Banned Books

Symptoms of being human, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Maus, The Hate U Give. Do any of these sound familiar? Most students here at Woodstock have discovered or read these books in English Classes.

In Ms. Fountain’s English I classroom, the following books can be seen in her book shelf: Symptoms of Being Human, The Hate U Give, Maus, All American Boys and Speak. In Ms. S-J’s English II classroom, you can find Perks of being a Wallflower and 1984, among others. The one thing that all these books have in common is that they have been challenged or banned in libraries and schools all around the U.S. Most have gotten challenged, which is described as an attempt to remove and restrict them from a person or group.

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a book about Charlie, a freshman who mostly keeps to himself. The book is in the form of letters that Charlie writes to a friend as he deals with grief, love and mental illness. However, some people have decided to ban this book because of: sexual content, “glorification” of alcohol and drug use and LGBTQ content.

Ms. SJ has been teaching Perks of Being a Wallflower for three years. She says the reason she teaches this book is because “Perks appeals to kids because it feels real. It doesn't skirt over issues that many teens face.” She says that the book discusses issues that teens actually deal with today like drugs, alcohol, smoking and sex. “While many adults would rather pretend that it is not happening, the fact is, it is happening” Ms. SJ also mentions that students can recognize parts of their lives with books like this.

“That's why book banners get so up-in-arms about "controversial" books in the first place. They are scared of how "controversial" ideas might challenge the status quo, and disrupt their positions of privilege (though they'd never put it that way themselves! That's just how I see it!),” MS. S-J says. She adds that she wants students to feel seen. “I want them to see literature as something that is connected to their world.”

English I teacher Ms. Fountain agrees, “They (banned books) deal with reality and some people feel the need to shelter students from that.”

Ms. Fountain teaches a number of banned books including Maus a graphic novel about the Holocaust. The artist and author, Art Spiegelman, represents Jews as mice, Nazis as cats and Americans as dogs. Maus is the story of Art Spiegelman’s parents' life in Poland explained through an interview he did with his father. The book was recently banned in Tennessee for its “inappropriate language” and nudity.

“You can’t sugar coat the Holocaust so you can’t teach it without noting the violence,” Ms. Fountain says noting that it is mice that are nude and some students learn better from the graphic form..

During the year she also gives students the option of three books, all also banned in some school districts. Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger has been challenged since 1961 and there have been multiple attempts to censor this book in California, Wyoming and North Dekota and three of these attempts were successful. The debate around this book is because if it’s profanity and sexual references along with moral issues and “ a communist plot.”

The second book offered to students is Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin, a novel about Riley a teenager who navigates through their experience with identity and their journey to coming out as gender fluid. “To me it's important to show students other perspectives and to help open their minds to people who are different from or similar to them,” Ms. Fountain says.

The final banned book in that unit is Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson “This book deals with rape and the message is to speak out. It’s important for students to hear and learn about these situations,”Ms. Fountain says. The story is of a high school freshman, Melinda Sordino and her return back to school after being a victim of sexual assault during a party. This book was put in fourth place for most challenged and banned book in 2020 in the US. Here are some of the many complaints this book got: biased against male students, including profanity and rape, glorifying premarital-sex, use of alcohol and cursing.

Although these books are heavily discussed and banned in other schools all around the U.S, students and teachers at WUHS don’t seem to run from these controversial topics.