Banned books read aloud in Speakers Circle

Library science students and others picked their favorite books to read at the event.

By Trevor Eischen

Published Sept. 30, 2009

Library sciences students gathered at Speakers Circle on Wednesday to celebrate Banned Books Week, an event promoting First Amendment rights to read banned books.

Professor John Budd, as well as library science students, read aloud excerpts from their favorite banned books. Budd read J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" to listeners and passers-by near a table promoting the event.

Graduate student Ingrid Bohnenkamp picked her favorite book from the large pile. The book, titled "Our Bodies, Ourselves" is a detailed guide for women experiencing different facets of life at different ages.

"If you read through it, you can see why some groups might be outraged by it," Bohnenkamp said. "It's pretty unapologetic and it approaches sexuality from every direction."

Bohnenkamp said there is no one list dictating which books are banned and which are not. Rather, individual libraries choose to bar books in response to residential, church and political advocates. In the U.S., people still have the right to read these books, but the libraries have the right to take them off the shelves, too.

"When we say a book is banned, that doesn't necessarily mean it's been completely taken off the shelves and can't be read anywhere," Bohnenkamp said. "It's just that in some libraries it's been taken off shelves. It's a pretty broad definition."

Banned books lists across the country include works from famous authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway and other expected culprits. Missouri's Mark Twain boasts one of the most publically challenged books, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."

But some other authors have also found their books on lists, including J.K. Rowling and Dr. Seuss.

According to the 1997 Banned Books Resource Guide, J.K. Rowling's characters and plotlines in the Harry Potter series involve sorcery and witchcraft that could potentially harm or distract children.

Dr. Seuss's "The Lorax" is a children's story about a small, furry creature called the Lorax who tries to save his forest of Truffula Trees from the industrial giant the Once-ler. Some perceive the story as an unjustified attack on industrialization, graduate student Anthony Strand said.

"It says 'the book criminalizes the foresting industry,'" Strand said, reading an excerpt from the Banned Books Resource Guide. "It's 'The Lorax' for heaven's sake!"

Strand said he joined the efforts of the librarians during this week because he feels people have the right to read these provocative books. He said other books, including Seuss's, should be taken off the banned books list and placed back on the bookshelves in libraries that ban them.

"I'm just a concerned librarian," Strand said. "For me, so many of these books that have been banned, 'The Lorax' for example -- it's ridiculous."

Strand also said there is no central region in the country where books are banned the most. "Slaughter-House 5," a Vonnegut book he read aloud for the event, is banned in libraries in North Dakota, Florida, Maine and Georgia.

Inside Ellis Library, Director of MU Libraries Jim Cogswell introduced professor Charles Davis saying the week's events highlight the importance of our First Amendment rights. Davis is the executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition and a journalism professor at MU.

Davis spoke about a series of articles he worked on with a class several years ago dealing with banned books. He and his class investigated records of complaints at school districts and interviewed upset parents. He said parental censorship is the source of many banned books.

"I am a firm believer in the fact that we are one instance away from a banned book," Davis said. "Indeed, we are typically one angry parent away from a banned book."

Davis also said it's only a matter of time before groups become more organized in their attempts to ban books. He said when he did his investigation, he was troubled to discover some books are being informally censored by librarians simply putting them out of sight.

"The library is a place of exploration," Davis said. "It's a place where the reader isn't circumscribed."