Seth Pierce

Ms. Cramer
College Comp Period 7
November 20th, 2020
Banning Books Synthesis: A Tale too old for its Time?

Banning books should not be illegal because reading is a wonderful form of creativity, books

provide knowledge that might otherwise be undocumented, and reading increases skills.

Banning books is the most common form of censorship in the world today. Books are an

educational source; they give readers the ability to learn many subjects that are needed to have an

open mind to learn something new. They can also be a source of imagination and creativity.

Authors take a huge amount of time to write each story. They each come from different

backgrounds and have individual life experiences. Books tend to open worlds that could be

different from everyone's lifestyle and by banning them, you are banning education, imagination,

and creativity.

Most books that receive challenges come from parents who disagree with the school's

curriculum. Laurie Steinberg, a parent from Dallas told the news: These books could have the

potential to make some people uncomfortable, but... our children need to be exposed to different

ideas and ways of life for others. We’re doing a disservice to our students if we don’t broaden

their minds and let them know more about the outside world.” Books are written with the hope

that individuals will have discussions about them to make their topics and subject matter easier

to understand.

Books that are being banned range from: classic, historic, fictional, nonfictional, and even

fantasy. All types of books are educational. Many of the books that are being banned challenge

our knowledge of the world and things that are different from our own lifestyles and beliefs.
They also can inspire people, give us knowledge, gain life experience, and allows individuals to

have different opinions. Some individuals believe parents have the right to sensor what their

children read, but they don’t have the right to ban which books are available for others to read.

Granted, some books were not written to be read in schools and some probably shouldn’t be read

in schools.

Parents should have the right to what books their children can read, while others might be

inappropriate for certain families. Some topics in books encourage damaging lifestyles, religious

views on witchcraft, and even religion. They can inspire people, give us knowledge, and gain life

experience, and allows individuals the right to their own opinions. Anthony Horowitz agrees that

children benefit from reading, but what they read needs to be talked about, so they understand

what they have read. Horowitz also said, “I’ve always believed that a worthwhile children's book

should encourage young reader to raise their game; it should enlighten and illuminate as well as

entertain.”

Schools have the right to not have books that shouldn't be read in schools, but libraries were built

to have all kinds of books for every type of person to read, depending on their own taste. People

can be creative and use their imaginations when reading, and even help them to escape from

reality. Schools were made to educate us, but without books, how can we learn? Many banned

books challenge our knowledge of the world and things that are different from what we believe.

Some individuals believe that authors try to corrupt the youth by writing stories with sex and

violence. When, in fact, those stories could help them face what is happening in the world

around them. They can help them cope with the good and the bad. Books should be left up to the
individual as whether to read it or not read it. We shouldn’t allow the government the right to

ban books. Everyone should be able to read whatever they are interested in.

There are also people who disagree with the banning of books. Librarian Adele Barsch organized

a discussion about raising awareness about censorship and the freedom to read whatever you

want. These discussions were called “read out events,” where individuals got together to read

excerpts from their favorite banned books and gave explanations as to why they liked it. Adele

Barsch also said that “There’s a critical mass of people who get together across the country, in

different types of libraries that do that sort of readout to commemorate (the importance of)

access to this kind of information.” “We want to reiterate that we are in favor of access to

offensive information and offensive viewpoints.”

Librarian Judith Krug founded in 1982 an event to bring attention to the increase of censorship.

The event was called “Censorship is a dead end, find your freedom to read!” During the event,

the most challenged book of 2019 was “George” by Alex Gino. It had been banned due to its

conflicting traditional family structure. At times, booksellers faced hardships from selling

banned books. One bookseller in Utah was arrested in 1973 for selling a copy of “A Clockwork

Orange.” The charges were dropped, but the owner was still forced to close his shop. When

books are banned with sensitive topics, the readers opinions about the subjects of the book are

taken away.

Society has concerns about how people will behave after reading a book, but they don’t share

that same concern when it comes to other subjects, such as who can own a firearm.,

Society also subjects public and school libraries to more challenges from parents and taxpayers

than academic libraries that protect voices and viewpoints. Librarian Adele Barsch said
perfectly: “A lot of times, we want to look at (developing collections) as black and white and to

try to find the right way to do things, but in terms of making information available, there is a lot

of grey area and a lot of complexity in our world. We need to build our collection and make

things available so we can reflect that. That way, students, faculty, and researchers have access

to everything to grow and progress and thrive as an educational institution.”

I personally feel that the rights of the author to create a book should be protected. Even though

some books are unacceptable to some, they are still acceptable to others. When you ban a book,

you take it away from someone who wants to read it. When books have bad language, violence,

and even sexual content, it may create a false sense of reality for some individuals, especially

those with underlying problems. I think by banning a book, it would make most people want to

read it rather than to ignore it. I think books have the availability to give us a chance to confront

our fears and problems. I also think that the authors who make up the stories, make it their goal

to make you think about what you are reading. You will want to know the reasons why

characters say and do what they do. I also think that even if a certain book is banned from

schools and libraries, there is still a chance to be able to read it. With our changing times, we

have online access that would allow us to find just about whatever you want. Most books now

days are made into movies and most movies are viewed by any age group no matter what they

are rated in our society.

 Works Cited

"Banning books for safety." UWIRE Text, 30 Sept. 2014, p. 1. Gale Academic OneFile,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A384132569/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=531791
dd. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
"Banning books robs students of education and entertainment." UWIRE Text, 24 Jan. 2019, p. 1.
Gale Academic OneFile,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A571510435/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=cf5c34a
b. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
Horowitz, Anthony. "Open book: If you want children to love reading, don't tell them what to
read." Spectator, vol. 342, no. 9993, 7 Mar. 2020, p. 21. Gale Academic OneFile,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A622149705/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=87ce71
6e. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
"Reading Out Against Book Banning." UWIRE Text, 4 Oct. 2014, p. 1. Gale Academic OneFile,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A384564406/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=20b0fe
5f. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.
Walters, Madison. "Banned Books Week highlights importance of eliminating censorship."
UWIRE Text, 5 Oct. 2020, p. 1. Gale Academic OneFile,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A637484169/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=350a23
00. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.