Goodnight Moon…

Whether sparking curiosity, laughter, tears, or inspiration, books are unquestionably powerful. And within young minds that are constantly growing and exploring, their influence is uniquely transformative. When the power of books invokes fear, the resulting efforts to regulate children’s literary content can range from practical to absurd.


Of course, there are definitely times when a book is banned and leaves you with one question: why? There were books like Tropic of Cancer which was sexually over the top for society back in the 1900’s but when some books today are banned, it frankly makes most of us want to laugh. In fact, the entire catalog of banned children’s books is extensive with popular works like Little Red Riding Hood, Harriet the Spy, Junie B. Jones, Captain Underpants and a favorite of mine, Goodnight Moon. All show up on the list for all sorts of creative reasons but, sadly, some book bans are harmful in targeted ways.


The modern book banning process begins with a challenge, a documented request to restrict or remove materials. Any individual or group can initiate a challenge, but more often than not, they come from parents. Book challenges are directed at either a library, a school, or a bookstore. That institution then takes the request into consideration, and if they decide to remove the material from shelves, the book is considered banned. Most bans occur in public libraries and reflect concerns over content being inappropriate, portraying certain industries in a negative light, or including topics too mature for the target age group. But increasingly, that label of inappropriate is being used to censor books that detail the experiences of marginalized communities.


Literature is powerful and good books are often banned because people want society to move in a direction which reflects their own opinions and interests. Yes, it’s always about control over what children are exposed to but also focused on the infulences which are allowed into communities as a whole. That underlying fear of negative influences and a desire to protect the innocence of children is understandable but book banks sweep away opportunities for children to learn, grow, and understand themselves and the world around them.


Such censorship violates the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, some limitations are constitutionally permissible. The courts have told public officials at all levels that they may take community standards into account when deciding whether materials are obscene or pornographic and thus subject to censor. The religious community often believes certain books contain unsuitable topics for children to read and, over the years, have successfully banned books from schools because relgious beliefs go agains the fact that animals in some books talk.’


Both localized and limited in scope, book bans often open alternate ways for children to access censored material. But the fact that most challenges take place at public libraries creates inequity. Children with the most limited access to books are the ones most impacted by their removal from library shelves. Diverse perspectives allow individuals to see themselves and to understand the world around them. So when book banning targets underrepresented authors and topics that are important for marginalized populations, the impact is significant.


A diverse selection of literature in a classroom environment can help explain so many complex and layered real world issues. Carefully tailored instruction for different grade levels doesn’t require the omission of important topics that impact children and their communities. The recent nationwide controversy over critical race theory in curriculum mirrors the problems with book banning; classrooms need to encourage critical thinking and develop children who can tackle the social and environmental issues of present day times. Exposure to a variety of literature is crucial.

Banning books means more than simply taking them off the shelf: such actions threaten the very foundation of our democracy. We have a responsibility to learn from our nation’s history, reject discriminatory attacks by prioritizing inclusive policy change, and protect the fundamental rights to freely speak, think, read, and write, especially for those who are most vulnerable. That censorship happens when one group moves to impose their beliefs on another and censors content or ideas. Banning books is just a type of such censorship, the act can take many forms. Removing a book from some shelf isn’t the only method, requiring parental permission to read it or moving it to a less accessible section are examples of soft censorship. Restricting access to some is intended to invalidate marginalized identities and suppress the opportunity to develop open and honest understandings about differences. That ability to learn about experiences different than our own is then taken from us. We lose the opportunity to respect people from all backgrounds and exist in an environment where everyone feels valued.

From the Writer’s Workshop: Write a few paragraphs describing censorship. Include examples of how, when, and where censorship might occur. Is it ever okay to censor a book? Who has the right to censor a book? Is it ever okay for the government to censor its citizens? 

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WTF Brutus?

Something I thought worth sharing. Of course, if you’re a history buff, you either already know all this or it comes as one of those things you’ve never heard before. Either situation, it may also grab your attention a bit.

Allow me to take you back, way back, to March 15, 44 BC. Definitely not a gathering of friends but an event where Julius Caesar was rudely stabbed by approximately sixty Roman senators, most doing little damage to his body. In fact, Suetonius, a Roman philosopher, claimed that only a couple of those sixty blows were fatal.

Apparently. there were some serious anger issues held by those individuals surrounding Julius. His ultimate demise was fueled by his popularity and arrogance. The last to stab Caesar at the Curia of Pompey was Brutus who definitely got his point across. According to Shakespeare, Caesar managed to get the last words in with “Eu tu, Brute?”; I’d like to believe it was more like “WTF Brutus?”

From the Writer’s Workshop: Write a post based on the word attention. Write a post in exactly 10 sentences.

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“The Bad Day”

For many years now, early in September, I think back to a small scrap of paper with childlike handwriting, tucked away in a drawer at my late mother’s home.  It read, September 11, The Bad Day, a memory that my mother did not want to forget and was neatly rubber banded together with a few torn photographs and greeting cards.  The various special occasion cards had a ? scribbled next to the sender’s name which initially left me puzzled.  I later realized that my mother kept the cards only because they were pretty but had no idea who sent them to her. 

This took place in January of 2003.  Two weeks earlier, my mother was found wandering, early on a frigid and snowy morning by the local police, dressed in just a nightgown and slippers, holding a New York Times under her arm.  Outside temperatures, at 2:30 a.m., hovered at 16 degrees which did not factor into her stopping the incessant banging on the door of a house located not far from her apartment.  The homeowners, obviously terrified at the sight of this tiny, elderly, woman armed with a newspaper, called the authorities and cowered behind their door as my mother kept knocking.

Let’s face it, the phone ringing in the middle of anyone’s night is never a sign of good news waiting to be shared at the other end.  As my husband answered the call, I heard silence and watched him shake his head as he looked in my direction; “yes, that’s my mother-in-law, uh-huh, I see; thank you for calling, we’re leaving now to come pick her up”.

Frantically, we both dressed for the fifty mile trip, rushed out the door and my husband attempted to fill me in on the details as we pulled out of our driveway.  He was talking but it was impossible to focus on anything he was saying until he mentioned the address of the home my mother had been found at which was 131 Church Street.  That address had been my mother’s childhood home and suddenly I realized that it could only be Alzheimer’s; nothing else could be responsible for her midnight stroll, attempted home invasion and so many other incidents that I had too easily passed off to the woman’s advancing years.  What I couldn’t figure out is where she got the New York Times from as my mother never read anything outside of the local paper and that was just to check the obituaries each day.  I cringed in my seat thinking that she must have lifted it from someone’s doorstep as she roamed the streets early that morning.  Whatever the situation, one thing could not be denied, my mother continuing to live alone was now out of the question. There was nowhere else for her to go other than to come and live in my home; all I kept thinking about was how much my life, and that of my family, would be impacted.

A few days later, that concern changed as I stood in the midst of boxes, packing up her belongings. I kept glancing down at that scrap of paper which recorded my mother’s one brief written touch with reality more than two years prior. I thought back to that horrific day when so many innocent lives disappeared into huge, wailing clouds of smoke and dust. Life as each of us had come to know it, up to that fateful day, would never be the same.  What I was facing, as I became the caregiver to my mother, was totally insignificant compared to the events of September 11th, 2001.

It was a bad day.

 

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