It was funny that censorship is the discussion topic for this week because I am reading two books that are banned in some schools. The first book is The Great Gilly Hopkins. This is one of my favorite books. It is about a girl that is in foster care and has been moved around a lot. She is now very sarcastic and cynical about the world. I like to say she has an attitude problem. Throughout the book, Gilly uses curse words. Some people would feel that this book should be banned due to the language. I personally take another approach. Gilly is a very tough girl, who has been through a lot. I think the language she uses, shows how she feels. It shows the kind of girl she has become. In the end she changes, and that change would not be as noticeable without the language in the earlier parts of the book. I am reading the book aloud to my class and depending on the moment, I either just say the word or I change it slightly. For me I use this as a discussion opportunity. I talk to my students about why the author would include that type of language. My students said that they feel like Gilly is more believeable with that type of language. I completely agree with them. Gilly will stay in my classroom until I am forced to remove it.
The other book I am finishing up is Olive's Ocean by Kevin Henkes. I was immediately drawn to this book, because I loved the beginning. Martha (the main character) receieves a letter from Olive's mother. Olive had just been killed in an accident. Martha found out from the letter that she was the one person that Olive wanted to be like and be friends with. She really starts to think about Olive a lot. She also is dealing with things with her family. Martha has also decided she wants to be a writer. The first few chapters were very clean, but now I have read several "damns," but I was most shocked by the sex reference. Martha walks into the kitchen to find her father and mother giggling and kissing. She says her brother calls this MSB which stands for Morning Sex Behavior. For fifth grade, I thought that might be a little too mature. But I still ask myself, if that one thing should be cause for the book to be banned. As a read aloud, I would just skip that part, but as far independent reading I can't make sure the student skips over it. I feel very torn about this and I really don't know what I should do. I am not even sure I want to tell my principal because I would hate to see this book leave our library. Any ideas out there?
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Wow! I never knew Kevin Henkes wrote "big kid" stuff. :) I LOVE "Chrysanthemum", so when I started reading your post I was shocked. I really don't know what is appropriate with that age- I've never spent much time in that area. I do know, however, that a book I read in the 5th grade was removed from our school library after I asked the teacher to define an innappropriate word that I stumbled upon. I obviously didn't know the word and only wanted help defining it. Instead, the teacher huffed in disgust, took the book and left the room. Not only did she fail to define the word, but I never was able to finish the novel (which was really good up to that point). Now I don't even remember the storyline, only that the book was taken from my grasp because of one word. Now that I'm older and know the definition, I think the reaction of my teacher was really ridiculous. Sometimes censorship is too harsh.
ReplyDeleteSorry I can't help you more, but I wanted to share my own experience.
You bring up some great points: Should a book be banned for just one simple thing? Like you said, if you need to skip a part when reading aloud, then do it. And, if you're assigning a book to the class to read, have them skip that part. I think it also depends on your kids and their maturity. Trust your gut. And, the parents are married, correct? I think that most married couples do sleep in the same room which implies they probably have some sort of a sexual relationship. And, I remember learning about sex in the 4th grade, not understanding it completely, but knew of it, so it's not like the students don't konw what it is. And, it sounds like it is not graphic,just mentioned. But I definitely see why you have a slight dilemma with it. Again, you just have to trust your gut. You know your students and parents better than anyone. Good luck! :)
ReplyDeleteI like the comment you made about the language being really believable. I have often found in teaching that if kids can't relate to it or believe it's real, they won't be engaged.
ReplyDeleteGreat comments about Olive. I liked that book too Katie. You could always send a memo home to say you would like to read this because . . . . . and make the book available for parents to read, gvie them a deadline, and if you don't hear from anyone, then read it. I always used to "adjust" some of the words that I felt uncomfortable reading to my students, although that in itself is a form of censorship.
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