In Praise of "Banned Books"

 

I lost my mom when I was seven

not knowing how different 

my life would be; yet I was still me.

I lived with my dad, surrounded

by aunts and friend’s moms

and teachers who guided me

in a town where everyone knew

us;  our families, parents, grandparents too.

I grew up in the era of civil rights and Kennedy

Vietnam, the Cold War, Charles Manson, LSD.

Our teachers encouraged us to read.

They planted the seeds that expanded

our own little corner of the world.

The Library’s Summer Reading Program was our passport

to learn of lives and cultures outside of our own, such as

—four orphaned siblings who create a home for themselves

    in an abandoned boxcar.

—the hardships of a Jewish girl in Nazi Germany

—the alleged guilt of a man of color, 

    a coming of age story about the roots and consequences

    of racism in the south.

—the life of two migrant workers, one slow in intelligence, 

    in California during the Great Depression

—the hard reality of a farmer and his wife from a village in China

    which opened my eyes to the inequality of women

    depicted through a different culture pre-WWII

I read the dark tales of Poe,

solved mysteries with Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes;

escaped into Science Fiction with Jules Verne and Ray Bradbury.

I walked from the Shire to Mordor and back

traveling through these stories to places different

—yet somehow the same—as my own.

To decide what children can or cannot read

based on your own biases, or the opinions of others, is unjustified.

If you believe, based on someone else’s word, that a book

is perverse or deviant, read it yourself first to find out.

As a parent or caregiver, it is your job to educate yourself

and discuss these matters with your children.

My son devoured stories from the time he began reading

often opening my eyes and mind to stories I had not yet read.

I am forever grateful to the teachers, the librarians, the adults

in my life,  for allowing me the freedom

to read: to expand my knowledge, my interests; to see 

life outside of where I lived,  so that I could

make informed decisions on who I wanted to be.

© Ginny Brannan 2023

 

Forever grateful to authors Gertrude Chandler Warner, Anne Frank, Harper Lee, John Steinbeck,  Pearl S. Buck, Edgar Allan Poe, Carolyn Keene, Jules Verne, Ray Bradbury, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, J.R.R. Tolkien, just to name a few,  and Alice Walker, Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and all the authors of my adult life, too. Too many to mention, but forever appreciated.