How to ban books in Hillsborough County Schools

Catherine Durkin Robinson is a handful, creating quite a scene over at Out in Left Field.

"It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written. The books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers." – Judy Blume

When I taught high school, I hung in my classroom a rather large piece of white cardboard that stated: Celebrate Freedom – Read a Banned Book. Underneath that caption, I listed 20 titles and authors, explaining to students that these were books banned somewhere in America today.

Kids don’t like being told what to do. If they think someone, somewhere, doesn’t want them reading To Kill a Mockingbird, they are more likely to pick it up and find out why. I offered extra credit for every banned book they read. My students left Sickles High School at the end of each year with an appreciation for literature and a disdain for those who would keep it from them.

No longer teaching, I’ve brought this lesson home. Reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn with my 10-year-old sons is more interesting because it’s listed on Mommy’s “Banned Books” sweatshirt.

Huck’s language and torment over whether he should turn in his friend, a runaway slave, is uncomfortable to read, especially out loud to impressionable kids. My children and I have to stop quite often and talk about the words, Huck’s age, his kind heart, and the consequence of living without good guidance.

No wonder most parents would instead prefer to ban the book from their home and watch American Idol instead. It’s easier.

And that is their right.

But some parents take this a step further and go to great lengths to keep controversial books out of school libraries so that no one can read them. This is the story of one small group of parents who sought to ban Running with Scissors, and how that determination, combined with knowing the right people, affected nine high schools, and perhaps all of us, throughout Hillsborough County.

This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2010.