In the Monroe County Public Library there is a special enclosed zone where children play as their parents look on. It is symbolic of how parents are the last gatekeepers between young adults and books now that are rarely banned. \nOn the 25th year of the American Library Association's commemoration of Banned Books Week -- Sept. 23-30 -- Bloomington is a shining example of a town that promotes open learning with few or no banned books.
Banned Books Week is meant to celebrate the freedom to read anything. With any book available to readers of all ages at the Monroe County Public Library, and English professors not being restricted in their book choices, Bloomington is celebrating appropriately.
"As far as college reading is concerned, we consider everything fair game," said George Hutchinson, chair of the English department. \nHe said Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn" was "challenged regularly back in the old days" because it was thought to encourage juvenile delinquency and thought of as a racist text. Now it is taught regularly at IU and at younger grades alongside classics like J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye."\n"Of course, I don't see how reading words can harm people," he said. "If someone is old enough to read 'The Catcher in the Rye,' they are old enough to not be harmed by it."
Paul Gutjahr, director of undergraduate studies for the English department, said he used to teach a course on banned books. It covered the history of banned books and why books are banned. By the end, everyone agreed you can ban just about everything for any reason.\nIn the class, which was offered years ago, students looked at Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho," Joseph Heller's "Catch-22" and Grace Metalious' "Peyton Place." Gutjahr said "Catch-22" was banned for anti-war sentiments and "Peyton Place" for sexual content.
Still, "banned" might not be the most appropriate word for the books noted by the library association. According to the group's Web site, many books are challenged but never banned. Gutjahr said that even if a book is banned in a remote place like Topeka, Kan., it might still appear on the national banned books list.
When asked about age restrictions on books, Gutjahr admitted that though he taught a class about banned books and is a supporter of free speech, when it came to his own children, he had his share of worries.\n"As a parent, sure, it's an issue, but I'm not hugely concerned," he said. "For me it's more about scary stuff. I don't want them (my kids) having nightmares."\nGutjahr said the freedom of press allows a certain kind of freedom for writing, which carries into what is read. That freedom carries on to the Monroe County Public Library where Patty Cullison, manager of children's services, said anyone can check out any book they want. \nGutjahr said these days the debates are almost contained to age appropriateness, though "that's not how it was in the old days."\nThere are suggested age groups for books, with a section of the library for pre-readers through to sixth grade and a separate section for junior high and high school age readers. \nShe said there are some books that are challenged from time to time, but very few become banned. Most recently Cullison said a picture of a frog taking a bubble bath with kids was challenged because parents thought kids would take it seriously and a frog would die. That book remains on the shelf.\nWhen a book is challenged, she and other library administrators read reviews of the book to determine why it was selected for the library in the first place and decide whether the library should continue to carry it.\nOne of the only books Cullison remembers being successfully challenged is an outdated sexual education book that told woman who are being harassed to "take it." She said they re-examined the book and determined that its advice not to go to the authorities right away was antiquated and it warranted the book to be discarded.\nCullison said re-shelving and discarding old books is a normal part of a librarian's job and said they are currently in the middle of a debate. She said there is a book that has to do with incest and rape involving a young adult, and she is in the process of making sure the book is in the right section.\nHutchinson said he never restricted book choices for political or social content, but he had a born-again Christian student refuse to read "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison because of profanity.\nBloomington parent Bettina Kehoe said it is a parent's responsibility to know what their child is reading and make sure it's age appropriate. She said she read the first two Harry Potter books with her 8-year-old daughter but wasn't sure about the next books in the series. \n"She could handle the excitement of the first two books," Kehoe said of her daughter. "But we've heard the next books are darker, so we're waiting to go further in the series until we read them first." \nCullison said at the library, they put no age restrictions on books and are against censorship.\n"I'm not going to say to a 12-year-old wanting to check out 'The Catcher in the Rye,' 'I don't know if you should read this -- it deals with masturbation,'" she said. "Maybe it's something they should be reading about"
