First let me say that I think this is a fabulous discussion.
The whole censorship vs selection thing is truly a slippery slope
IMO. There's a pretty fine line between "I won't buy this book
because it has a word (a topic, a concept) that I think is
inappropriate or because parents will complain" and "I won't buy this
book because it doesn't suit my readers/my collection." It's a
concept I've always struggled with - the fact is, banning a book from
a library (in an official sense) has never prevented a reader from
getting the book elsewhere, so I think it's hard to use availability
elsewhere as rationale for not calling it censorship. It's a personal
decision that we make in a professional and very public manner - one
person's logical decision is another person's censorship.
For my part I've already bought the book, which I might not have done
without the controversy (I don't necessarily buy every Newbery) - I
plan to use it as a springboard for discussion with my students who
are convinced that book banning doesn't happen.
Last point, in reference to the NYT (I think) reference to authors
including racy words to grab attention: a local author spoke at my
school today. She has published a YA book (her first) that she
originally wrote intending it for an adult audience. The original
book included some "salty characters" (the author's words) whose
dialogue she changed when she decided to target a younger audience. I
asked her about the nature of the changes and brought up the present
Newbery situation. She said she and her editor had lengthy
discussions and even looked at the book line by line examining it for
appropriate language. I found that a little scary - another form of
censorship perhaps?
Cathy
-----------
Cathy Rettberg, MLIS
Head Librarian, Menlo School, grades 6-12
Atherton, CA
crettberg@menloschool.org
On Feb 26, 2007, at 6:45 PM, Carol Bandre wrote:
> I am in a high school library and like to think that deciding what
> books to purchase is selection. We belong to a library consortia
> of 60 libraries, and we teach students to order their own books
> through the online catalog. I consider it censorship if I don't
> allow them to get certain books through other libraries.
>
> Carol Bandre
> Mater Dei High School
> Breese, IL 62230
> cebandre@charter.net
>
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