Has anyone else seen this? It's a few years old but I saw it linked on Tumblr today.

First of all I can't believe there are still schools banning those books, but running an illegal library out of your locker? That is one kick-ass kid.

My favorite part?

Twilight is banned also, but I don't want that polluting my library.

I loved that, zuisa!

They should film that story and show it every Chrstimas, most definitely including the Twilight quote somehow.

Good Stuff!

It's Banned Books Week, too, I think.

I have always been so baffled by the censorship of books of any kind. I was reading constantly as a child - to the point where I had almost literally exhausted all the books in the children's section of my town's small library by the time I was about 10. The YA section was even more pathetic, I decided they were all not worth my time, and I moved straight on to the adult section.

The librarian almost dropped dead when my mother let me read "Firestarter" and "Carrie" when I was 12. They scared the hell out of me, but I've always been glad that no one told me I couldn't read them.

I realize that censoring books for their ideological content is different than censoring them for age-appropriateness, but I still just don't get it. I think my bottom line is that if you have been instilling XYZ values into a child their whole life and you think that one book which disagrees is going to undo everything you've ever taught them - you just didn't do a very good job.

Or it's as though they're afraid that if a child - or adult - finds out that there's any other way to think, a lifetime of learning one way will be overcome.

I had problems when I was a kid that I was reading way above my age level and was bored with most of what was in the children's section. They finally let me check out adult books when I was 12. My parents didn't say I couldn't read any particular book, although some were hidden from me (but not vey well).

I'm so glad neither my parents nor my library restricted my reading level. I know that I did try to read at least one book too soon (GWTW in 3rd grade--still cannot stand that book to this day), but neither of my parents stopped me when I read Roots in 5th grade, nor did Mom take away the Rosemary Rogers bodice-rippers I started reading in 6th grade.

I think that Mom figured that, as the youngest, I'd be picking up whatever my older sibs were reading anyway, and she knew I'd ask her if I had any questions (that I didn't already answer by doing my own research--I've always tended to do that from day 1), so she let me loose amongst the stacks. My librarians all knew me or got to know me really quickly, so they knew to let me read whatever. The advantages of a small storefront branch library!

My parents didn't say I couldn't read any particular book, although some were hidden from me (but not vey well).

Yeah, I'll be hiding the porn when my kids start to read. It's just not something I want to share with my kids, and I assume they will feel the same way. (I also have no doubt that by the time they're old enough to be interested in such things, they will have the necessary skills to aquire their own. Or they can just learn about sex from Anne Rice and Robert Heinlein like I did.)