Crazy Lady!

Crazy Lady! by Jane Conly is on the ALA's list of most frequently challenged books, though I honestly have no idea why. It's about a kid named Vernon whose mom died. His dad's doing his best to keep the family together. Vern is failing several subjects in school, and really needs help with English, in particular. Tutoring is out of the question, really, because it costs $2 an hour (did I mention it's set in 1981?) That's money the Dibbs family doesn't have. Vern happens to live one street over from a slum, basically, and there's a drunk "crazy lady" and her mentally challenged son that walk up and down the streets and get made fun of. It's pretty weird. Anyway, one day Vern helps the lady, Maxine, out, and she asks what she can do for him. Vern mentions he needs help in English, and Maxine gets him set up with their neighbor, Miss Annie, who used to be an English teacher. Miss Annie doesn't ask for money to help Vern, but she does have him do things to help Maxine and her son Ronald. Vern is not thrilled about this at first, but eventually becomes friends with the small, somewhat dysfunctional family. Vern ends up holding a fundraiser to earn money for a new pair of tennis shoes for Ronald, so he can join the Special Olympics. And then all of a sudden, Maxine decides that life is too much for her alcoholic self to handle and sends Ronald off to live with relatives in North Carolina. Vern is upset. The end.

I really don't know why this book is on the "Banned Books" list, other than the fact that there are a few swear words (I counted less than 10, and nothing too serious). And then there's Maxine's alcoholism. But this isn't the only middle school-level book that features those two elements. The book was rather tame, in my opinion. The worst side of alcoholism we see is just some silly things Maxine shouts in the streets. There's no abuse or anything. The book doesn't tell kids how to get drunk. I don't understand it. The best I can figure is that the book is on the list because in 1993, when it was written, maybe parents were a little more uptight about that kind of thing. In our library, the book is classified as a "J"- a juvenile novel. It's shelved in the children's section and is intended for readers up to middle school. I think that simply relabeling the book as a "YT", a book for younger teens, would solve any problems parents might have with this book. Make it clear it's meant for middle schoolers.
To be completely honest, though, I think the book could probably be weeded from our shelves. It contains dated language and has virtually nothing to appeal to young audiences today. It was kind of lame. I'm fairly sure the only reason we've kept it around is because of its notoriety.

Bumps in the Night

I started my journey of reading all the most commonly banned books with Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard.

Bumps in the Night is classified as a "je" book in our library, which means it's an "easy reader". These books are intended for children just starting to read on their own- between kindergarten and second grade. They are little chapter books. Bumps in the Night is about a stork (whose name I've already forgotten) who wakes up in the middle of the night. There are some creepy noises going on in his house. He gets up and sees a ghost. He calls his pal, who is a pig, and the pig says "well I know a way we can talk to the ghost and find out what it wants". He goes on to explain to his storky friend that a medium is a person who talks to ghosts, and a medium can come and hold a seance with them. So the stork has his piggie pal and some other animal friends come over, and they are joined by a creepy alligator lady. I bet she's from Louisiana or something. They all hold hands (because they're scared, explains the pig) and summon the ghost of a dead horse who's living in the house. Gross. The horse's name was George, I think, and he just wanted to say hi. The animals all become friends with the horse ghost and they make taffy and stuff. And they all live happily ever after.

Several pages into the book, I could sort of understand why this book is frequently challenged by parents. It's one thing to have a cute little Halloween themed book for little kids (adorable ghosties and black kitty cats and the like), but I think it's kind of an inappropriate topic for an early childhood book. What six year old really needs to know what a seance is? What first grader is interested in communicating with the dead?
I really hate the idea of banning books, but I honestly am not quite sure why this book was written. It seems like an out-of-place topic for the intended audience. Maybe the author should have practiced better judgment, I don't know. If the seance wasn't in there (it honestly was kind of creepy, and I love paranormal shows), perhaps it would have been ok. In theory, I don't think there's anything wrong with kids' books about ghosts. We owned several when I was a kid, and then there's Casper, and the Halloween books I mentioned. It was the communication with the dead that was off-putting and a tad inappropriate.

Happy Early New Year!

I was at work today and was asked to make a sign for our "Banned Books" display (because Banned Books week is coming up.) I decided that it would be fun and challenging to read through the entire list of most frequently challenged/banned books in the United States. I've been thinking about New Years resolutions lately, too (don't ask me why, because I'm not quite sure) and thought "that would make a great resolution!" I decided to start on it early, though, because I'm kind of bored and I'm looking for some stuff to read.
So here's the dealio, kids. I am going to read all the books on this list, except for American Psycho because I had to read that for a class two or three years ago and it was truly disturbing. I will still review it though. And...there's a spoiler. I'll write a brief review of everything I read. Fun times! I think it's a pretty cool idea, personally. I already ordered a few books and I'll get started on them as soon as they come in.