Easy like Sunday morning....

Greetings readers!

The end of the week was good. Thursday night Bibi and I made chocolate chip cookies and they were good.

Friday was good as well. I went to work (I'm back at Il Spazio) and then Bibi and I went to a get together for some of her sorority sisters, and that was fun. Saturday we just hung out with a friend who came over to work with me on my iPod. (Good stuff--thanks Dan!!). Then, we cleaned up a little around the house, and I went to work again. It was a really weird, slow night.

During all of these things, I was reading a new book. On Friday I finished "You Suck" by Christopher Moore, and it was succulent. (Har dee har har.) However, I needed a new book, and so I went to talk to my school librarian. She was excited to see me, because we often talk about new kids books and developments in the realm of children's lit. So, here's the deal...

There's this new book. I don't want to be too specific, but it is the 2007 Newberry Award winner. (That means that it is being acknowledged as the best of books written specifically for children.) However, in the first page there are references to decidedly un-childlike topics. And, on page nine, the entire page is dedicated to that same topic. At first glance, having only seen those two pages, I was chagrined and taken aback. See, I'm not for censorship AT ALL. However, common sense has to play a huge part in determining whether or not a given reading material is appropriate for a specific age group. I was really, really torn. There are a lot of factors to consider: value of the rest of the piece, importance of the questionable material in context, and the literary "worth" of the piece as a whole. For example, I feel that Huck Finn, an unbelievably excellent book, is important as a whole because the use of the controversial "n word" is purposeful and designed to highlight the hypocracy of racism in general, and slavery specifically.

So, I read the book. And, here are my conclusions: While the book deals with some excellent topics, i.e.: abandonment, death, belonging, redemption, family, finding one's "higher power" and making responsible decisions, just to name a few, it does so in a way that does not redeem the use of the questionable material. It's good, but...it's not THAT good. I think that it is appropriate for older kids, and since my kids are the oldest kids in my school, and the book would be available to younger, less emotionally mature kids, it probably isn't the best option to put it in our library, but placing it at the middle school would be a good choice.

So, here's my question for you....

Censorship...a necessary evil, or needlessly draconian administrative micromanagement tool? And, are there any books that you've read that should, or should NOT have been censored?

Discuss....