Sultan: Which books failed to ruin you?

Adults raising alarms about young people’s access to certain books have existed for generations. More recently, the movement to censor books has gotten a big boost from the conservative, political right, with Republicans passing laws criminalizing educators for making certain books available to students.

The number of book bans nationwide this school year is on track to top last year’s record total, according to the American Library Association.

In Missouri, a new state law banning “explicit sexual material” — defined as any visual depiction of sex acts or genitalia, with exceptions for artistic or scientific significance — went into effect at the end of August and applies to both public and private schools.

As reported by Blythe Bernhard, 97 books banned in schools across St. Louis this fall cover topics like anatomy, photography and the Holocaust.

Back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, one of my favorite books was frequently challenged by parents and targeted for removal from schools. “Bridge to Terabithia” is ninth on the ALA’s list of 100 books most commonly banned from schools between the years 1990-2000. The poignant story about childhood friendship was targeted because of swearing and references to witchcraft and atheism.

That Newbery Award-winning book failed to make me into an atheist.

I think back to the other “inappropriate” content I read as a tween and teen, along with many of my peers. The best-selling series “Flowers in the Attic” by V.C. Andrews did not normalize incest for our generation. Stephen King’s novel “It” did not turn me into a homicidal clown. (Although it changed the way I looked at clowns forever.)

In middle school I read “Are you in the House Alone?” by Richard Peck, a novel about a teenage girl stalked by a stranger who ends up raping her. It scared the hell out of me.

Looking back, I may have been too young to read it. But it was on the bookshelf of my 7th grade language arts teacher’s classroom, and she encouraged my habit of reading four to five books a week. I’m glad she fostered that independence and critical thinking.

I read Mario Puzo’s novel, “The Godfather,” as a young teenager, which was filled with graphic sexual and violent content. It failed to make me join the mob. I’m willing to bet some of the same parents clutching their pearls today about inappropriate books read a few of those, as well.

I wonder if the same people so threatened by books that they’ve shot up copies of them trying to intimidate librarians are the very same people crying about cancel culture? Several books riddled with gunshot holes were returned to a library in Montana. The incident led to all branches of the county libraries closing temporarily.

In Oklahoma, the state’s top education official wants a high school English teacher’s certification revoked because she shared with her students a QR code to the Brooklyn Public Library’s banned books collection.

In the land of the free, some books have become so scary and threatening, they must be removed from the shelves of libraries under the threat of imprisonment.

My parents, who are conservative Muslims and raised me with very strict rules, never once monitored what I read.

Not once.

Imagine that.

When I looked at the ALA’s list of the 10 most challenged books in 2021, I discovered three that I’ve read: “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian” by Sherman Alexie and “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison. I found each of them on my daughter’s bookshelf, among the many books she read in high school.

None of them corrupted or harmed her in any way.

In fact, reading them enriched her worldview.