Read it before you ban it
A fury of outrage has hit the book blogging community in the last few days, and it's time that I weigh in. A school in Republic, MO has decided to remove Slaughterhouse Five from it's school library. Due to, and this is a direct quote, "crude language and adult themes that are more appropriate for college-age students."
So, I'd like to send out a big old slow clap congratulations to the Republic, MO school district. You've instantly created a new generation of Kurt Vonnegut fans. That sentence is catnip to a teenager. Let's walk though the thought process of the average American teen, shall we? 1. A whole bunch of adults think this book is bad for me. 2. What do they know? They haven't been teenagers for like, 20 years! (Stodgy old bastards!) 3. Who is this Kurt Vonnegut guy anyway, I be he sucks. 4. I'm going to read it just to upset people, because my black shirt and nail polish make me a rebel. 5. Hey, this wasn't that bad at all. I didn't get all the bits about time travel, but I kind of grasp that he wasn't fond of the destruction of war. The aliens were cool though. 6. I wonder if he's written anything else....
See? Instant fans. Look, I understand the fear of books and their content. There are definitely books out there that an average teen should have supervision while reading. But full court press book yanking from libraries is a massive mistake. It popularizes the novel beyond expectations and doesn't allow a safe place for kids to process the information. A book like Slaughterhouse Five deserves to be discussed in a classroom. Vonnegut wrote the novel after he came back from World War 2 in an effort to explain the destruction of war, and the mental toll it causes. I bet, and I'm comfortable with this assumption, a few kids in that English class have parents coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan. Vonnegut's book could help that kid understand why their parents feel like they don't fit in any longer. It can bridge the gap between a wartime parent and a full time student.
Republic, MO school system, you just missed the amazing ability to have an actual conversation with some students. I mourn that loss. I celebrate the kid who's downloading the book on his Kindle, or buying a used copy from his local bookstore. You know, the kid who wears this button:
A fury of outrage has hit the book blogging community in the last few days, and it's time that I weigh in. A school in Republic, MO has decided to remove Slaughterhouse Five from it's school library. Due to, and this is a direct quote, "crude language and adult themes that are more appropriate for college-age students."
So, I'd like to send out a big old slow clap congratulations to the Republic, MO school district. You've instantly created a new generation of Kurt Vonnegut fans. That sentence is catnip to a teenager. Let's walk though the thought process of the average American teen, shall we? 1. A whole bunch of adults think this book is bad for me. 2. What do they know? They haven't been teenagers for like, 20 years! (Stodgy old bastards!) 3. Who is this Kurt Vonnegut guy anyway, I be he sucks. 4. I'm going to read it just to upset people, because my black shirt and nail polish make me a rebel. 5. Hey, this wasn't that bad at all. I didn't get all the bits about time travel, but I kind of grasp that he wasn't fond of the destruction of war. The aliens were cool though. 6. I wonder if he's written anything else....
See? Instant fans. Look, I understand the fear of books and their content. There are definitely books out there that an average teen should have supervision while reading. But full court press book yanking from libraries is a massive mistake. It popularizes the novel beyond expectations and doesn't allow a safe place for kids to process the information. A book like Slaughterhouse Five deserves to be discussed in a classroom. Vonnegut wrote the novel after he came back from World War 2 in an effort to explain the destruction of war, and the mental toll it causes. I bet, and I'm comfortable with this assumption, a few kids in that English class have parents coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan. Vonnegut's book could help that kid understand why their parents feel like they don't fit in any longer. It can bridge the gap between a wartime parent and a full time student.
Republic, MO school system, you just missed the amazing ability to have an actual conversation with some students. I mourn that loss. I celebrate the kid who's downloading the book on his Kindle, or buying a used copy from his local bookstore. You know, the kid who wears this button:
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