Do Parents Have the Right to Demand Childrens Reading Materials to be Banned HW Use Judy Blume’s essay listed in Reading on Module lecture.Address this iss

Do Parents Have the Right to Demand Childrens Reading Materials to be Banned HW Use Judy Blume’s essay listed in Reading on Module lecture.Address this issue: Do parents have the right to demand that schools censor their children’s reading materials?In your opinion, do they have that right, and if so how should they exercise that right?Your answer should consist of a well-developed paragraph or two, which means the first sentence should answer the question(s) (i.e., topic sentence), and the following sentences should support the topic sentence. The paragraph(s) should be unified and coherent with specific supporting details or examples from the story. The sentences should be clear, concise, and arranged in a logical order. Transitions, pronouns, and repetition should be used to provide coherence. The paragraph(s) should follow an argument format (logical!). Originally printed in the New York Times, Op-Ed Page, Oct. 22, 1999
Judy Blume Talks About
Censorship
What to Do If it Happens to
You
Book Censorship in School
Resource Guide/Toolkit
Introduction to “Places I
Never Meant to Be”
Is Harry Potter Evil? From
the NY Times, 10/22/99
Judy Blume: A Leader in the
Anticensorship Movement,
By Mark I West
By JUDY BLUME
October 22, 1999
I happened to be in London last summer on the very day Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban, the third book in the wildly popular series by J. K. Rowling, was published. I couldnít
believe my good fortune. I rushed to the bookstore to buy a copy, knowing this simple act would
put me up there with the best grandmas in the world. The book was still months away from
publication in the United States, and I have an 8-year-old grandson who is a big Harry Potter
fan.
Itís a good thing when children enjoy books, isnít it? Most of us think so. But like many
childrenís books these days, the Harry Potter series has recently come under fire. In Minnesota,
Michigan, New York, California and South Carolina, parents who feel the books promote interest
in the occult have called for their removal from classrooms and school libraries.
I knew this was coming. The only surprise is that it took so long — as long as it took for the
zealots who claim theyíre protecting children from evil (and evil can be found lurking
everywhere these days) to discover that children actually like these books. If children are excited
about a book, it must be suspect.
Iím not exactly unfamiliar with this line of thinking, having had various books of mine
banned from schools over the last 20 years. In my books, itís reality thatís seen as corrupting.
With Harry Potter, the perceived danger is fantasy. After all, Harry and his classmates attend the
celebrated Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. According to certain adults, these
stories teach witchcraft, sorcery and satanism. But hey, if itís not one ìism,î itís another. I mean
Madeleine LíEngleís A Wrinkle in Time has been targeted by censors for promoting New
Ageism, and Mark Twainís Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for promoting racism. Gee, where
does that leave the kids?
The real danger is not in the books, but in laughing off those who would ban them. The
protests against Harry Potter follow a tradition that has been growing since the early 1980ís and
often leaves school principals trembling with fear that is then passed down to teachers and
librarians.
What began with the religious right has spread to the politically correct. (Remember the
uproar in Brooklyn last year when a teacher was criticized for reading a book entitled Nappy
Hair to her class?) And now the gate is open so wide that some parents believe they have the
right to demand immediate removal of any book for any reason from school or classroom
libraries. The list of gifted teachers and librarians who find their jobs in jeopardy for defending
their studentsí right to read, to imagine, to question, grows every year.
My grandson was bewildered when I tried to explain why some adults donít want their
children reading about Harry Potter. ìBut that doesnít make any sense!î he said. J. K. Rowling is
on a book tour in America right now. Sheís probably befuddled by the brouhaha, too. After all,
she was just trying to tell a good story.
My husband and I like to reminisce about how, when we were 9, we read straight through L.
Frank Baumís Oz series, books filled with wizards and witches. And you know what those
subversive tales taught us? That we loved to read! In those days I used to dream of flying. I may
have been small and powerless in real life, but in my imagination I was able to soar.
At the rate weíre going, I can imagine next yearís headline: ìGoodnight Moon Banned for
Encouraging Children to Communicate With Furniture.î And we all know where that can lead,
donít we?
Judy Blume is the author of 22 books, including Are You There, God? Itís Me, Margaret, and the
editor of Places I Never Meant To Be: Original Stories by Censored Writers.
Copyright 1999 Judy Blume/ Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company

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