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It's Banned Books Week, that time of year where we look at books that have been challenged throughout American. We'll be featuring some of these books this week. We'll look at why they were banned and why readers have found them important.
Stephen Chobosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower was the third most challenged book in 2009. It also made the ALA's top ten list in 2008, 2007, 2006, and 2004. Why? The reasons vary but include complaints that the book contains scenes of date rape and the suggestion that the book promotes a "homosexual agenda." But what the people who attempt to ban books think about a book and what readers think about a book are often very different.
Chelsea at We Read To Know talked about the book and the attempts to ban it. It's a book that she has read many times.
"I can understand parent’s reacting strongly to themes like these, especially because the book, while being honest about the consequences of these actions, doesn’t have every night of drunk driving end in a horrible death. However, to deny teenagers and their predecessors (I often think it’s the most important for pre-teens to have honest access to this kind of information, as it comes up to them, as opposed to teenagers who have already cemented their own ways of dealing with the issues that come to them) access to these kinds of stories – teenagers living a teenage life and facing both the negative and the positive consequences that come their way – denies them the ability to broaden their concept of how to say no, and ways to avoid situations they don’t want to be in."
Bonjour Cass shares her thoughts on the book and the ban, but most importantly why it was important to her.
"Don’t listen to the banners. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is about friendship and the awkwardness of being a teen and finding yourself and coming to grips with your past. It’s beautiful and I want to hug it close to me and deliver copies of it (and Maureen Johnson’s The Bermudez Triangle, coincidentally also a banned book) to all the little Cass-es of the world."
Perhaps my favorite review of The Perks of Being a Wallflower is from Ginger at GReads!. She reminds us that a book's contents are not just about the scenes they depict, but the impact that they have on us.
"This story isn't filled with magic and fairy tale romances. It doesn't even have the "happily ever after" ending. What it does deliver is the ability to make you think about your purpose in this world. Why do we get up each day? What makes us keep going? How important are the faces we see time and time again?"
Hollywood doesn't seem to mind the content of the book. It is being made into a feature film with Stephen Chobosky at the helm as both writer and director. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is currently shooting with Harry Potter's Emma Watson in one of the starring roles.
Have you read The Perks of Being a Wallflower? What did you think of it?
BlogHer Book Club Host Karen Ballum also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
