And Maybe a Little Vonnegut On The Side? - Banned Books Week

I see banned books. Everywhere. They are scattered around my house like ants on an abandoned jam sandwich.

A copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is balanced precariously on the printer next to my monitor with a bookmark stuck 1/3 of the way through. The same kid who left Harry hanging also abandoned Junie B. Jones and the Mushy Gushy Valentime upside down on the table by the front door.

In the bookshelves downstairs we have copies of Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, A Wrinkle in Time, Grimm's Fairy Tales, and Where The Wild Things Are. (A far from exhaustive list, trust me.) My own personal bookshelf currently holds a set of The Lord of the Rings, Jumper, and Twilight, among others.

So what's on my wish list this week? Oh, heck, why not the entire ALA Banned and/or Challenged Classics list? That seems to be a good place to find books worth reading. I think I'll start with Kim, and follow it up with A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Banned Books Week: A Wrinkle In Time

When I looked at the American Library Association's lists of top 100 banned books (by type), I have to tell you some of them really shocked me. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (#32), Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (#13), and Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park (#71) were among the many that completely perplexed me.

Another one that I just can't understand the banning of is A Wrinkle In Time' by Madeleine L'Engle (#90). I grew up on this book! I loved this book, adored this book, and cherished this book before I could even really understand what was going on in this book.

Wikipedia (the source for all accurate information) has this to say about the banning:

Reasons given include the book's references to witches and crystal balls (although the characters are not in fact witches, and the crystal ball is a science-fictional one), the claim that it "challenges religious beliefs", and the listing of Jesus "with the names of great artists, philosophers, scientists, and religious leaders".

Phewy--that's what I say. What happened to intellectual interpretation of literature? Do the people who ban books just throw that out the window? I'd like to see where on these lists Mein Kampf sits.

Anyway, about a Wrinkle In Time. Have you read it? If you haven't... how did you miss out!?

   "Meg looked. The dark shadow was still there. It had not lessened or dispersed with the coming of night. And where the shadow was the stars were not visible.
   What could there be about a shadow that was so terrible that she knew that there had never been before or ever would be again, anything that would chill her with a fear that was beyond shuddering, beyond crying or screaming, beyond the possibility of comfort?
   "That dark Thing we saw," she said. "Is that what my father is fighting?"
   "Yes," Mrs. Which said. "He is behind the darkness, so that even we cannot see him."
   Meg began to cry, to sob aloud.

. . .

   "My child, do not despair. Do you think we would have brought you here if there were no hope? We are asking you to do a difficult thing, but we are confident you can do it. Your father needs help, he needs courage, and for his children he may be able to do what he cannot for himself."

::insert demonic religion challenging laughter here::

Clearly a book worth banning. Right up there with The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien (#40).

Which brings me nicely to the song I picked out. My friend swore I couldn't use it in connection with A Wrinkle In Time because it was made for LOTR, but since I've read a large portion of the books on these banned lists it can be argued that I'm not exactly one for following convention.

Yes, that's me... banned book reader.

Enya has a song called 'May It Be' that was used in the Lord of the Rings movies, but I think it goes so well for Meg and her companions.

May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh! How far you are from home

Mornie utúlië (darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Mornie alantië (darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now

May it be the shadows call
Will fly away
May it be you journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun

Lovely.

Now, I'm off to go read some more banned books, perhaps I'll start with Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (#22).

---

Books: A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park, Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

Music: May It Be by Enya

The Face on the Milk Carton - Banned Books Week

In looking over the ALA list of the Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009 I keep running across books that surprise me. I can understand why people object to some of the books (to quote Homer Simpson, "Just because I don't care, doesn't mean I don't understand!") Others, though, just boggle the mind. (A Wrinkle in Time? I want to know who was smoking what when they decided Meg Murry posed a threat to society!)

The Face on the Milk Carton (29th on the list) by Caroline B. Cooney is one of those that puzzles me. The storyline is deceptively simple. Janie Johnson is an only child. A high school student, her life is a good one. Her parents are almost too good to be true. Her greatest worries are English, boys, and her desire for a more exotic name - until she sees a familiar picture on a milk carton.

"The girl on the carton was an ordinary little girl. Hair in tight pigtails, one against each thin cheek. A dress with a narrow white collar. The dress was white with tiny dark polka dots.

Something evil and thick settled on Janie, blocking her throat, dimming her eyes. "Sarah-Charlotte," she said. She could hear herself shouting Sarah-Charlotte's name, yet her lips were not moving; she was making no sound at all.

She reached toward Sarah-Charlotte's sleeve, but her hand didn't obey. It lay motionless on top of the carton. It looked like somebody else's hand; she could not imagine herself wearing that shade of nail polish, or that silly ring.

"You drank my milk," accused Sarah-Charlotte.

"It's me on there," Janie whispered. Her head hurt. Was the milk allergy already setting in? Or was she going insane? Could you go insane this fast? Surely it took years to lose your mind.

She imagined people losing their minds the way you might lose a penny, or your car keys--accidentally dropping your mind in the cafeteria.

"On where?" said Peter.

"The girl on the back of the carton," whispered Janie. How flat her voice sounded. As if she had ironed it. "It's me."

She remembered that dress . . . how the collar itched . . . remembered the fabric; it was summer fabric; the wind blew through it . . . remembered how those braids swung like red silk against her cheeks."

Janie's discovery shatters everything she knows about herself. The rest of the book is about the conflict between her desire to preserve the life she has always known, and her returning memories that make the familiar into something strange and threatening.

I think of Sia's Breathe Me, when I think of Janie's confusion. The melancholic, sorrowful feel of the music fits Janie as well as the lyrics.

"Ouch, I have lost myself again
Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found,
Yeah, I think that I might break
I've lost myself again and I feel unsafe"

The Face on the Milk Carton is an excellent book. Why is it considered controversial? If someone knows, enlighten me, please!

Book: The Face on the Milk Carton, Caroline B. Cooney
Music: Breathe Me, Sia