And the Banned Played On

Today marks the start of Banned Books Week, a celebration of the freedom to read. This week, LGBT families have a particular reason to observe the event. Children’s storybook And Tango Makes Three, based on a true story about two male penguins who adopt an abandoned egg, tops the American Library Association’s list of “10 Most Challenged Books of 2006.” The Harry Potter series, however, tops the list of “Most Challenged Books of the 21st Century (2000-2005).”

According to the ALA, “parents challenge materials more often than any other group.” The top three reasons for doing so are that it is considered “sexually explicit” contains “offensive language,” or is “unsuited to age group.” Even without an explicit “homosexuality” category (which they do have), it’s easy to see why books with LGBT characters and themes are challenged by the narrowminded who somehow think we spend all our time having sex. (We’re parents . . . who are they kidding?)

Censorship and the ostracism of our families is a persistent fear for LGBT parents. Ongoing struggles in Evesham, New Jersey and Lexington, Massachusetts are only the most recent, visible examples of the ultra-right trying to squash any mention of LGBT families in schools.

Banned Books Week shows us that we are not alone, however. Other frequently challenged works include ones by Maya Anjelou, Margaret Atwood, Isabel Allende, and Toni Morrison, as well as children’s and young adult authors Judy Blume, Roald Dahl, and Maurice Sendak.

Banned Books Week can even give us a foot in the door to raise issues of inclusion. If your local or school library is having a reading or discussion of banned books, you might use it as an opportunity to ask if they carry such works as Daddy’s Roommate, Heather Has Two Mommies, or It’s Perfectly Normal, a book that explains puberty and sexuality—straight and not—for kids of all types. This setting might give you a more welcoming audience than if you bring up the question out of the blue sometime.

You could also use the occasion to explain censorship to your older children. Try starting with this short article on attempts to ban Harry Potter.

What’s your favorite banned or challenged book? For me, I’d have to say the Harry Potter series, in terms of pure enjoyment. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird holds a special place in my heart, though, in that it was the first book that really made me aware of the effects of prejudice. I find it ironic that it continues to be challenged.