th. So I thought I would look over one list. Then I checked out the ALA list.
The usual suspects were there. Judy Blume, J.D. Salinger, Henry Miller, Mark Twain, and D. H. Lawrence.
I found the Harry Potter series and Shel Silverstein. Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, The Portrait of Dorian Grey and The Diary of Anne Frank. The last one was banned because the subject matter was found to be a real downer.
Which tends to happen when the subject matter is the Holocaust and the author/main character dies at the end.
But then I saw books on the list that made me curious. Where’s Waldo and Little House in the Big Woods. These are on the banned books list. So I decided to dig a little. What I found out is that some people have taken offense to things that are said about Indians in the Little House series.
Picture from Barnes and Noble.com
I will grant people that. Mrs. Wilder repeats what she heard as a child that “the only good Indian is a dead one.” But you have to continue reading to find her father saying that there are good ones and bad ones just like any other group. Plus, he regularly talked to the Indians wherever they lived to help with easy co-existence. Finally, in The Long Hard Winter it is an old Indian who warns the settlers about the incoming winter that will be vicious.
Context, it is all about context whether it is Mrs. Wilder’s work or Mark Twain’s or Ralph Ellison’s. Sometimes words and phrases are used to show the wrongness of belief systems and actions. If we choose to be offended by the words but not the context or the meaning, we are missing out on something bigger that four-, five- or six-letter word.
When something is wrong you have to name it to point out what is wrong. Name it, describe it, and show the wrong thing for what it is. Sometimes in bloody, gory detail. What do these authors get? Banned because they said it.
But what about Waldo, you ask?
Picture from Barnes and Noble.com
The children’s book that asks you to find the real Waldo in a sea of imposters got itself on the list because of what someone found on a beach. Apparently, there is a woman sunbathing with her top off in a beach scene. One web site stated they have not been able to find her – ever.
So this week I am continuing reading Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger. I will encourage my kids to read the Goosebumps and Narnia series. And I encourage you to find a book on the Banned Book list to read. After all, how will you know why the book was banned if you do not read it in the first place?
Wow! My sons loves Where’s Waldo so it struck me funny that it would be banned. Thanks for sharing.
So now I am wondering if I have the offending picture in my book collection. Thanks for stopping by.
While cleaning the basement I happened to find the first book in the Waldo series. I hunted through the beach scene and found a little girl with her top off. While the women were dressed I thought the bikini tops were a little low. But the women were covered.
Wow, I can’t believe some of those books on the banned list and the lame reasons for the ban! My mouth dropped open! You’re right, it’s all about context, people! I can think of one certain book, a pretty big one, that is taken out of context every day, and people use its power to control others. Hmm, I am going to do just what you suggested and pick a book on that banned list I haven’t read yet. Thank you for the awareness!
That is so true although I purposely did not mention that book. Just the chapter on Jezebel is enough to turn one’s stomach.
How times change from when we grew up. I loved each of the books that have been mentioned.
I didn’t mention To Kill A Mockingbird or Uncle Tom’s Cabin. there were so many that seemed ridiculous and sad that someone would want to ban them. Thanks for stopping by.;-)
Great post and thanks for getting side-tracked. It sounds like the banned choices are just an excuse to not have to learn from the perspectives of others.
Wow! Now I admit there are a few on that list that I would not want to see in my kids school library (ahem….Rice’s Sleeping Beauty), but as far as community librarys go…………
Harriet the Spy, Silverstein, Little House, Seriously??? At this moment I’m proud to say I’ve read many of the books on that list and several of them are on my bookshelf waiting for my kids to take a turn.
I was surprised to see Grimm Fairy Tales on the list. Although, if you read the original versions they are quite violent.
I’m here from 4Mothers, and thought you might want to know that we’re actually going to talk about banned books this coming week. Each of the four of us weigh in on what we think about the issue. I don’t know what the others will be writing yet, but come visit – we’d love to hear your point of view there.
I will be there and thanks for stopping by.
Wow! My dad used to read us the Cronicles of Narnia and the Little House on the Prarie series when we were kids, one chapter a night. We got all the Waldo books from the library, I am shocked and saddened.
Me, too. I grew up loving the Little House books. That is why we need to keep reading them.
I agree that things have to be named to be called out as wrong…of all the things to ban…Little house on the prairie?!
I also get frustrated when people want to rewrite history using today’s sensitivities…I don’t mean that things like slavery or mistreatment of native Americans was right or should be viewed as excusable just because these things happened a long time ago…but language changes, certainly our natioinal sensitivities have changed, and I think we need to be mature enough to recognize that some words used long ago were acceptable then because society was different, views were different…we have to realize that books written in another century are going to read somewhat differently than something written last week.
Good post! Sheila
I think it becomes a matter of “the word” being more important than the context it was used. I can’t remember if people were upset by the depiction of the Indian in the “Flag of our Fathers” movie by Clint Eastwood. That was not flattering but it was true.