Columnist Susan Snyder: Caught in the web of banned books

Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2001 | 8:32 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

I'll never forget being in first grade and asking the school librarian if I could check out "Charlotte's Web."

She said, "No."

The book was above the first grade reading level. I was too, but the librarian said my mother would have to give permission -- in person -- for me to check out the book.

To this day, I don't know why I wasn't allowed to have the school library book for which I had asked. But I do know that 35 years later I haven't forgotten, and that we are still trying to keep children from reading books that sit on their school shelves.

In this age of video everything, can you imagine anyone discouraging a child who actually wants to read a book?

It is a question to ponder during annual Banned Books Week, which the American Library Association observes during the last week of September.

Books aren't routinely banned in this country. But they are challenged -- meaning someone has asked they be removed from public shelves -- more frequently than people might realize.

The library association's Office for Intellectual Freedom logged 646 challenges in 2000, which was up from 472 the previous year, according to records posted on the association's website. During the 1990s such complaints peaked at 762 in 1995.

Books were most frequently challenged for being sexually explicit. Offensive language and being unsuited to age group were the second and third most-popular reasons.

School libraries saw more challenges last year than public libraries, and parents initiated the most complaints. Elected and government officials and members of the clergy made the fewest.

So far this year no one has challenged the books that sit on Clark County School District shelves, says Stan Fuke, district library services coordinator. "But it's early yet," he said. "Most of our books that are challenged are in the elementary schools. In the secondary schools we haven't had any for years."

So which books draw the most criticism? J.K. Rowling's popular "Harry Potter" series topped the association's list of the 10 most-challenged books in 2000. Critics said the books contain occult and anti-family themes.

Other titles included John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" and Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."

The association also kept a running tally of the 100 most frequently challenged books from 1990 to 2000. It's amazing what's on that list:

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain. "To Kill a Mockingbird," by Harper Lee. "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret," by Judy Blume. And "Where's Waldo?" Sheesh. Give me a break.

But you decide what's fair. A reading of excerpts from challenged books is being conducted at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Clark County Library at 1401 E. Flamingo Road. Works will include those by J.D. Salinger, William Shakespeare and Anne Frank.

Fuke says school librarians choose books based on curriculum and not simply for recreational reading. Ironically, those nonfiction volumes about dinosaurs, animals or space lure the reluctant readers most often.

But the fact that adults are still challenging the validity of Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" is enough to make you want to curl up in the corner -- with a good book.

Make mine "Charlotte's Web."