 "Photo: Destiny Mata")
Watch out where you read the Harry Potter books. “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Golden Compass” and “Charlotte’s Web” also might get you into trouble because of “dangerous” and “offensive” content.
It’s true. All across America, people challenge books and libraries are forced to take popular titles off their bookshelves.
At one time, the books deemed dangerous were actually burned.
Banned Books Week ends tomorrow. The annual American Library Association event has been observed since 1982.
Perhaps you have already read one without knowing it. Other popular titles that were challenged at some point are “The Catcher in the Rye,” “The Great Gatsby,” “Catch-22,” “Of Mice and Men” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
In fact, according to ALA, one of the most frequently challenged books of 2007 was “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain. The classic, published in 1884, still gets banned from bookshelves today for its use of the “n-word.”
Reference Librarian Tom Kuykendall recalls Twain’s book as one of the first books he truly enjoyed while in school.
Contrary to its use of the derogatory term for African-Americans, the book is actually really anti-slavery, he said.
“I like the adventure of it,” Kuykendall said. “They had all kinds of adventures and misadventures.”
Huck and runaway slave, Jim, took a raft down the Mississippi River and became good friends. The moral dilemma Huck faced was that he felt guilty for not turning Jim in for illegally running away from his master.
Kuykendall said that Jim was probably one of the most admirable characters in the entire book. He noted how socially advanced the book was and how sometimes society could “make someone feel guilty for doing what’s right.”
So the question many ask, who is banning these books anyway?
Statistics show that parents account for the group most responsible for challenges to books use in school and availability in libraries. They often go to the principal of a school and make a case against the book.
The top three reasons cited for reporting a book to the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom are: “sexually explicit,” “offensive language” and “unsuited to any age group.”
The ALA Web site states that people are challenging books with the best intentions and often are trying to protect others, frequently children, from difficult ideas and information.
Many students interviewed had no idea the Harry Potter series was banned from many schools.
“It’s just a fantasy,” Juan Davila, computer programming sophomore, said. “I’m just surprised.”
The series written by J.K Rowling has seven fantasy novels, which were also made into films. The latest one, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” will be shown on campus at 7:20 p.m. Nov. 13 in the mall sponsored by student life.
Learning resource specialist Paula Hutton said her favorite banned book is the Harry Potter series.
“I would recommend it to pretty much anybody with an imagination,” Hutton said. She added that some parents might want to explain issues in the books to their children.
For more information on banned books, go to the library on the fourth floor of Moody Learning Center or click on the banned books link on the library site.
For a list of 100 banned and challenged classics, go to the ALA Web site at www.ala.org and click on Issues and Advocacy.
For a local discussion on banned books, join the Cheshyre Cheese Club on campus. It meets at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Room 127 of Gonzales Hall. Call English Instructor Jane Focht-Hansen at 486-0668.
Or better yet, read from a banned book at the club’s next Coffee Night Open Mic at 6 p.m. Oct. 9 in the round in Loftin Student Center.
