Dear Ms. Berner, November
10th, 2013
It
has come to my attention that you have been debating whether or not take some
books out of the 6th grade library, particularly books that have
banned in other libraries across America. You should not ban any books in the 6th
grade library or any library. When incoming 6th graders enter Middle
School, they are one step closer to entering the real world and exploring
real-world issues. And by sheltering them and taking out some of literatures’
most fantastic novels is just yielding them away from topics that they could
learn about. You should not take any books out of the 6th grade
library. As Bill Moyers says “Censorship is the enemy of truth.”
One
reason you shouldn’t remove any books from the 6th grade library is
because some kids who may be going through a particular hard time may not know
how to express themselves and seek help. As Sherman Alexie, author of “The
Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” writes, in the article “The
Best Books are Written in Blood” would have loved to have a book such as his to
help him cope with some of the serious problems he felt and it was a way for
him to help him deal with his emotions. He then brings up a good point. He says
“Does Ms. Gurdon (the author of an
article accusing Alexie of writing inappropriate content in his books) honestly
believe that a sexually explicit YA novel might somehow traumatize a teen
mother? Does she believe that a YA novel about murder and rape will somehow
shock a teenager whose life has been damaged by murder and rape?” This shows
that people who are living something are not spontaneously going to be scared
or traumatized by the book, it’s just another way of expressing their emotions
and knowing that they aren’t the ones going through one particularly hard time
in their lives.
Some people may argue
that it is necessary to take some heavy content books out of libraries because
they may feel it is too strong for a young adult to handle. First of all, they
are books, Young Adult Fiction books
are Fiction, so for the most part
they are not true stories and some may have an influence from someone who did
go through a particular event, but they are mostly fictional stories. The
question that should be asked is: why should these stories be taken out of a
library just because one or two people may feel uncomfortable whereas there may
be someone shy who needs this story as a way for themselves to feel better
about a particular problem they may face? In Texas, on channel ABC13, there was
a student who attempted to ban the book Fahrenheit 451 because she
personally felt uncomfortable with it. And selfishly, her father attempted to
get it banned throughout the whole school just because she didn’t feel
comfortable with it. That’s what is scary about book banning, it’s people who
want to ban books who then get other
people to look deeper at vocabulary that could potentially be something hateful
and end up censoring or banning some of literatures most historical stories. As
Alexie writes “They are simply trying to protect their privileged notions of
what literature is and should be. They are trying to protect privileged
children. Or the seemingly privileged.” This is just upper-class people or
people with some kind of power that want to shelter kids and not expose them to
the real world because they are afraid they won’t be able to handle it. But
part of entering 6th grade is about growing up and coming into a
more real-life environment and growing as a student and a person, and this
comes with learning about heavy real-world issues. As award-winning author
Ellen Hopkins writes in an article about book banning “they
bring young adult readers a middle-aged author's broader perspective. They show
outcomes to choices, offer understanding.” This quote is a great example of
what books can bring to one’s life. These books do not tell the readers to do
what the character is doing, but simply understand the different possibilities
the character is facing and which is the best choice in order to overcome that
problem.. Chris Eakin, from the Fairview Post, writes “One thing about books and
other printed material is that you can pick it up, put it down, open it and
close it and where ever you leave it, it stays there, it doesn’t follow you
around.” Eakin makes a good
point here, if you feel uncomfortable reading something, then stop reading it.
This goes along with taking books away from the 6th grade libraries.
If someone feels really uncomfortable reading something, they can just put it
down and stop reading it, but taking it away from everyone Is wrong.
In conclusion, you
should not ban any books from the 6th grade library, and if you
really feel that it must not be there you can simply tell the teacher so she
can warn the kids before they read it. By leaving it in the libraries you give
the opportunity to a kid who may face a similar tough problem in their life, to
read it and help them with their emotions. As Alexie said “I write in blood
because I remember what it felt like to bleed.”
Sincerely,
Felix Levine
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