James and the Porous Peach

James and the Porous Peach

Growing up there is always a favorite book. How would it feel if a committee banned or changed that favorite book? Classic books are being banned left and right in this country. Books many of us read growing up, in some cases, books that parents read to children before bedtime are under threat. From classics to children stories, there are groups of people who decide what is appropriate and what is not (Annotated Bibliography #1, Page 1). Harry Potter all the way to Huckleberry Finn have fallen victim to these criticisms. It has even gone so far as to ban the classic James and the Giant Peach. The criticisms are justified with accusations such as sexual innuendo, racial connotation, etc. The following paragraphs discuss if these accusations are valid, and if it is right to ban these books.

For a book to be banned it must first be challenged. As defined by American Library Association "A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials" (American Library Association). A banning though is the actual removal of that material. According to American Library Association "Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection" (American Library Association). Most challenges are motivated by the desire to protect children. Often these books are challenged for the best intentions. The three most commonly used reasons for challenging, and ultimately banning books are; sexually explicit content, offensive language, and the book is seen as unsuited to a specific age group. For example Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, was challenged for racism, offensive language, and sexually explicit content. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins was also challenged for sexually explicit conduct, unsuited to a young age group, and violence. As far as numbers of challenges, "There are hundreds of challenges to books in schools and libraries in the United States every year" according to the American Library Association (American Library Association), there were at least 248 in 2010. Seventy to eighty percent are never reported, the American Library Association estimates. Despite people's good intentions for challenging and banning books, is it the right thing to do?

According to Mr. Baldassarro, James and the Giant Peach has been banned for being "too scary for the targeted age groups, mysticism, sexual inferences, profanity, racism, references to tobacco and alcohol, and claims that it promotes disobedience, drugs, and communism" (Baldassarro) . This book, like many others of its kind, starts off in a very morbid setting, but throughout all the dark hard times, in the end our characters always come out ahead. These books give a sense of good and evil, which every child needs. The people challenging these books have good intentions, but are keeping these books away from children really the best for them? Whether you want to accept it or not, these books portray reality. To be ready for the real world you not only need to know the good, but also the hardships in the world. Parents want to protect their children from all of these hardships, but a child must at one point learn of these hardships, because it is part of growing up. So why not let them learn it from these books, instead of learning it the hard way/ Books are there to learn from, why take them away? Like Baldassarro said "the short book is very empowering to children because it uses the power of storytelling to show that no matter how bad things