guest post by Burstein!
photo by Sarah Atwood
In an amazing Yahoo Answer, Kat Atredies (most likely a pseudonym) a student at a private school asks the question “Is it OK to run an illegal library from my locker at school?”
Let me explain.
I go to a private school that is rather strict. Recently, the principal and school teacher council released a (very long) list of books we’re not allowed to read. I was absolutely appalled, because a large number of the books were classics and others that are my favorites. One of my personal favorites, The Catcher in the Rye, was on the list, so I decided to bring it to school to see if I would really get in trouble. Well… I did but not too much. Then (surprise!) a boy in my English class asked if he could borrow the book, because he heard it was very good AND it was banned! This happened a lot and my locker got to overflowing with the banned books, so I decided to put the unoccupied locker next to me to a good use. I now have 62 books in that locker, about half of what was on the list. I took care only to bring the books with literary quality.
The books on her list include, but are not limited to, the following:
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Slaughterhouse-5
- Lord of the Flies
- Bridge to Terabithia
- Catch-22
- East of Eden
- The Brothers Grimm Unabridged Fairytales.
- Candide
- The Divine Comedy
- Paradise Lost
- The Godfather
- The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
- Animal Farm
Kat is bravely ensuring that her fellow students have access to some very fine literature. She is also taking her librarian duties seriously by keeping a log book with due dates and even curating her collection: “Twilight is banned also, but I don’t want that polluting my library.”
via Neatorama
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I find it somewhat striking how many of those books were actually on the required reading lists when I was in high school, but then I went to a public high school in California, rather than a private school who-knows-where.
what?! hitchhiker’s guide is banned? who in their right mind would do such a thing?
That’s awesome!
I think that if Kat ever gets into trouble, every free speech lawyer in the land will be on her side, defending her all the way up to the Supreme Court. Way to go, Kat!
Oh, and for the record? CT Yankee in King Arthur’s Court wasn’t banned in the SOVIET UNION where I grew up.
Go Kat! That’s fantastic. I went to a private high school in California – Robert Louis Stevenson – and many of those books were on the required reading list.
@bklyngirl – unfortunately, you are sadly mistaken. This is not a case of free speech as this is a private school and they can dictate whatever policies – however ass backwards – they want.
i went to private school. 1st through college. catholic all the way. never had any banned books & read most of the ones on her list. as a matter of fact i read jerzy kosinskiso’s Painted Bird in 7th grade when Sr Mary Galvin let me pick whatever i wanted from the free reading corner…that was a weird youthful awakening for this preteen.
So, while Kat’s spending her HS career creating a little anti-establishment book locker i was trying to figure out how to skip class & get high under the bleachers.
could suppression be a motivator?
The divine comedy was banned. What kind of a school banns the divine commedy. I have lost my faith in humanity.
excuse the lack of a question sign.
Once again, some of these were required reading for me (animal farm, lord of the flies, divine comedy, paradise lost,) in public school – Dallas, Texas. On the other hand, jackets that were longer than mid-thigh were banned…
I’m interested to know the roots of the private school.
Could someone explain for each of these books what could possibly be objectionable to these people? I have only read a few of them.
It happens all the time, and not just in private schools. We’ve got a whole week that celebrates banned books and the freedom to read them. This link explains the reasons the most commonly banned books were banned/challenged (not actually removed from the shelves, but had a complaint against them).
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/reasonsbanned.cfm
Maybe it’s a strategy to make kids read… you know, reverse psychology! :))
I happen to love the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy! Unfortunately many schools (like the public high school I graduated from) find the book is “too anti-establishment/anti-government” to be allowed in school. That was the reason I was told never to bring the book back onto school grounds after I was found reading it during lunch break.
Unfortunately that school did not find a copy of the US Navy’s autopsy manual to be “school appropriate” either.
No fun or interesting media will be accepted in many schools now.