Comments on: Reading with Scissors

By: Johnny Rocket

Johnny Rocket — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:34:07 +0000

As a high school student i fully agree that banning or censoring books only restrains teenagers from grasping topics they are beginning to face. One aspect of Part-Time Indian is the straight forward and, realistic scenarios Junior encounters, and the way he portrays them. Sticking to an adolescents mind, Sherman is able to capture these provocative incidents in the view of the reader, a teenager.

By: Jennah

Jennah — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:46:03 +0000

That “crossing out” story reminds me of the book by Tim Sandlin (which is also a great movie): Skipped Parts. It’s about two smart teens who become parents, and is named for the “skipped parts” of books that would have clued them into a few details that would have eliminated their predicament!

By: Adirec Torytski

Adirec Torytski — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:57:13 +0000

It is so amazing with what is available both online and through television media that censorship of reading material is being undertaken.

Of course as a parent it is a right to be able to restrict what is being offered to children. But to just dismiss written information without perhaps explaining principles or a moral ground for requesting a child not read something is entirely different to taking away the option. Children who have a high moral standard should be given information not have the information removed from them.

In all likelihood there is more chance the child then wants even more to read the book itself. Then the child perhaps does not understand completely and can not discuss any aspects with their parents. Children more likely will find a way to get hold of the book somewhere if they are advised they can not read it!

Just my thoughts of course.
Regards
Adirec

By: Mary Fran

Mary Fran — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:37:41 +0000

Great post, Keir. This stuff gives me the willies, not only as a library board member for my own local library (in a rather conservative area) but also as a mother of children ages 1-14. I wonder how my own board might react to a parental challenge (their history shows them to take the librarian’s side, I’m happy to say) and I wonder how I might behave if one of my sons were assigned reading that offended me. (OK, that’s a stretch, but it could happen!) I hope that I would talk about why I think it’s “bad” rather than prevent him from reading it. Isn’t that our job as parents, in the end: to instill a healthy mechanism for children to deal with conflict?

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:59:22 +0000

Hard to believe people are still doing this, isn’t it? On the one hand, as a parent of a toddler, it does become a little bit of a trick to navigate what’s “appropriate.” We were watching the Winnie the Pooh DVD, and there were some parts there that scared Maggie. So we skip those — for now. But by the time kids get to high school, all bets are off and we’ll just try to keep her from watching “Cannibal Holocaust” too many times.