My mother used to regularly search my room to find out what I was reading. When I was a senior in high school, a friend loaned me a Tolkien(I believe it was The Silmarillion) and she told me that if I didn't return it immediately, she was going to burn it, since it had dead trees on the front and couldn't I see that it was about death? Why did I want to read about death? I never did finish reading that book.

When I was a junior, my father took the assigned book, Lord of the Flies, and wrote all through it, scripture passages, with references. He told me I had to take it back to school, show it to the teacher, and explain every passage. I was terrified. He wrote in a book! The school's property! My teacher was thrilled with the feedback and he and she had many interesting conversations about the book. It was the only book that my parents challenged that I could read at home, that I was allowed to finish, because of the teacher's attitude. She was pretty amazing.

Wow. Deena, I think we had exact opposites for adults in our respective houses. We had a "nothing with words in it is censored" policy. If it was on the shelf, I could read it, which may explain some of my weirdnesses; I do remember blinking at a Japanese pillow book (no clue who it belonged to), asking my aunt if this was the same thing the animals on my uncle's farm always seemed to be on about, and why the facial expressions? SHe told me yes, that was about right, and about those facial expressions, to ask again in about five years if I still needed a reply (I was about nine).

The only time I ever got flack from an adult about what I was reading was with Ayn Rand. I had picked up something, I think "Atlas Shrugged", and my grandmother asked me why I was reading that filthy nazi rubbish, and for heavens sake, throw it in the trash where it belonged. I didn't do that, but I did put it away; went back and read it later, or tried to, and discovered that Ms Rand and I do not cohere.

But that was the only time I remember, and it wasn't censorship, just a reaction to a book by someone she'd met and cordially loathed. And the adults in my family were just as likely to point out things they didn't like or agree with in everything else, including the various sacred texts from Jewish to Chrisitian to Hindu. But I was allowed to read everything.

My dad would frequently hand me books to read (sci-fi, mostly), only to have my mother say "Isn't there an awful lot of sex in that?" at the dinner table when I mentioned how much I was enjoying it. My dad's response was always "Oh, really?" (not playing innocent -- genuinely clueless), and my mother would roll her eyes and say "Okay."

They never took anything away from me -- my mom didn't really mind that I was reading Jitterbug Perfume at age 10, it just wouldn't have occured to her to recommend it to me -- but it was an amusing pattern, later to be repeated with my oldest-younger sister, and brother. (My youngest-younger sister, alas, does not enjoy reading. We suspect she may be a pod person.)

My parents never censored, but my mom would certainly comment and judge anything contrary to her values. I occasionally hid books from her, not because I expected her to ban me from reading them, but because I didn't want to hear the "why must they use those words" or "why can't they wait till they're married" lectures AGAIN.

There were a few books (the first one I can think of is Roots, which I read when I was 11 or 12, but pretty much any book with a rape scene) where my mother would talk with me about it as I was reading, to make sure I knew that all sex wasn't like that, but Jephti's Daughter was the only book that was ever taken away from me.

My senior year in high school, in AP English, our teacher spent the whole first quarter on Greek drama, and he wanted us to read The Frogs. The only way it was published at that time was in a book that also included Lysistrata and one other play. The school board refused, because they said that Lysistrata was inappropriate for us. The teacher protested the absurdity of making him not able to teach a totally appropriate play just because of the way it was published. The school board finally agreed to order the books, on the condition that, when he handed them out, he was to tell us to read The Frogs and only The Frogs. This had the predictable effect.

I can only remember one time my parents called the school about reading material. My freshman year of high school, we read Inherit the Wind, and my teacher made a lot of comments about how certain characters represented the "angry, vengeful" Old Testament G-d and others represented the "loving, peaceful" New Testament G-d. I objected, she countered that she was stating facts and I was trying to impose my own religious interpretation to soften the Old Testament. My mother was ready to pull me out of the class, but I didn't want to create that much of an issue. At our school, all freshman are required to read one Shakespeare play, but each teacher can decide which one, from a list of about three or four. My mother called the head of the English department to make sure that this teacher would not be allowed to teach Merchant of Venice, at least not to my class.

When I was in 7th grade, my English teacher recommended that I read and write a book report on The Exorcist. That warranted a visit from my parents, into my classroom, where I was in class, and a somewhat raised voice discussion. The teacher said she only mentioned it in passing; I said she used the words 'you should read...', which was true. She was embarrassed and angry, I was embarrassed. My parents were livid. And, frankly, I don't think I'd recommend that book to an 11 or 12 year old, so I don't think she thought things through very well -- though, she didn't like me, and that might have coloured the way she responded to me, I don't know.

The thing about my parents is that they are not well-educated, they think I'm a pod person, and they were bewildered by my voracious reading appetite. There was not only an alien child in their midst, but I was bringing things into the house they didn't know how to handle. I don't think they'd react that way now (they're certainly tolerant of Nick's musical taste when he visits, another big problem button when I was a child), but it certainly caused a lot of friction at the time.

I don't think I'd rec The Exorcist, book or movie, to anyone of any age. I got to page 50 or thereabouts, said something unprintable, and put it in the recycling bin, basically. Loathed it.

I'm trying to remember if there was anything in the house that sent me off to adults with questions, other than the Japanese gents with the enormous organs. I don't think so, because I was and am very close to my nearest-in-age sister Alice, who happens to be 9 years my senior, and therefore was askable without qualifying as a proper adult.

Must ask my sister later if I ever boggled at something I read....

(edited because way too much explanation.)

The school board refused, because they said that Lysistrata was inappropriate for us.

That cracks me up, because my high school put on Lysistrata as their fall play, the year before I got there. The boys stuffed their pants.

My class read Lysistrata senior year and our assignment was to write an essay about why a school board might object to it being assigned reading.

Neither of my parents read anything but the bible, the newspaper, and the Sunday School quarterly. Reading was not a pastime for them. They were pleased that I liked to read, although my mom would yell at me for reading library books when I was supposed to be doing my homework. I must have been 10, maybe a little younger when I realised I needed to edit a bit when asked about the book I was reading. I knew their beliefs, and their slant on things. So when I was reading Michener's Hawaii at 11 and my mom asked what it was about, I said it was about how the American missionaries and the Chinese and the Japanese had settled the Hawaiian islands. That satisfied her. I never hesitated to answer a query, and was always factual, if I didn't offer full disclosure. It was simpler that way. And I was never forbidden to read anything.