Banned Books Week
When you’re told you shouldn’t do something, see something, or even read something, the forbidding of it is alluring. Suddenly, it’s appealing to do those forbidden things such as engaging in illegal, recreational activities; jumping into forbidden romances; or indulging in taboo entertainment such as watching certain movies or reading books on the Banned Books list.
Since I had been a goody two-shoes most of my life, I skipped the illegal activities and forbidden romances. I preferred to sink my teeth into a movie or book beyond what people would ever expect me to view or read. When I turned 18 and became a senior in high school, my mother let me go to R-rated movies unaccompanied and choose any book I wanted from the library. There weren’t many choices at the local theater in my hometown, so any R-rated movie I saw was on cable. As for reading books, I chose the sex-fueled romance novels which I can no longer stomach now that I’m a born-again Christian who’s single and wants to honor God with my life.
This week is Banned Books Week across America. I worked in a public library for over 10 years, got my associate’s degree in library science, have self-published two books, and continue to write as well as edit. Therefore, I’ve had an awareness of books that have been challenged at schools and even some librarians are selective in choosing age-appropriate books for their collections.
When Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie books were challenged in some communities, I was appalled. I read all of her books when I was in fifth and sixth grades. My mother grew up reading those books. According to a 2018 article from the Washington Post, Caroline Fraser reported that:
The ALA [American Library Association] announced that it was reconsidering the name of the Wilder Award [which had been around since 1954]. [Due] to the depiction of American Indians and African Americans in Wilder’s work, the ALA declared that her legacy put the group in the uncomfortable position of serving children while being unable to model values of ‘inclusiveness, integrity and respect.’ Wilder’s books, it went on, ‘reflect racist and anti-Native sentiments and are not universally embraced. (“Yes, ‘Little House on the Prairie' is racially insensitive—but we should still read it”)
As I continued to read through this article, Wilder’s books were first challenged in 1998 when an eight-year-old Native American girl from the Upper Sioux Reservation of southwestern Minnesota came home crying to her mother about the author’s comment from one of the books about “Indians.” The teacher had been reading the book aloud to classmates and even read the line, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.” Fraser (2018) continues to report that “Indians appear alternately as thieves or screaming warmongers, and the overall portrait is not tempered by Laura’s childish fascination or her father’s remark about a peaceable Indian, whom he describes as ‘no common trash’” (“Yes, ‘Little House on the Prairie’ is racially insensitive—but we should still read it”). The girl’s mother pushed to have this book removed from the school’s curriculum with no success, so she “prompted the American Civil Liberties Union to threaten the school board with a lawsuit over censorship” (Fraser, 2018).
Fraser makes an excellent point when she concludes that “If the books are to be read and taught today—and it’s hard to escape them given their popularity—then teachers, librarians and parents are going to have to proceed armed with facts and sensitivity” (2018). My mother agreed as well. Use these books as a teachable moment for children. Those who are teaching the children need to address the time these books took place which was during the 1800’s. The language and viewing of stereotypes were different than that of today. Before the term ‘Native American’ was used, people used to say ‘Indian,’ which was not an offensive term then.
Instead of banning historical fiction like Little House on the Prairie, the teacher could skip over parts that may be considered inappropriate such as “The only good Indian is a dead Indian” OR she could explain to the students that this book was not written to offend anyone. At the time this book took place, people had a different view towards races that were different from them. Like my mother said, “That’s just the way people used to talk.”
Reference:
Fraser, Caroline. (2018). “Yes, ‘Little House on the Prairie’ is racially insensitive—but we should still read it.” The Washington Post. Retrieved September 25, 2019, from, https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/yes-little-house-on-the-prairie-i
