Blog 5: Banned Books Entry

I brought in Speak for my banned book. It tells the story of a young, bright, teenage girl who goes to a party and gets raped by an upperclassmen boy. She calls the police, and the party gets busted, with all her friends inside. She becomes a social pariah because she “snitched” and all of her old friends refuse to speak to her. She finds refuge in art and in an old janitors closet in her school. By the end of the year she is failing every class except art and is severely depressed. However, she makes friends with another misfit and gains the courage to confront her old friends with what really happened. Her very best friend is now dating the boy who raped her. At first no one believes her, but when she is cleaning out her janitors closet, the boy comes and tries to rape her again to silence her, and she breaks a mirror in the struggle causing a raucous. One of her old friends hears the noise, and see’s what is going on: everyone sees’s she has been telling the truth.
I read this for my mother-daughter book club in 7th grade, and I don’t remember being particularly stressed or appalled by what was written, I also don’t think I was influenced to go out and a) participate in underage drinking, b) rape someone, c) partake in self mutilation because of my depression. It is definitely banned because the ALA is worried this will influence students to partake in “unhealthy habits” such as underage sex, violence, drinking, and harming themselves. Like other books that “encourage” children to stray from the “norm”, this book has been deemed “unacceptable” for schools because of the issues.
However, I think that these banned books SHOULD be talked about in school, because they center on real issues that are never talked about. If a student hears their teacher discussing emotional issues in a constructive way, they will be more likely to get help if they, or a friend, are suffering from any of these issues. While I understand these books getting banned at libraries because adults don’t want their kids to randomly pick this type of book up, it should not prevent teachers from discussing these issues in class. Further, I have noticed that these “banned” books are not inherently bad. For example, the Harry Potter series is banned because is promotes “witchcraft”. However, what the ALA did not take into account is the other important messages these books promote, such as equality, overcoming obstacles, and never quitting. Seeing this series on the banned list has solidified my choice to use one of the books for my Podcast assignment.