Summer Reading List Wars

I was reading The Passive Voice blog, and this caught my eye.

Publishing Perspectives readers are familiar with this case from our reporting earlier this month on how the police organization president, John Blackmon is calling for an English-class summer reading list to drop The Hate U Give (HarperCollins, 2017) by Angie Thomas and All American Boys (Simon & Schuster, 2015) by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely.

Both books have stories that include police brutality and racism as themes, and both are among the most highly acclaimed bestsellers in their sector of recent years. Blackmon’s complaint about the books–two of four titles from which students of Wando High Schoo’s English 1 class in Mount Pleasant are to choose and read one.

In the guild’s open letter to the police group, executive director Mary Rasenberger writes, “Attempts at censorship by law enforcement organizations cannot be tolerated in a democracy. Educators must be free to choose books on any and all subjects for their students’ reading.”

The position of the Guild is clear - government employees are NOT to dictate which books schools will use.

However, as Passsive Guy points out,

this is an argument between two different entities comprised of government employees.

 Furthermore, like the Guild, the police organization - the FOP, the Fraternal Order of Police - is NOT an official part of government. It is a private, voluntary organization - which makes this NOT censorship, which is action by government.

Because I like to see context, I checked out some of the lists (the two books that caused objections are boldfaced):

English I - CP (College Prep)

• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds - kid out to avenge brother's death, meets people who have been affected by violence
• Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys - story of refugees on a boat that will be sunk - set in WWII
• The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon - chance meeting between rich privileged boy, and poor immigrant Jamaican girl who is being deported

English I - Honors

• All American Boys by Jason Reynolds - what are the odds! Another book by the same guy as above! This is one of the ones that was specifically objected to. It deals with racial tension in school and community (hint: the cops AREN'T the good guys)
• Denton Little’s Death Date by Lance Rubin - science can predict your date of death - the named protagonist is due to die tomorrow.
• Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin - alternative WWII history - girl escapes from death camp, is changed by experiments performed on her
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank - a classic, for once
• A Separate Peace by John Knowles - yet another classic - one that is specifically anti-war
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - yet another classic - government is the evil one, again

English II - CP - repeats the list of English I CP

English II - Honors

• Lord of the Flies, by William Golding - yet another classic, this one showing how awful young men are
• A Hope in the Unseen:  An American Odyssey from the Innter City to the Ivy League, by Ron Suskind - yes, that IS a typo in the list - poor Black kid succeeds
• Educated, by Tara Westover - a girl from a survivalist family leaves them, and 'gits her an edu-ka-shun'
• Elon Musk:  Tesla, SpaceX and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, by Ashlee Vance - biography
• Sgt. Reckless:  America’s War Horse,by Robin Hutton - bio of a horse - but, she's FEMALE!
• The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls - po' girl leaves crazy family behind, becomes successful (hey, isn't there already one book on the list like that?)

English III CP

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, (fiction) - Indian kid moves to a school off-rez, where is it the only Indian other than the mascot
• Alice in Zombieland by Gina Showalter, (fiction)
• Gal by Ruthie Bolton, (biography) - girl grows up in abusive SC home
• Gym Candy by Carl Deuker, (fiction) Groomed by his fater (sp) to be a star player, football is the only thing that has ever really mattered to Mick Johnson, who works hard for a spot on the varsity team his freshman year, then tries to hold onto his edge by using steroids.
• Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls, (fiction) - ranch girl, breaks horses, grows up to speak against prejudice (another by the same author as the above list)
• Sunrise of Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers, (fiction) - Robin Perry from Harlem is sent to Iraq in 2003 as a member of the Civilian Affairs Battalion, and his time there profoundly changes him. 

English III Honors

ð     The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd - fiction - slave in the Grimke family, and owner-daughter of the house (in real life, a feminist and abolitionist) - both changed by their relationship

ð     The Color of Water by James McBride - author writes of his mother, daughter of Polish immigrants who marries Black minister, has 11 children

ð     The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult - child befriends her coach and teacher. Turns out, he is a Nazi. Will she betray him to his pursueers? Will she help him kill himself? Who cares?

ð     Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (repetition? They seem to like the same authors a LOT) - a story about a school shooter. The other book that was protested - and, again, WHAT A SURPRISE! The cops shot a young man who wasn't doin' nothin' at all!

ð     The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - girl from the hood, attends a prep school. She witnesses a shooting by a cop. Outrage ensues. Did I mention that the kid that got shot had been doing NOTHING, nothing at ALL?

ð     Toughness  by Jay Bilas - coach talks about how to be mentally tough

ð     Beautiful Boy by David Sheff - journalist father talks about his son's battle with addiction to meth

ð     Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance - a REALLY good book. Vance is hard-headed about the deficiencies and strengths of his family, and what it took to get out of the poverty trap.

There are more books - go here to see the rest. What strikes me about the choices is that they are so problem-focused. Only a few are not destined to be forgotten in a short time, both by readers, and by history.

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