Hey, SA — the ACLU Texas report Free People Read Freely 2009 is out, and it’s pretty damning, regarding the number of books banned, restricted or challenged in Texas schools. At Missions Unknown, we’re readers. [Read it all...]]]>

Ray Bradbury's all-time classic FAHRENHEIT 451 -- a cautionary tale about censorship that unfortunately is as relevant as ever.

Hey, SA — the ACLU Texas report Free People Read Freely 2009 is out, and it’s pretty damning, regarding the number of books banned, restricted or challenged in Texas schools. At Missions Unknown, we’re readers. We don’t hide it and we’re not pleased that our state, even a school district in our city, is attempting to limit our childrens’ access to books.

Sanford Allen: Sometimes I’m not too proud that I hail from Texas. This is one of those times. The ACLU of Texas is recognizing National Banned Book Week this year — as it has the previous twelve — by releasing an annual report documenting books that have been banned, challenged and restricted in Texas schools. While there are some positive trends, it looks like Texas schools are still busy banning books — Ray Bradbury’s FAHRENHEIT 451 (challenged in the Hull-Daisetta ISD) to Richelle Mead’s VAMPIRE ACADEMY.

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID by Jeff Kinney. Could be a gateway to better reading scores, but not in Laredo.

Paul Vaughn: I was completely surprised to see one of the books that my 7-year-old is currently reading on the list. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID by Jeff Kinney was banned from a Laredo ISD elementary school for being politically, racially or socially offensive. This series of books is told from the point-of-view of a middle schooler whose mother makes him write a diary. He has typically juvenile adventures and there is plenty of humor that kids will love. This is the book that has my son wanting to stay up past bedtime to read. Not to play video games or watch TV, but to read! This is what we want for our kids, to develop a lifelong love of reading. It’s what helps make them smart. It’s what makes them realize that learning is not just important, but fun. The TAKS test doesn’t do this. Books like DIARY OF A WIMPY KID do.

Much of the rest of the country sees Texas as backward and we give them reasons like this to believe it. I’m embarrassed that even one school district in San Antonio, Northside ISD — allegedly San Antonio’s premiere school district according to their web site — joined the “ban wagon”. They successfully banned AND TANGO MAKES THREE by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell and CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS by Dav Pilkey. We can do better than this.

VAMPIRE ACADEMY by Richelle Mead -- one of several Mead titles on the 2008-09 Texas Banned Books List for Texas School Libraries. It's a USA Today bestseller and Texas school libraries are about to make it a whole lot more best-selling...

John Picacio: Ah, Texas. My homestate. Just when I think our state leaders have abused common sense and decency to new lows, they find a new rock-bottom. To add insult, my hometown of San Antonio is one of the least literate metropolitan areas in America. It’s no wonder when our school systems ban books, rather than encourage our kids to experience the full spectrum of reading and learning. When I was a kid, I was proud to be a Texan. I thought it meant having a sense of individualism, invention, and maverick spirit that didn’t suffer fools or tolerate ignorance. Unfortunately, when Texas chooses to ban books, our kids suffer the ignorance of fools, while fostering intolerance. We should demand better and demand it daily because fearmongering doesn’t take a holiday.

Ever notice that there’s a pride that overcomes authors and publishers when they find out their books have been banned? Take the case of best-selling author Richelle Mead who has no less than four books on the 2008-09 Texas Banned Books List. When notified today that Stephenville ISD’s libraries banned her VAMPIRE ACADEMY series (thankfully, not a San Antonio school district though), Richelle shared the following:

“As a former teacher, I absolutely respect and encourage parents to be a part of what their children are reading. However, banning books outright from schools and libraries takes this right away from families and denies them the chance to make their own decisions. It also flies in the face of the rights our country has always prided itself on, freedom of speech being the biggest. In my experience, many banned books are some of the greatest and most thought-provoking pieces of literature out there. Being in the company of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Robert Cormier is an honor.”

Well-said. For an author that’s on the Texas Banned Books List, she certainly doesn’t sound distraught. And why should she? Hey, Stephenville — if you hear that rising tsunami surge of “cha-chings” in the distance this afternoon, that’s the sound of your teenage girls screaming for the school exits, stampeding your bookstores, and snatching up copies of this book that you’ve branded as forbidden fruit. The ones that aren’t are frantically downloading it. We all know that telling teenage girls they shouldn’t read something is the best way to keep them away, right? Then again, maybe I’ve got Texas’ school leaders all wrong. Texas is “The Friendship State”. Perhaps this is my state’s way of helping Richelle and her publisher sell more books, while making a ton of new fans. Texas hospitality, right? If only it were true…

Thanks to Terri Burke, and all hard-working members of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. Thanks for being vigilant.

Hey, San Antonio — what do you think about this? Sound off below. We leave you with two thoughts:

“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit
the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.”
— Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989)

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”
— Benjamin Franklin