Banned Books Week!

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Tue September 30th, 2008, 2:18 am

There was a woman in my hometown in high school who was on a one-woman crusade to ban the film adaptation of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery." She never succeeded, because I saw the film at least three times in high school--our teachers always made us watch it when there was a substitute or for some reason the normal lesson couldn't be taught.

SonjaMarie · Post by **SonjaMarie** » Tue September 30th, 2008, 2:21 am

I read that book in college.

SM

Alaric · Post by **Alaric** » Tue September 30th, 2008, 11:54 am

Banning books, of any kind (with the exception of erotic fiction of course), always seems counterproductive to a person's education to me. Nobody should be deprived of reading something if they wish.

princess garnet · Post by **princess garnet** » Tue September 30th, 2008, 3:25 pm

I too read "The Lottery" in college.
We're showing movie adaptations of banned books at the library all this week.

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Wed October 1st, 2008, 1:57 am

[quote=""Alaric""]Banning books, of any kind (with the exception of erotic fiction of course), always seems counterproductive to a person's education to me. Nobody should be deprived of reading something if they wish.[/quote]

I agree, when you are talking about adults. I think the issue gets dicier with kids reading. My parents never censored what I read (I still remember hiding Valley of the Dolls under my bed at 12, and my dad asking to read it after I was finished!). The did discourage certain tv programs, but thats because they knew I was easily frightened, so Outer Limits was off limits. So it pays to know your child when selecting books. But I know many parents who'd like to have some control over what their child reads. Im ok with that to a point. But when those parents decide that their control over their children should extend to all children in the community, I start seeing many shades of red.