The Sunday Salon and Banned Books Week Wrap-up!

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! This is the day during the week where we get together and talk books! So grab a cup of joe, find a comfy chair and relax! What bookish things have you been doing this week?

How did your Banned Books Week go? Here are the books I covered this week...

On Tuesday, I wrote about Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, the beloved children's book that had talking animals upsetting the sensibilities of some parents who thought it was blasphemous. 

Wednesday, I wrote about Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, the fictional account of a teenage girl, dealing with the realities of bullying, sex and drugs, and the pressures of growing up, which ultimately causes her to take her own life. 

Friday, I wrote about The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, the childrens book written in simple verse & simple illustrations, about the relationship between a little boy growing up and a tree. Originally banned because of sexism, there were also a whole host of other complaints of this deeply moving book. 

And this year for Banned Books Week, I opened the pages of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. I've updated you along the way, Monday & Thursday,  and finally this morning I turned over the last page. I have to say that it was not anything that I had expected. Although I knew it had to do with racial issues, I had no idea where it was going to take me. We last left our narrator beginning his stay in New York, the harsh New York during the height of segregation. He witnesses an eviction of an elderly Black couple in a high rise apartment and is moved to speak to the riotous crowd that is growing dangerous. He speaks to the crowd from his heart, and they stop and listen. In the crowd though, was a man from "The Brotherhood", a bipartisan group who recruit him as their spokesman to "the people". As our narrator is "indoctrinated" into their cause, which he feels initially is his cause, he becomes disillusioned. In reality, The Brotherhood, which is suppose to be the Communist party, is trying to control things for their own purpose and not to help the people of Harlem. A race riot eventually ensues, and barely escaping with his life he falls through a manhole into a pile of coal. It is there that he realizes he is worn out from the fight. Not just the fight for equality, but the fight to become an individual who is seen for his unique abilities, thoughts and expressions. He finally accepts his invisibility.

          " I have been hurt to the point of abysmal pain, hurt to the point of invisibility."

In the afterward to Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, it is written that Invisible Man is, "Groundbreaking in its exploration of race and identity and virtuosic in its use of language and dialect." I have to agree. The writing was great; I could hardly put it down once I got past the prologue. I empathized with the narrator and his struggles to do what was right in the face of all the opposition. I could feel the tensions, the sights and sounds of the era. The characters came alive off the page. And the story was good. Can I say great? I hesitate because of the subject matter, because you can't read the book and feel uplifted, but I would recommend the book. It is a classic, timeless in it's writing, with the ability to feel fresh even though it was published over 60 years ago.

This week Invisible Man came to the forefront of Banned Books Week because it was banned recently in school libraries in Randolph County, NC after a parent of a high school junior complained about its language and depictions of rape and incest. The board had banned the book Sept. 16 by a 5-2 vote, but rescinded that order after an amazing nationwide backlash.

Board Chairman Tommy McDonald said the torrent of emails he received was “very enlightening,’’ although a few were “downright vulgar and very hurtful.’’ The backlash made him realize, he said, that “my job is to make sure that book is there whether I want to read it or not." from LATimes.com

Before this incident of banning Invisible Man, there have been other attempts to ban it over the years...

"Excerpts banned in Butler, PA (1975); removed from the high school English reading list in St. Francis, WI (1975). Retained in the Yakima, WA schools (1994) after a five-month dispute over what advanced high school students should read in the classroom. Two parents raised concerns about profanity and images of violence and sexuality in the book and requested that it be removed from the reading list." from ALA.com

So there you have it, Banned Books Week in all its glory. Who would think that in the year 2013, there still would be the unfortunate issue of banning books. LATimes.com had an interesting article about the recent banning of Invisible Man, you can follow the link to LATimes.com to read it. The American Library Association is another great source to read more about banned books. Go to ALA.org to learn more.

What did you do for Banned Books Week? Read any good banned books?! I really missed being able to get around (in a leg brace unable to walk, a long story) because I really would have enjoyed reading at a Banned Book Read-Out, BUT there's always next year!

P.S. World Book Night book announcements coming soon, AND next we'll talk about the Man Booker Prize, which has new criteria and a big uproar because of it!

Happy Reading... Suzanne

Banned Books Week and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein...

"Once there was a tree... and she loved a little boy. And every day the boy would come... and he woud gather her leaves... and make them into crowns and play king of the forest." Thus begins The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. The tender story of the power of love, the gift of giving and the consequences of selfishness. I remember reading this book as an adult and crying at the end. As the boy grows up, his demands become harder and harder for the tree to provide, until she gives the ultimate gift of her life.

The Giving Tree was initially challenged and removed from a library because the librarian thought it was sexist. I also read where the story had been interpreted as Sadomasochism, where the boy keeps demanding more and the tree keeps giving. Subsequently there has been a lot of chatter about the meaning behind the story, and it was banned due to others having said it undermines parental, school, and religious authority. I also read where someone thought it undermined the logging industry. Really?!

Have you read the book? The simple illustrations are wonderful, and the text is simple, yet powerful. I think it teaches a lesson to all of us. What do you think?

Banned Books Week... A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle

It was a dark and stormy night... in the world of banned books!

How can you not just love a story that starts out with, " It was a dark and stormy night."! As part of Banned Books Week I decided I would open the beloved children's classic (and challenged book), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and hop on board for an amazing time traveling adventure with Meg, Calvin and Charles Wallace. And what an adventure it was! I met three unearthly strangers (Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which), traveled to Uriel where I took a ride on a beautiful centaur with wings up to the tallest mountains that disappeared into the clouds, I took a terrifying trip to Camazotz, a dark planet, where the dark force there wanted to take away my individuality, but who was finally defeated by love, and I met other strange creatures that were as curious about me as I was about them (tentacles and all) Oh, and I almost forgot... I learned about a tesseract, which of course is a wrinkle in time.

The story centers around the Murry family, whose parents are scientists. Mr. Murry has disappeared after a government experiment, which we later find out has to do with time travel. Mrs. Murry and her 4 children, Meg, Charles Wallace, Denny and Sandy, and faithful dog Fortinbras continue with their lives while waiting to hear from Mr. Murry. It's been a year with no word, rumors abound, and Meg is getting ever so impatient. When one dark and stormy night a stranger enters their lives, Meg learns that there is a way to find her father and hopefully bring him home. With the help of her younger brother Charles Wallace and soon to be best friend Calvin, they are whisked off through time and space to places unknown...

A classic story of the battle between good and evil, Madeline L'Engle has created a wonderful fantasy world, with a perfect protagonist in Meg that any young girl of a certain age can relate to, who struggles with being "different" from the other kids she goes to school with (awkward AND with glasses), but who eventually comes to appreciate her own uniqueness. The writing is wonderful, with passages that seem to be a feast for the eyes...

"They left the great granite plain and flew over a garden even more beautiful than anything in a dream. In it were gathered many of the creatures like the one Mrs. Whatsit had become, some lying among the flowers some swimming in a broad, crystal river that flowed through the garden, some flying in what Meg was sure must be a kind of dance, moving in and out abover the trees. They were making music, music that came not only from their throats but from the movement of their great wings as well."

Why has A Wrinkle in Time been repeatedly challenged? It was first challenged, but retained, in 1985 by a parent of a Polk City, Fl. Elementary School student contending that the story promoted witchcraft, crystal balls and demons. Then it was challenged in 1990 in the Anniston, Alabama schools because someone felt that the book sends a mixed signal to children about good and evil. The complaint also objected to listing the name of Jesus Christ together with the names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders when referring to defenders of Earth against evil. In 1996 it was also challenged, but retained, by the Catawba County School Board in Newton, N.C. A parent requested the book be pulled from the school libraries because it allegedly undermines religious beliefs.

"What a child doesn’t realize until he is grown is that in responding to fantasy, fairly tale, and myth he is responding to what Erich Fromm calls the one universal language, the one and only language in the world that cuts across all barriers of time, place, race, and culture. Many Newbery books are from this realm, beginning with Dr. Dolittle; books on Hindu myth, Chinese folklore, the life of Buddha, tales of American Indians, books that lead our children beyond all boundaries and into the one language of all mankind." ...From Madeline L'Engle Newbery Award acceptance speech

If you haven't read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle, I highly recommend it! It was 190 pages of pure pleasure. And the adventures don't stop there either- Madeline L'Engle wrote a series of books about the Murry family called The Time Quartet, which includes A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time. Did you read this challenged book as a child?! I wish I had! *P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!