Let’s face it, the wrong text book and/or the wrong teacher can make history very boring, and sometimes people just don’t like learning about history for a variety of reasons. Romeo and Juliet was dissed by a teacher who said it was a blatant endorsement of heterosexual love (so I guess teen suicide is okay).īUT, Yolen’s magnificent book is exactly the type of book that should be used in schools. Okay, it’s most likely due to the violence (it’s about the Holocaust) and the ending. I can certainly see why The Devil’s Arithmetic is banned. (Can someone please, please show me where?). Raisin in the Sun has been banned and challenged because it’s pornographic.
This book has been banned, challenged, and rejected by parents and text book committees because of the sex and tragedy of the story. Take, for instance, The Diary of Anne Frank. It seems to rest on what might offend any group, anywhere. Age appropriateness isn’t really the issue. Yet, I have never heard of such an assignment. Why an exceptional first grader might not have a problem with such a book, there are several things wrong, in general, about such assignment, least of which is the subject matter. In terms banning and challenging books, I might under the idea if the book was being assigned at an inappropriate grade level, say Beloved to first graders. as in Texas) and warning labels (usually about evolution). Lately, history and science text books have been subjected to strange changes (i.e. In other words, pretty much anything good. There are a few Black Stallion books on the list as is Black Beauty, Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, Three to Tango, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Lorax, and Shakespeare. The Devil’s Arithmetic is on that list by the way.Įverything by Stephen King makes the list. It actually quotes the material they find objectionable, and it has a complete list of banned and challenged books (as recent as 4-5 years ago). I disagree with them on so many different levels, but their website does have two good features. There is a group called PABBIS (Parents against Bad Books in Schools). I think the fault lies with the schools as well as parents and special interest groups. Now, I don’t think it is the students’ fault. At times, I feel like I am teaching a culture and history course in addition to a reading skills course. To be fair, my students do ask intelligent questions, yet the lack of basic knowledge is shocking.
It is not just knowledge of history that they lack it is knowledge of basic geography. The shocking fact, the bad news, is what they don’t know.
The good news is that my students love the book in fact, several of them are reading ahead. This semester I am requiring my students to read The True Story of Hansel and Gretel, a novel takes place in Poland during World War II.
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