Banning Books

There has been a lot of press recently about books that have been banned throughout the years. I thought you might enjoy this letter from a fairly well known Southerner, Harper Lee. When she learned in 1966, six years after the book was published, that Virginia’s Hanover County School Board had removed her book To Kill a Mockingbird from its school libraries and labeled the book immoral, she did what any self-respecting author would do.

She wrote a letter. Her letter went to the editor of the Richmond News Leader and politely included a donation (rumored to be $10) to their Beadle Bumble Fund. The newspaper’s fund had been in place for seven years to highlight and compensate "official stupidities."

In response to Lee’s letter and contribution, the newspaper gave free copies of To Kill a Mockingbird to every child who requested one. It would seem she made her point.

Monroeville, Alabama
January, 1966

Editor, The News Leader:

Recently I have received echoes down this way of the Hanover County School Board's activities, and what I've heard makes me wonder if any of its members can read.

Surely it is plain to the simplest intelligence that "To Kill a Mockingbird" spells out in words of seldom more than two syllables a code of honor and conduct, Christian in its ethic, that is the heritage of all Southerners. To hear that the novel is "immoral" has made me count the years between now and 1984, for I have yet to come across a better example of doublethink.

I feel, however, that the problem is one of illiteracy, not Marxism. Therefore I enclose a small contribution to the Beadle Bumble Fund that I hope will be used to enroll the Hanover County School Board in any first grade of its choice.

Harper Lee

The action of the Hanover County School Board is not particularly unique. Since publication, To Kill a Mockingbird has been removed from other school libraries and challenged by many more. Complaints center around the book’s racial and sexual themes. When I read about these banning incidents, I try to see them as a parent and a grandparent. When I read the book for the first time,  I was an adult. I saw a white Southern lawyer of integrity choosing to defend a black Southern man of equal integrity spread across the pages. I was shocked, stunned, and sickened by the events in the book, scenes that forced me to see the South I loved differently. One reason the book remains on the best selling list is the prejudices people of all races and ethnicities see in its pages, the shock of seeing themselves on the page. The Help recently caused a similar sensation.

The American Library Association reports that To Kill a Mockingbird has remained in the top 100 most challenged books since its publication. It continues to remain in the top ten books that get complaints - 50 years after first seeing the light of day! Least you think this is an American issue, Canada and some European countries have worried about their children being exposed to the “vile” language in the book.

In the United States today, school violence continues to escalate by students on students, bleak issues involving politics rear their nasty heads weekly, including gun control and claims of police brutality, a sexual assault occurs every 2 minutes (44% on children under the age of 17). Is it logical to ignore biographical information that might spur change? Can we preempt violence with knowledge? Have we learned anything by ignoring and glossing over attitudes and actions of bygone eras? Are we so ashamed of our past that we cannot discuss it and learn from it?

Literature is a vital resource from which to teach our children and ourselves about a world infested with both problems and solutions in the hopes that they never experience them personally. Hiding behind platitudes does not diminish the truth, it extols it, feeding the flames of misunderstanding and hatred.

Teens in my writing classes are sophisticated, enmeshed in a world at their fingertips, yet still

vulnerable. Reading and discussing fiction is an important way for them to learn the truth about history, not a varnished textbook diatribe of data, but an insight into the people who lived the history, made mistakes and made strides. It gives them an outlet to discuss their own fears and the violence in their world.

Well-read teens and adults are more open to new ideas, open to opportunities for change and growth, and open to meaningful dialogue: the agility to find our similarities and appreciate our differences.

Authors have a sacred responsibility to share the universe and all its many facets.

Long  Live Books!                                                                  Write like you mean it!

Mahala

Teen Book Club: Shadow Hunters

Shadow Hunters Book Club at Barefoot Writing Academy began in October 2013. The teens chose their name and select the books they want to read with editorial privilege retained by yours truly.

I'm very proud of this group of young teens who are all like to write and some are also illustrators. They have made a lot of progress in a shot period of time.

We meet once a week and nosh while we talk about the books we love, the ones we don't, and question how and why the authors made the decisions they did.

The club has done some heady work during the past two months among tons and tones of giggles. 

Mission:  Shadow Hunters Book Club is dedicated to the craft of writing through the provision of a supportive environment for emerging teenage writers and readers.

Vision:    To promote creativity in writing and reading through a community-based network of teenage writers and readers that are dedicated to acquiring knowledge and skill related to writing and reading.

Values:    Integrity                 Collaboration              Community

                Creativity                Support                       Education

Goals:       I.   Provide a trustworthy forum for teenagers to share information,        successes, and the challenges of the writing life and understanding the written word.

                            II.   Assist members to read and understand different genres of books and short stories.

                         III.   Look for the obscurities that make characters, settings, plots, voice, dialogue, hooks, pacing, tension, and narrative work successfully.

                         IV.   Support community arts activities for the teenage writer and reader.

We hope that you will enjoy their book reviews and encourage to ask questions and leave comments on this blog.      Mahala

Teens on Writing

This is Barefoot Writing Academy's final post from the creative writing summer camps for teens. The new fall schedule for classes for teens and adults will be posted in the next month.

Given this prompt, two different and very creative approaches.

           abc

           defg

           hijk

           lmnop

           qrstuv

           wx

            yz

Things That Drive Me Bonkers
                                   by Brenna Meehan

  ant bites, clowns,

 

dung, eggs, farts,

hair, ice, jokers, klutziness,

losing, mainstream, nickels, overthinking, plankton,

queens, running, stupidity, thorns, ugly, Vatican,

work, xylophone,

YOLO, zits. 

 

 

Things That Drive Me Bonkers

                                                                    by Tessa Herring

After breakfast chants

Drawing My Little Pony

High islands from nowhere

Losing to sore losers

Queen of farts

Watching Food Network

Yodeling fat people.

 

 

We had a grand time and I look forward to working with these teens again.                                     Mahala

 

 

 

If Cows Could Fly

To celebrate National Cow Appreciation Day, these creative teen authors wrote poetry. We had a blast in this class about storyboarding!  These teen authors were also teen illustrators of the first order.     Mahala

If a cow could fly just like a fairy,
It definitely would rain all that dairy.

The sky would be dotted black and white
They're not afraid to put up a fight!

So be careful what'cha say about a cow,
Because you might become their new meaty chow.


If cows could fly,
the supermarkets would have a serious problem.

If the cows flew up high,
It would rain milk out of the sky.

Not only would we get free milk,
But that could lead to more cookies.

More cookies leads to more cookie-making rookies.
We'd need superheroes to defend this new cookie empire.

So, in comes the flying cows,
To douse any cookie fires.

Over time, the world would turn into Sugarland,
With flying cows, milky lakes, giant cookies, fat citizens, and the banana boat band.


Moo...what's that?
Moo...sounds like
Moo...a panicked ol' Bess.

Moo...come back down,
Moo...ol' Bess!

Moo...we can't milk you,
Moo...if you're way up there!


If cows could fly,
They'd poo in my eye.

They'd cause earthquakes when they land,
And they'd start a cow family band.

Touring the skies,
They'd sing about flies.

And when the day is done,
They'd eat onions.

What Fun!

The kids in the camp Write Like You Mean It! created names for bad and good people, settings, and situations to write about. After choosing at random, this is what they created in a Round Robin. Enjoy!  mahala

Mahala, Stan, and the Giant Squirrel! (From space)

AnnaKate Brenna Caroline Grady

            Magnificent Mahala and Stupid Stan were at the boardwalk. Stan was just having a fine time, but Mahala was on her last nerve with his stupidity. There’s a reason nobody calls him Smart Stan. So, anywho, they were just walking along, playing games and eating food, when all of a sudden someone starts shouting.

            “Oh no! An asteroid! WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!”

            Magnificent Mahala and Stupid Stan’s eyes snapped up to the sky – immediately finding the giant fiery form of an asteroid drilling ever closer through the atmosphere. But there was something… Stan was the first to speak.

           “Is…is that Godzilla riding an asteroid?! But I thought he lived in a banana kingdom with his mini me!” Magnificent Mahala was broken from her terror-stricken reverie to frown at Stan.
            “First – that’s Donkey Kong. Second, that isn’t Godzilla on the asteroid. I think…” She squinted at it disbelievingly. “But no…it can’t be…it’s…”
            A horrified shout rose from the crowd of onlookers behind Stan and Mahala. “It’s a SQUIRREL!”

            In panic, Mahala and Stan ran for the nearest car.

            “We have to get out of here!” said Stan! As Mahala was starting to start the car, a rumbling in the distance started. “What’s that?” Stan asked. “It’s a…oh no…a wall of squirrels!!” The squirrels were going to meet their 3,000 year old Mother.
            “Here she comes,” said one squirrel.

            Mahala stopped the car. Mahala and Stan braced themselves, expecting squirrels to attack them. The squirrels just climbed over the car. Mahala and Stan hear their feet and squeaking as the car shook. Then silence. They released each other and saw only the setting sun. They stepped out of the car and turned around.

            The squirrels were surrounding the Mother. They all squeaked. The Mother made a loud roar. All the squirrels jumped on her back. She chirped and all the squirrels chirped back. It was like she wanted to make sure that they were safely attached.
          The Mother looked up and ran forward. Her tail began to flap up and down. She lifted off the ground. She began to fly upward and out of the atmosphere, along with many of the world’s squirrels.                                                    

The End

Seven Suspects in the Case

One of the creative writing teens in the "Explore the Possibilities" class wrote a poem worth sharing. Claire Powers has an interest in literary fiction and poetry and is off to an excellent start. She kept the class amazed with her creativity.

      Blade of Steel

           by Claire Powers

                  Age 14

Seven suspects in the case,

Subject to the crime-solving ace,
Who stands in the corner, who plots to reveal
The one who killed with a blade of steel.

An accusation, I’m delighted to say,

That’s bound by fate to go my way.

Three suspects sit on a couch,

None relaxed enough to slouch,
Two stand by the window pane,
Barely acknowledging the pouring rain,
Two are standing by the door,
Uneasily staring at the floor.

“So, who is it?” they all shout

As the detective tries to work things out.

He knows who it is, he knows it’s me,
But he won’t say it, because, you see
My eyes glitter in the rain,
Just outside the window pane;

The loyal assistant’s at my side,

His feet bound, his hands tied.

The blade of steel is in my hand,

The one I used to kill the man,
And should the ace point my way,
I’ll take the assistant’s life away.

Seven suspects in the case,

Subject to the crime-solving ace;

 

He must choose one to lie about,
Or else the blade of steel comes out.

My eyes sparkle in the rain.

Go ahead-say my name.

 

Well done, Claire.

Mahala