Should The Glass Castle Be Banned

Once upon a time, in a world not far from here, there are students who are forced to miss their annual train ride to Hogwarts, lock the wardrobe to the magical land of Narnia, and walk through the English countryside themselves instead of upon the back of Black Beauty. Why are these students deprived of those occurrences? They live in America, the land of the free- except when it comes to the books they can read. In fact, many schools across America exercise the practice of banning books. Since 1982, libraries, parents, and schools have attempted to ban 11,300 novels, according to the American Library Association. The essentially innoxious books are challenged for an assortment of reasons, including use of malapropos language, graphic or explicit

The Catcher in the Rye. The Scarlet Letter. Huckleberry Finn. Harry Potter. The Diary of Anne Frank. Animal Farm. To Kill a Mockingbird. The Da Vinci Code. The Grapes of Wrath. These literary classics have been vital to the education of many, especially children and adolescents (Banned Books). These great novels both teach important values and educate children about world affairs and classic themes. Unfortunately, each of these novels has been banned at one point in time. In a country where freedom is so adamantly advocated, it is a wonder that an issue like censorship would even come up, that such a controversy would sink its claws into the minds of states’ boards of education across the nation.

When parents realized thattheir children would be exposed to such things, some immediately publicized their outragethrough the press, complaining to Boards of Education, hoping to ban the book or have it simplyremoved from school districts and libraries.In Burlington, North Carolina,

Because of offensive language and ideas that are represented in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, it has been banned in many school libraries and lessons. One of the main reasons that it was banned in school is because of offensive words like the n-word and also because of the fact that the plot is centered around rape. One of the school board members, Kenny Holloway, said, “We can teach the same lessons with other books.” Many people agree with Holloway’s opinion, saying that the same ideas that are represented in To Kill A Mockingbird could be taught with a less controversial book. However, other people say that students are tough enough to handle the story. While many people don’t think that this book is appropriate for school, some people

Each year, someone is guilty of challenging a book while others are guilty of banning novels from the classroom. The question remains, is censorship necessarily a negative thing? Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a novel that has caused havoc and controversy within the education system. While some critics argue Speak should be “hidden” from students, many believe otherwise. At a glance, this novel contains scenes involving issues of drugs, parents that are disengaged in their child 's life, sexuality, and rape. It may seem understandable that it has been challenged throughout the past, however, while reading this novel, these specific scenes introduce a student to much more than just “inappropriate content.” By censoring this novel from

The main reason for the banning of this novel is because of the profanity according to NCAC. NCAC states that this novel has " been challenged or banned due to objections to profanity." Therefore this novel should be banned from high schools and libraries. The use of profanity causes a sense of disproportion for the youthful minds reading this publication.

A growing problem in schools around the country is the topic of censoring books from children based on parents and teachers’ beliefs on what’s appropriate for students. There’s no doubt in my mind that The Glass Castle is filled with adult themes not primarily written for a younger audience. The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls’ life, largely her childhood with her parents and siblings, and her breaking away from her parents to become a relatively successful adult. The novel contains events of sexual assault and substance abuse, Jeannette’s parents raise her and her siblings horribly and there’s plenty of violence scattered throughout the book- Jeannette tries to shoot another child from her school at one point. However, this doesn’t mean this book should be banned from schools. This book should be allowed to be read by at least high school students not only because of how well-written and a good read it is, but the various lessons about life it offers to the reader, largely through Jeannette’s father.

According to the American Library Association, the most common group of people, challenging a book being read in schools, was the parents of the students. Parents have a right to be in charge of what is put into the minds of their students, however just because one parent objects does not mean that the whole school should ban the book from the list. A solution for this book would be to enforce parental consent for books to be read in the classroom. If a parent does not want a book to be read in the classroom, then there should be other options for the student to read. The school and teacher should not trespass on a parent’s rights of raising their child. I believe that if a parent has a concern, they should go and discuss the problem with the teacher so that the teacher will be able to defend their reasoning for choosing the book to be read in the classroom.

There has recently been a renewed interest and passion in the issue of censorship. In the realm of the censorship of books in schools alone, several hundred cases have surfaced each year for nearly the past decade. Controversies over which books to include in the high school English curriculum present a clash of values between teachers, school systems, and parents over what is appropriate for and meaningful to students. It is important to strike a balance between English that is meaningful to students by relating to their lives and representing diversity and satisfying worries about the appropriateness of what is read. This burden often falls on teachers. The purpose of this research paper is to discuss

Why do certain people rule over what each child can and cannot read? Is that not the parents’ job to determine whether or not is it appropriate for their child? When a book is considered banned, parents, teachers, and librarians are discouraged from providing the book to their children. Many of these adults then disapprove of the book without even reading it. Junie B. Jones is thrown from the realm of possibility for many children just because the loveable character has some flaws.

According to the American Library Association (ALA), young adult novels are challenged with the best intentions. In most cases a parent will read a book that their child might be reading in class to find out if the book is hazardous to their child’s well-being. If the novel seems problematic, the parent then challenges the book. Even though the purpose of challenging a novel is to keep children from reading about issues that may not be seen as appropriate for their age group, censoring children from difficult subject matter is not always the solution. There is always controversy when difficult issues arise in adolescent geared novels. Even though there are many concerns with Lois Lowry’s The Giver,

What would be the difference between the genre of banned and non-banned books be? All there is to separate the two from banned and non-banned would be the way the writer would be making the book sound or their use of language that would separate the two from the other books of their genre that don't be straightforward with their ideas or events that happen for any reason at all.

I believe that you should be mature enough and warned about it before you read it. This should be required to read in high school. It teaches a very good lesson that everyone should know about. People need to understand how tough she had it, but that she overcame that and became a better person. This book should not be banned just because one person can not handle it. Just because someone does not have the maturity level to get the concept does not mean others should be able to read it. This is an amazing novel that shows you is you think you have it worse than others that you don't and there is people struggling more than you, but it doesn't mean you cannot change it. It might take time but it is

proper for our students to read” (Hollins). There is conflict between children and their elders

School boards, principals, and teachers have a responsibility for protecting the minds of their students by covering grade and age appropriate material in the classroom. However, does this given responsibility cover the act of banning books from their classrooms? As an advocate for each student, does the teacher not have a duty to introduce the students to a these words issues in order to help the student cope with the different problems in the world? How does a school decide which books should be banned and how much say does the teacher have what should be left up to the teacher? Some say that banning books from the classroom, we prevent them from learning about different controversial topics in a safe and secure environment. In this paper I reflect on my research question: Why do schools ban books in the classroom?