LISSTEN celebrated the right to read by organizing a public reading during ALA’s 25th Annual Banned Books Week

Renee Varnadore

On September 30th LISSTEN celebrated the right to read by organizing a public reading during ALA’s 25th Annual Banned Books Week (September 29-October 6), joining libraries, schools, and bookstores around the country in showing the importance of the First Amendment right to read freely.  SLIS students enjoyed Southern California’s blue skies and shade trees at CSU Fullerton in the quad just outside of the University library. Five book lovers sat in the Reader’s Chair and read aloud from their favorite banned book.

Kim Hughes, a Los Angeles teacher, began with Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in LA by Luis Rodriguez.  Rodriguez wrote the book in 1993 in response to renewed gang activity. The book, based on his own experiences in the 60s and 70s, is often challenged because of its depiction of drug use and graphic sex.  Jym Varnadore commented, “The descriptions of inhalant sniffing that Rodriguez uses in this book had to have been written by someone who used inhalants. This is perplexing to me, since most sniffers cannot put two sentences together.” Kim commented that some of her students felt the book was more relevant to their lives than anything else they had read in school.

Amy Swindler shared The Giver by Lois Lowry. She is aware that the book is frequently challenged primarily because of its theme, euthanasia. The “release” that Lowry’s community relishes is their chosen time for death. Nevertheless, she taught the book to her English class.  Her students loved the book, and enjoyed discussing its literary qualities. Amy offered an extra credit assignment to any student who wanted to research both sides of the euthanasia debate.

Renee Varnadore discussed the long history of censorship regarding Slaughterhouse-Five: The Children’s Crusade A Duty-Dance With Death, Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war book. This past year in Howell, Michigan, the book was challenged to see if a law had been broken regarding giving sexually explicit material to minors. The prosecutor gave his verdict, “After reading the book in question, it is clear that the explicit passages illustrated a larger literary, artistic or political message and are not included solely to appeal to the prurient interests of minors.”

Jym Varnadore read Ken Kesey’s 1962 novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Jym chose this book because he could identify with the characters and the environment. The part he chose to read aloud “is the climax of the book, it relates to the theme, ‘Keep on trying, even if you know you can’t win’.” Before his reading, he told the group that his selection, "included examples of every objection the book had been challenged on.”

Cliff Bushin read from Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This book is about the ultimate form of censorship, book burning. In Bradbury’s anesthetized society, it is illegal to own books, and people are prohibited from reading anything at all.  Firemen start fires to destroy confiscated books; the flames burn paper when the temperature reaches 451 degrees Fahrenheit.

LISSTEN Board members and volunteers set up tables to display books that have been challenged or banned.  We even took a group photo with LISSTEN members holding up their favorite banned or challenged book.

In late afternoon, everyone circled up on the lawn to discuss some thought-provoking questions: Have you ever faced censorship? Why are books censored? What surprised you on the list? Which banned book has made a positive effect on you? What banned book has been influential to someone you know? And ultimately, why are books censored? Eric Bryan gave us his insight into this question:  “I feel that they are censored by people who don't understand or have a deeper grasp of the underlying message of a book.  It seems that there are very few, if any, books on the banned list that don't have some profound concept or message to convey, and life is not always nice or clean, so why should books depicting life be sanitized?”

LISSTEN Board members and volunteers did a lot of preparation to make the event fun and informative. They made arrangements with Henry’s Market to donate water and snacks for everyone. Heather made beautiful heart bookmarks for the female readers, Brenda, the treasurer, gave mugs to the male readers and also sold out of T-shirts. Creative energy bounced around the craft table. Voluminous materials: ribbon, yarn, beads, stickers and strips of old greeting cards were brought by Brenda and Coleen to make custom bookmarks.

For Further Reading:

:: ALA: Banned Books Week
:: Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course
    Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century