Snubbing the Censors

The ACLU cited His Dark Materials author Philip Pullman as the most challenged author this year, followed by Alvin Schwartz, author of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series.

Enemies of free speech don't burn books anymore – they just complain to their local school districts. That's why Banned Books Week, running Sept. 27 to Oct. 4, is a celebration of all things that get wannabe censors upset. The event, sponsored by national bodies including the American Booksellers Association andthe American Library Association, is 27 this year, but Texas gets its own little censorious celebration: the Sept. 27 release of the 12th annual "Free People Read Freely" report. Issued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, it records every time someone tries to have a book removed from the shelves of a Texas public school library and every time a district yields to the challenge or takes a stand to keep the book.

So what do self-appointed moral guardians want removed this year? "Maya Angelou, of course," said Dotty Griffith, ACLU of Texas public education director. "[Judy] Blume – she's a regular – and To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee is a perennial favorite as far as challenges to school libraries." Just as the same names keep cropping up, so do the same reasons. This year, qualifications for the naughty list include paganism, sexual content, violence, alcohol, and, in one case, negative reference to inner-city life. The single most contentious author? Philip Pullman, author of the His Dark Materials trilogy. "He was challenged for mysticism or paganism or atheism or anti-Christian sentiment," said Griffith, who added she thought that his profile was raised by last year's cinematic adaptation of his work, The Golden Compass. If that sounds like a religious conspiracy, Griffith said, "I don't think there's an organized effort but an effort in a certain community."

Last year's list reads less like a banned-book selection and more like must-reads for kids, including The House of the Spirits, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Adventures of Captain Underpants. The ACLU report notes when a challenged book is also an award winner. It's that dual role of controversial literature as great literature that drives BookPeople's day of celebration of banned books on Sept. 28. Local literary notaries, including Texas Monthly president and Editor-in-Chief Evan Smith and author Amanda Eyre Ward, will be reading from their favorite banned books, plus Owen Egerton will be unveiling his newest creation – the most banable paragraph ever. "We sent them the American Library Association's list of most challenged books so they had something to go off," said Alison Nihlean, BookPeople's marketing director. "But they're all picking their own reading."

There will also be one major literary figure: Mark Twain, whose The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is another consistently challenged classic. Or, at least, the next best thing to Twain. According to events coordinator Laurie Outterside: "We were sitting around in the office and thinking of some of the most banned books, and I thought, you know what would be great? If we could get Mark Twain here." So they placed a "Mark Twain imitator wanted" ad on Craigslist, and the next day one responded. Joining him will be another potentially surprising guest: Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo. He will be reading from kids book Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, which the Illinois Police Association tried to have removed from libraries in 1997 because it portrayed police as pigs (in a nice way). Nihlean praised Acevedo for taking part, adding, "He was really into it."

"How many police chiefs would do that?" pondered Austin Independent School District spokesman Andy Welch, who has had to help deal with his fair share of book challenges. They are not cases of small-minded country dwellers vs. sophisticated city residents: The ACLU list shows challenges made and accepted in the biggest and smallest of school districts, rural and urban alike. Yet Austin has a strong record on both few challenges and fewest accepted, and that's a point of pride for Welch. "Austin has grown from a small college town to a big community," he said, "and because we are a very educated town, people are accepting even if they don't agree."

Welch admits that not even Austin has a perfect record, as the near-cancellation of the district's summer musical, Rent, shows (see "AISD All-City Musical: 'Rent' Control," May 23). "That was a situation when the process didn't work. Fortunately for the kids, the show went on," he explained. What's important, he added, is discussing the issues at stake. "Not everyone is going to be happy, but hopefully everyone will understand and will know we've been listening."  

For more on Banned Books Week events, see "Burn, Baby, Burn," Screens, and Arts Listings.