Banned Books: Lord of the Flies

Throughout my life, I've never been part of the popular clique. I know what you're thinking. Wow, Sennett, I'd have never guessed that! Yeah, thanks for the compliment. Seriously, though, in high school, I didn't even try to wriggle my way into that mystical sphere. I pay for it dearly sometimes, but I suppose I couldn't be a member even if I tried, so it's okay. However, my whole life I have watched them, and if you have, too, you will have seen the same things. Humans have a tendency to follow the dominant. Born leaders. This forms the pattern of the educational system: you've got your dominant but morally deficient leaders, your blind followers, and your outcasts. Even if the outcasts are smarter or more compassionate and ethically guided, the odds of them forming a majority to stand up to the masses are not in their favor.

Then there are the weak. Like me. We try not to hate the masses too much, though that is our first instinct. What use would it be, if we have to live with them in our lives all the time? We watch them and fear them. We realize we will never be in charge and settle for a place in the background.

Justification: Not granted

Anthem: Bang Bang by Green Day (October 7th, my fellow Idiots)

Rating: ***1/2

Risk: X

Banned Books: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

We're currently reading The Tempest in English class, and somewhere in October, we have to write an essay about it. We can pick one of two options for the subject: colonization or Biblical parallels. If you know me, it's quite obvious that my choice will be the former. We're supposed to compare the meaning of Shakespeare's play in colonial times vs. post-colonial times, which moves my teacher into continuous ramblings about how timeless Shakespeare's writing is.

Then, Ms. Teacher, let me please convince you of the timelessness of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. About how with each mentioning of the n-word, I felt a slight stab near my chest. How the discussion of slavery makes me wish for different ancestors. And exactly those things make me understand, for the first time this month, the reason for banning a particular book.

Justification: Not granted, but I do understand the problem.

Anthem: Don't Panic by Coldplay

Rating: ***1/2

Risk: XXX for younger, mean teens

Banned Books: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I remember, as a kid, I avoided books from a male POV like the flu. Even into my teenage life have I tended to cling to my beloved girl MCs. Which is funny, since most literature is written from the points of view of men.

Reading The Absolutely True Diary, I realized this:
Thus far, I have read The Perks, The Kite Runner, The Catcher in the Rye, and this book. Those four books have three things in common:
1. They're written in first person.
2. They're narrated by a male character.
3. They're all a lot more depressing than you expect them to be.
This, in turn, made me realize three other things:
1. I read many books written in first person.
2. I would have been reluctant to pick these books up in the past.
3. I am not helping myself by reading these saddening coming-of-age novels during my least favorite time of the year: the start of school.

Justification: Not granted

Anthem: Couldn't find one

Rating: ***

Risk: XX

Banned Books: The Catcher in the Rye

I remember when I finished Paper Towns. It made me want to go on this spectacular road trip without my parents or friends, just all on my own. To look around in the world for a bit. Stir up something by running away. I know I could never do it, though. How could I make my parents worry or my brother? And it's not like my friends would embark on a crazy journey to find me or anything, let alone a boy who'd had his eyes on me forever.

I think Holden is a better version of Margot. He's adventurous like her, but he legitimately cares a great deal about everyone in his life. He pities practically everyone.

Justification: Not granted

Anthem: 21 Guns by Green Day OR Would It Matter by Skillet

Rating: ****?

Risk: X

Banned Books: The Kite Runner

***Sorry for the switch of Catcher in the Rye and The Kite Runner. I had some trouble getting my hands on J.D. Salinger.***

I was beyond shocked when I learned this book was banned. Why? Because we watched the movie in adolescent catechesis. (That's a thing in my church where a group of teenagers eats cookies, watches movies, and makes mind maps about biblical texts. It's as boring and unnaturally social as it sounds. The latter is why I don't go anymore.) Surely nothing is holier and purer in the US than that?! (In Europe, the holiest and purest things are secularism and bureaucracy.) And it was a great choice for an activity, too, because it's one Friday evening on the first floor of my church building that I can actually recall as pleasant and memorable. If even my church people approve, and the Taliban doesn't, how can US conservative folks not declare love to this novel?

Justification: Refused

Anthem: None

Rating: ****

Risk: XX (might scare young readers)

Banned Books: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I've been pondering what to write for the personal story here. At last, I've figured something out to share with you.
This summer, I went to a restaurant with my friends for the first time. We ate delicious pasta for a mere seven dollars and my friend gorged herself on a giant salami pizza. We feasted and talked and I don't know how, but my friend told me something she'd overheard once.
There are two people in my year who've been dating forever. Once, my friend overheard the girl complaining, mildly distressed, about the way her boyfriend would kiss her with his tongue all the way into her mouth and how she didn't like that. To her friends. And mine brushed it off. Giggled even. I was a little appalled hearing this, but I didn't want to make a scene. Though in retrospect, I wish I had made a tiny, inconspicuous scene. I wish I'd told them very sternly that if something like that was ever the case with them, they shouldn't complain about it to their friends, but talk to their boyfriends. And every time I remember this, I feel sad. I need someone to tell my friends that even when people kiss, the act and its details should be consented to by both parties.

Justification: Not granted

Anthem: Dear Wormwood by The Oh Hellos

Rating: *****

Risk: XXX

Banned Books: The Hunger Games

After over a year of book blogging, I have finally found a justifiable reason to ramble about one of my favorite book series of all time: The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It’s especially appropriate to talk about this bestseller in a banned books discussion because my parents and I have (had?) grave disagreements about it to a point where my mother forbade me to read it. My first act of teenage rebellion actually was reading it anyway.

Justification: Ungranted. This trilogy should not be banned.

Anthem: So much to choose from, but I'll go with Shattered by Trading Yesterday.

Rating: ***** stars.

Risk: XXXX in the wrong hands.