Reehan Habib 10/31/13
811 ELA
Dear Ms. Berner,
Book banning is getting really ridiculous. Books are getting banned over the silliest things.
Novels like Captain Underpants, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and even the dictionary are
in the banned books list, along with a lot of other books. One person's problem with a book shouldn't
be everyone's problem with a book. A personal issue shouldn't become a public issue. It is for I believe
books should not be banned in the 6th grade library.
In the Scholastic article, “Why Captain Underpants Is The Most Banned Book In America” it
talks about how the mascot of the book (Captain Underpants) is partially nude and it also has a lot of
rebellion in the book as well. It goes on explaining why the parent doesn't want her child to read the
book. According to the article, the parent says “A young child like mine, shouldn't be learning about
rebelling now, it will rot her mind...” I'm pretty sure that a 6th grader should be mature enough to over look
the nudity. Also in the “All Time 10s” video about banned books, Where's Waldo was also banned for
nudity. The book had a partially naked woman in the background. A 6th grader isn't going to go looking for
naked women in a book! But, the 6th grader's parents who have a problem with their child reading the book
shouldn't ban the book for all 6th graders.
Also mentioned as a banned book in the “All Time 10s” is the dictionary! This ban was because
of the inappropriate words in it for little children. To be honest, I used to look for inappropriate words when
I was in elementary school. But in 6th grade I was mature enough not to be idiotic like I was in elementary
school. In the article, “Age-Rated Books: Right or Wrong” is sort of related to the ban of the dictionary. It
talks about the heavy topics in young adult reading, and parents' thought about it. According to the article,
“Some parents think reading young adult encourages suicide.” Like I said before, a personal issue shouldn't
become a public issue.
In the article, “Reading Fiction” it talks about how young adult fiction is good for young adult
readers. It says that because the article thinks it's a good way to see how the main character in the book
solves their problems, which may help the reader solve his or her problems. On the other hand the
video on ABC 13 about the book, Fahrenheit 451 being banned. The book was banned because of the
heavy topics in the book. For books like this, I agree with the fact it should be banned because it is pretty
deep and can't be taken in by a sensitive person, especially a 6th grader.
To tie it up, some silly decisions were made in banning books, but there still were some smart
book banning decisions. The silly decisions are just way too much! Like I mentioned before, books
like the dictionary and Captain Underpants is just ridiculous book banning for a 6th grade library.
