Banning books bans learning

A week ago, a video of John Green popped up on my TikTok for you page. Normally, it would be something I ignored and scrolled past. However, I heard that an Orange County school board candidate wanted to ban his first book, “Looking for Alaska”, from all schools and libraries in that district and I was drawn in.

Green said that the concept of his book being band was “surreal” because that was the school district he was from and the candidate, and the group behind the idea Moms for Liberty, were some of the kids he had gone to school with. 

Now, banning books is not a new concept in school systems and it isn’t surprising that this is happening. Last year, the graphic novel “Maus” by Art Spiegelman was banned from school curriculum in Tennessee because of violence, nudity and profanity. The book is a retelling of Spiegelman’s father’s experiences as a Polish Jew that survived the Holocaust. 

The book naturally is violent, given the period in history, and yet it was banned. The story is an important one, one that teenagers need to read. But because Spiegelman told the story in a realistic way, students have to suffer by not getting that point of view. 

“Looking for Alaska” is nothing like “Maus”, but I still think it’s an important piece of fiction for young adults. 

The people wanting to ban Green’s book called it pornography because of certain sexual scenes that happen. And if anyone has ever read the book, they wouldn’t necessarily think that word was an appropriate description. Instead, I’d describe the book as an homage to being a teenager. Whether parents like it or not, teenagers think about sex and even have sex quite a bit. It’s just the reality of growing up. But the story is about more than that. It talks about death and finding your identity, all things that teens should learn to do. 

I’d understand if the book was being banned because it was targeted toward young children. But that’s the thing. It wasn’t written with young children in mind. It’s written about high school students, with high school being the target audience.

Green said that he found it ironic that the group Moms for Liberty were pushing for his book to be banned when the reality of it is that they are trying to “restrict the liberty of other people’s kids to read what librarians and teachers deem appropriate for those other people’s kids to read.”

I think he hit the nail right on the head with that statement. 

Why should a group of parents get the right to restrict what other kids read? Shouldn’t they simply mind their own business and not allow their own children to read the book?

In my eyes, reading, regardless of if it’s fiction or nonfiction, is meant to broaden your mind about the world and allow you to make your own decisions about the world. If we censor that view because something isn’t appropriate, where would that self-discovery come from?

It’s not right that groups of close-minded individuals get to decided that the next generation has to follow in those same footsteps. Teenagers should not have to look at the world through rose-colored glasses only to have them pulled off when they enter the ‘real world.’ That is how we end up in an unaccepting world, where those ‘undesirable’ things we don’t talk about are seen as taboo. 

Ironically, this week is banned book week. So, if you have the time, pick up a banned book that you weren’t allowed to read in high school and give it a read. Who knows, you might discover something new about yourself by reading it.