My Personal Favorite Challenges
In my time as a youth services public librarian, I had a few challenges. Most just went away when I mentioned that the person would have to fill out a form. They would rant about such and such a book being wholly inappropriate for children and that we the library should be protecting children and – oh, a form, nah that’s too much work.
Here are the ones I really did enjoy that made it past the form.
Akira. This complaint actually came directly to me since I was the de facto graphic novel person and since I had read the entire series. Oh, note to would be banners please read the book, don’t just flip through and look for cuss words. Now there’s a lot to take issue with in Akira, especially if you’re one who doesn’t like drugs, violence, sex and horror. I braced myself for an angry tirade but instead the complaint was only three words long – “This isn’t art.”
A Distant Soil. Colleen Doran’s masterpiece was on our young adult shelf not getting read. My teens much preferred manga and superheroes but still it’s good series and I thought it deserved at least some shelf space. Then a mother picked it up and complained about “homosexuality”. By flipping through (of course, it’s always a flip through), she had seen two women kissing and clearly about to make love.
Me: Oh, that’s not two women. That’s a man and a woman, he’s just an alien species that wears their hair long as a symbol of power.
Her: Oh, ok, nevermind then!
I’m just glad she didn’t turn the page to see the male alien make out with his very male slave.
Believe it or not, liberals challenge books too. I had one woman who was furious when she stuck in an audio-cassette of Dragonwings by Laurence Yep and her children were exposed to the devastating lives of the Chinese immigrants at the turn of the 20th Century. She didn’t want her children knowing how badly they were treated because she was trying to teach her children to be kind to everyone. I really had to bite my tongue on this one because the description on the back clearly states that the boy works in a laundromat and surely she didn’t think that child labor was going to be sweet and funny did she? Also, if you are really worried about what your children are reading or listening to – read or listen to it yourself first! It might save you some heartache.
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