Author Ellen Hopkins has written a powerful statement for banned books week (she has a new book for those of you who enjoy her writing. The title is Fallout.) As we have discussed at book club and over the counter, the language in her books is realistic, but a bit too much for the Rivier Library, so as much as I like her writing you'll have to continue to get her books from the Cuelenaere Library. However, I do think she makes a valuable contribution to YA literature.
Here she is speaking out against the banning of books:
"GIVE A GIRL THE RIGHT SHOES AND SHE CAN CONQUER THE WORLD." Marilyn Monroe
I don't believe you should ban a book unless it is highly offensive to be offensive.
ReplyDeleteAnd SMILE was an amazing comic, real life humor with real life young teenage dilemmas! Highly recommended!
I agree - I would say there are some cases of literature written specifically to promote hatred towards other groups, where there is absolutely no value to reading or distributing that type of poisonous thought any further. Otherwise, I do believe we should let people read and read and read....
ReplyDeleteI will try to add more comic-style lit to the collection (sigh) if everyone promises not to walk off with it. For some reason there is a high "forget to sign it out and return it" rate with those types of books! :)