Censorship or Parental Monitoring?

“Censorship is the suppression of speech or other public communication which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, politically incorrect or inconvenient as determined by a government, media outlet or other controlling body. It can be done by governments and private organizations or by individuals who engage in self-censorship”). The freedom to read should never be taken for granted. Books of all kinds are an essential part of children’s development. The more books we expose and enjoy with our children the more they develop, learn and grow. Taking away or banning a book goes directly against our right to read and our right to choose. What children are exposed to should be the decision of the individual families. Monitoring books for violent and offensive material should be the job of the parents or care givers. Censorship should be the responsibility of no one. Determining whether material is offensive or not is very subjective. What may be considered offensive to one family may not be offensive to another family due to their different life experiences. Starting to label and categorize books as appropriate or not directly affects our rights as Canadians to choose, and the dangerous thing about that is where will it stop. "Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society … It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff.” (Prime Minister Stephen Harper ^ BC Report Newsmagazine, January 11, 1999) What motivates people to ban books is not clear; however, it is almost always to protect children from frightening or controversial ideas, or non-age appropriate material. Although censoring books is motivated by good intentions the challenging part is that not everyone agrees on which books should be censored. Some families may find a book engaging, and thought provoking and a great teaching tool, where another family could find the same book to be a corrupting influence. Instead of banning and hiding books from our children, exposing them to different view points and being there to help talk them through it, will invariably help them understand real-life issues and help them learn to function in an ever changing, diverse society. Two books that have been monitored or even banned for violent and offensive material are And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, and Hana’s Suitcase by Karen Levine. Both books resonate for different people and different families for different reasons. The freedom to read them should be that of the reader and their family not a governing body.

Conflicts in children’s literature are an essential part of story and character development. In the novel Hana’s Suitcase, the main character Hana is dealing with conflict between herself, and society. In the story, Hana is a young Jewish girl growing up in time of war and prejudice. “The Nazis declared that Jews were evil, a bad influence, dangerous. From now on, the Brady family and other Jews in Nove Msto na Morav would have to live by different rules.” (Levine 45) Hana is fighting against these new social expectations throughout the story, she and other families just like hers are forced to follow the rules of the Nazis, and learn to adapt to this imposed new way of living. Hana constantly struggled with why this was happening and wished for the day her life would return to normal. “…Hana went outside less often…She hated the star. It was humiliating. It was so embarrassing.” (Levine 38). She was aware that what was being forced upon her, her family and all other Jewish people was wrong but did not have the power or the means to change her circumstances. This book tackles sensitive subject matter and provides its readers with a factual account of violent behaviors forced from one group of human beings unto another, all of which motivated by religious differences. This book is extremely important in teaching children about the effects of the judgmental, stereotypical and discriminatory aspects of human nature. Avoiding or even postponing children’s exposure to “violence” is not going to help them develop and differentiate between right and wrong. Instead exposing them to literature that handles important topics, like war and the Holocaust, will teach them to be more empathetic to others, to recognize and appreciate similarities and differences in themselves and others, and to develop their problem solving skills and be able to come to non-violent solutions to situations in their own life, developing healthy conflict resolution skills. Telling children the truth about the world in which they live in, even the ugly parts will only help foster children’s critical thinking skills and prepare them to function in a society which is not always pleasant and fair. Covering children’s eyes and shielding them from all the atrocities in the world will not make them go away, it only makes them less equipped to deal with similar situations on their own. “To avoid in children’s literature anything that children fail to avoid or cannot avoid in their own lives is to do them a considerable disservice” (Slayton). Censorship is not protecting your children; rather, it's merely avoiding lessons you could be teaching them no matter what your beliefs may be. Hanna's Suitcase is an extremely important story that needs to be shared, "For those who can not remember the past, are condemned to repeat it." The publishing of this story provides the people of the Holocaust to have another voice/forum to help us remember them. It also provides an effective, relatable way to teach todays children about the importance of accepting and respecting the differences in all of us. Hanna's Suitcase helps in the fight against prejudices and intolerance in society today. Hopefully creating future generations who, when they know better they do better. Preventing these destructive prejudices from continuing on in the future. The choice to read and learn from our past should be available to all, even though the story is sad the tone is of peace and acceptance.

In the book And Tango Makes Three, it tells the true story of two penguins living in the Central Park Zoo named Roy and Silo who fall in love and are given an egg to nurture by the zookeepers. Silo and Roy sit on their nest and care for their egg like any other penguin couple. When the egg hatches, Tango is born, and that makes three. The theme of this book is where the controversy lies. The message presented is family love. Families are at the heart of the story. At the beginning of the book, the book describes Central Park as a place where families can go to have fun, especially at the zoo where there are lots of animal families for them to observe. The authors of this book not only recognize differences in families they also describe how animal families can be traditional with a mom and a dad with the mom caring for the babies. “Every year at the very same time, the girl penguins start noticing the boy penguins. And the boy penguins start noticing the girls. When the right girl and the right boy find each other, they become a couple” (Richardson, Parnell pg. 6). This accurate portrayal of societies family units allows children to identify with and recognize that all family’s come in different forms and sizes but all that matters is the love between its members.
It doesn’t only address same sex parenting through the illustrations it also demonstrates inclusion of human families of multicultural backgrounds, highlighting different skin tones and hairstyles etc. The tone of the book is light in nature and is of acceptance. It is entertaining for young and old readers, older readers may appreciate the humor in the name of the baby penguin (Tango), “It takes two to tango” and all readers’ benefit from the larger themes of family, love, and acceptance. Those who have challenged the book believe the main and only theme is homosexuality. The concern was that homosexual undertones were too mature for children, as well as what its effect on other people’s children would be. This book from a child’s perspective does not encourage homosexuality; it simply presents it by recognizing the love between the two male penguins. “They must be in love” (Richardson, Parnell Pg 9). This story helps children understand that all families are different, not better or worse just different. It would be the adult reader who would be responsible for providing the child with any judgment or opinion on same sex partnerships in human society. As with all literature it should be up to the family, as to what types of discussions you would like to have and how far you want to go with them after reading a book together. A child typically learns a lot of their prejudices from their parent’s comments, actions and behaviors. If a child is not taught to think having two daddies is different they will not see it as different. Positioning today’s younger generation to help create an un-biased, non-judgmental society for themselves and others to live in.

The world is a big place with a lot of different viewpoints, religious practices, beliefs, and of course children's books, which in some cases reflect the world around us. However, not everyone wants children exposed to society's diversity. Instead, they choose to censor books that don't fit into what they see as acceptable. The problem with this way of thinking is that children possess a natural curiosity. Sometimes the books that challenge their minds the most are the books that some people feel are inappropriate. In order for our children to grow and develop they need to have the freedom to read all types of literature. Although it is important for each parent to decide what's appropriate for their child to read, the censorship of books based on the objections of a few restricts access for everyone. All types of literature that cover many controversial topics need to be available to provide choice and enlightenment to its readers. These two books when read and guided by parents can help spark an open and honest discussion, provide insight, understanding and empathy to real-life issues and help children to learn how to cope and respect each others similarities and differences in a global world that is ever changing. It is through the simple text and illustrations provided in both of these books that parents could help children to understand difficult and or complex issues. It is every parents choice to reject a book for their family, but no one should be given the power to restrict other readers and families from their freedom to read these particular books or any book that may now or in the future end up in some sort of controversy.

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Work cited
Levine, Karen. Hana's Suitcase. Toronto: Second Story. 2002. Print.
Richardson, Justin and Peter Parnell. And Tango Makes Three. New York: Simon and Schuster,2005. Print.
Slayton, Ralph. ‘Some Notes on the Philosophy of Childhood and Other Areas of Related Inquiry with Suggestions of Their Implications for Children’s Literature’ in Children’s Literature in English at the Turn of the Millennium, ed. by Bohuslav Mánek, Ralph Slayton & Pavla Machová