Forbes Library | Banned Books Week

Forbes hails 'freedom to read': Library exhibits stacks of books formerly banned

BY BOB FLAHERTY STAFF WRITER

[ Originally published in The Daily Hampshire Gazette on: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 ]

NORTHAMPTON - When the topic of banned books comes up, some familiar titles are recalled: "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain, "Catcher in the Rye," by J.D. Salinger, "Ulysses," by James Joyce. But Black Beauty? That sweet little tale about the life of a horse was a banned book?

Yes, Anna Sewell's tender tearjerker is right there on display with the rest of them, part of Forbes Library's Banned Books Week, and the first thing patrons will see when they walk through the door is the venerable statue of Judge Forbes with a pirate's bandana on his head. "Ahoy!" cries the poster behind him. "Treasure your freedom to read and get hooked on a banned book!" Gold doubloons are scattered on a display table, surrounded by some well-known books that at one time or another were removed from shelves, burned in bonfires or otherwise thought to be responsible for putting "unsafe" ideas in people's heads.

One of the books on display, "Pillars of the Earth," Ken Follett's 973-page masterpiece of violence, betrayal, hangings and drownings, was banned in Kansas because of a rape scene.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe, was initially banned for its depiction of slavery and banned later for the subservient behavior of its main characters, as if they had a choice.

William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" was banned in Nebraska because a demoralized reader thought it implied that "man is little more than an animal."

And anyone familiar with apartheid in South Africa would understand why its racist regime banned Donald Woods' 1978 book "Biko," about black martyr Stephen Biko, but, yes, "Black Beauty" was banned there too, in 1965, simply because of its title.

Every year the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom gathers hundreds of reports on books that were challenged, meaning their removal from school or library shelves was requested. The No. 1 most challenged book series in this century is the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, which some people believe promotes witchcraft, Satanism, sorcery and evil. The ALA received 546 challenges last year alone.

But a challenge is one thing - an out-and-out banning another. Most challenges are unsuccessful, due to the commitment of teachers and librarians, but some get through.

Northampton author Leslea Newman's "Heather Has Two Mommies," depicting a lesbian couple raising a child, was the center of controversy in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Newman said that the attention the controversy brought turned out to be invaluable, if also maddening. "I used to think that Newt Gingrich was part of my publicity team," the author cracked.

"We've had books challenged here," said Lisa Downing, assistant director at the Forbes. "Mostly in the children's department, where certain themes are sometimes considered to be inappropriate for certain age groups. In the adult section, it's the right-leaning books that get questioned most. At my last job, it was the left-wing books that got the attention."

Downing produced a form, the Statement of Concern About Library Materials Form, which asks a petitioner to answer pertinent questions about the book he or she seeks to remove: To what do you object? What brought this work to your attention? Have you read, listened, or viewed the entire content? If not, which parts?

This drive to censor has been around for a while. Galileo's "Dialogo" was banned by Pope Urban VIII in 1633 and its author forced to kneel and promise to "never again in words or writing spread this damnable heresy."

In 1924, reacting to a Brooklyn library's banning of "Huck Finn," Mark Twain sarcastically rejoined: "I wrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn exclusively for adults. It always distresses me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean."

Anyone wishing to soil one's mind can do so through Saturday at the Forbes.

More information about Challenged and Banned Books from the American Library Association web site