Full-Circle Censorship

Harry Potter has been on the Banned Books list since the beginning – since its publication in the late 90’s, which was also the first decade for which the ALA has been keeping lists of which books were most challenged by decade and why.

Of course, the original reasons for being challenged were because it was thought to promote witchcraft and/or satanism, some saw it as anti-Christian, etc.  Of course, if you’ve read the books – even just the first – you know that’s not the case.  Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is closed for the Christmas and Easter holidays (and those holidays are referred to by name).  There is a lot of Christian allegory in the books.  In the last book, it’s revealed that Harry’s parent are buried in a church cemetery.

But the books also deal with (fantasy) racism, classism, and segregation, leading many to applaud the series for addressing these themes.

You may recall late in the filming of the series, J. K. Rowling came out with the information that she intended Dumbledore to be gay.  This of course caused a hue and cry from some conservative sectors, while receiving praise from those looking for more inclusivity in books.  In fact, many had already seen Remus Lupin’s condition of and shunning for being a werewolf as an allegory for the HIV and AIDS victims who had been ostracized in the later decades of the 20th century.

And now… if you’ve been following Twitter and media trends in the past year or so, you have probably heard that Rowling has come under fire for transphobic tweets.  Those who just a few years ago lauded and hailed her as a paragon of inclusivity and acceptance are now shying away, telling people not to support her as an author, not to buy her books.

It's very strange to me.  A series that has been so on fire, so popular, so integral in the development and culture of my generation and those who came after… Its fire of controversy blazed, waned,  blazes again…

What will we think of Harry Potter next year?  In 10 years?  In 100? 

Banned Book Week Day 7: Don't Judge a Book By its Challenge

One of the things that we frequently find to be the case with banned and challenged books is that people get up in arms about a book they haven’t read - “I heard that book is… Someone told me that book’s about…” But then it turns out that someone else you know and trust (maybe know and trust better than that friend-of-a-friend, or that rant on that Facebook group you’re a member of) has read the book and thinks it’s fine - great, even.

In some ways, I find that similar to certain dog breeds that have a stigma or reputation for being aggressive… but then it turns out someone you know and trust has a big, goofy, loveable 80 pound lap dog who wouldn’t hurt a fly (well, maybe lick them to death…).

So what do you do? You expand your horizons. You do your research. You visit that dog shelter or check out a copy of that banned book. And you find a new friend.

https://www.iveyink.com/blog/2019/9/25/banned-books-displays-i-have-loved-part-1

https://www.iveyink.com/blog/2019/9/28/the-challenge-doesnt-end-today

Library Displays I Have Loved, Part 4

Some of you may have seen on my personal Facebook page that I shared a memory of a library display this week. I've also been thinking about this one a lot recently.

When I worked for Kennesaw State University Library a few years ago, one of my tasks was making displays for the library on the Marietta campus. Sometimes these were just selections of books based around a theme, and sometimes they were more informative displays with facts, information, or trivia.

Each year, the university did a "year of" where they selected a country whose culture they would focus on for activities, lectures, etc. One of the years I was there was the Year of Russia. Needless to say, as a Russian minor in college, I was brimming with ideas for this particular display case. In fact, my last display that I put together for the Year of Russia display case was a Black History Month tie in.

Many people are not aware, but Aleksandr Pushkin, one of Russia's most famous and most beloved authors, was of African descent. I've been thinking about Pushkin a lot lately, partly because of the interestingly ethnic casting in The Great (a show in Hulu about Catherine the Great). (More on that to follow in another post.) So, ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, I give you my Pushkin display:

Azkabanned!

Just in case you have been living under a rock for the past few decades, be aware that this post contains spoilers for various Harry Potter books and The Empire Strikes Back. Yes, because that's how much of a nerd I am.

Everyone falls in love in college. My freshman year, I fell in love with Harry Potter - the books, anyway. I had been working in the book section of a Media Play for a year or two and had a vague notion of Harry Potter as "that kids' series about wizards." I had never thought much of it, except that it was "just for kids" and that it was probably a passing phase. My mom and her best friend - who was an Episcopal priest and middle school chaplain - had been trying to get me to read the first book, and I kept thinking I might, eventually. Then, Spring Break of freshman year, I went on a road trip (as one does on Spring Break in college). It's probably telling about both my personality and the kind of books I read that said road trip was not to a party scene on the beach, but a week-long, medieval re-enactment festival in in rural Mississippi.

On the way back from Mississippi, my friend who was driving asked if it was ok if he popped in one his Harry Potter tapes (yeah, remember those?). He said that he was at a really exciting part and he just had to know what was going on. My family had always been partial to Garrison Keillor tapes on road trips and, while I had not read Harry myself at that point, I had no aversion to it either. I said sure, and from the stereo of that ancient Oldsmobile came Jim Dale's voice and J.K.Rowling's incredible world.

I was suddenly locked in an office with Harry, mad-eye Moody, and questions. Who was this Mad-eye fellow, and why was he increasingly crazy? Who were these professors breaking down his door? Why was this poor Harry kid locked in an office with a crazy guy ranting about a dark lord anyway? I was suddenly intent on this world that I'd been thrown into, like being thrown into the deep end of a swimming pool, only to find it was full of dark chocolate pudding. Very cool choice - but why? I didn't find out any of the answers to those questions - at least not that rainy March evening - because my friend suddenly gasped in terror and said, "You can't listen to this! You haven't read the book!" I found out later he'd spoiled the climax and major reveal of the 4th book for me. But he made up for it by what he did next. He happened to have the first cassette of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and he put that in instead. The first paragraph of the book is what sold me on the series: "Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework, but was forced to do it in secret in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard."

That's it ladies and gentlemen - that's how to hook a reader.

I don't know if it was because of those first 3 chapters I listened to, or if it was just because of the way the story was crafted, but Prisoner of Azkaban became not just my favorite in the Harry Potter series, but one my favorite books ever. And for someone who if you ask for their favorite book will start listing off about a dozen, that's saying something. Seriously. Top five. Ever. It may be because it's what I think of as the boundary book - Azkaban is the book that separates a lot of things in the Harry Potter Universe. It's the book that everything before it is good family fun - great for all ages! - and everything after is darker, scarier, and solidly into Young Adult territory. It's the book where you realize Voldemort really could come back. It's the book where you realize the good guys don't win every battle. But it's also a book of hope. It's the book that has new friends accross generation lines. And it's the book that has my favourite reveal. Say what you will about Harry discovering he's a wizard in the first book, or finally defeating Voldemort in the final one, my favorite moment is when Harry discovers and accepts that Sirus, his parents' best friend, his godfather, is not an evil, double-crossing murderer after all. To me, that's right up there with Vader's "No, I am your father" - except on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum.

And of course, if we're talking about boundary books here, it's the book that separates my pre-Harry Potter and post-Harry Potter life. Because even though I heard a few paragraphs of Goblet of Fire first, and even though I then went back and read the books in order, it was those first three chapters of Prisoner of Azkaban that captured me.

So there we go, readers - you just got Azka-banned!