Censored Book Reflection

Censorship of literature isn’t a new concept. For as long as there has been the written word there are those who seem to take issue with what is being written. In the book Children’s Books In Children’s Hands, Temple, Martinez and Yokota define censorship as “denying access to books and ideas.” (2015) Books are banned for any number of reasons, some of those being profanity, violence, bad behavior, sexual situations and racist ideas or language. One such banned book/series has made its way onto the American Library Association’s Most Challenged Books list multiple times, for multiple reasons.

The Captain Underpants series written and illustrated by Dav Pilkey has found itself under fire from concerned parents on several occasions. Intended for grades 1-5, the Captain Underpants series chronicles the adventures of Harold Hutchins and George Beard and the fictitious hero of their own comic book, Captain Underpants. Because the young boys engage in disruptive antics and are amused by potty humor many parents have tried to have these books banned on the idea that they promote disobedience and disrespectful behavior in young children. The books recently were under fire for the inclusion of a same sex couple. (ALA, 2019)

Having read many of the books in the series myself, I do not agree with the assessment that these books deliberately promote bad behavior in young children. In the article “Why Captain Underpants is the Banned Book In America” the author describes many of the acts in which the boys engage throughout the series. (Engel, 2013) When looked at objectively, one has to really dig to make the correlation that the boys are intentionally being mean and vindictive in their behavior. And the article ends with the same thought that I had when pondering why these books would be considered offensive to children, why would parents want to ban books that encourage kids, especially young boys, to read? (Engel, 2013)

Which brings me to the idea of how one would use these books to teach lessons to young students in a classroom setting. As stated earlier, the very idea of censorship is denying a child of their right to freedom of speech. Therefore, instead of restricting these books, they could be used with 1^st-5^th grades in classrooms as a tool for opening conversations on some of the topics being dealt with in these books. I would start by having students take turns reading aloud. Because the books include life lessons, as well as humor, this could be a great way to bridge the subject that it is still okay to laugh, even when things do not always go as planned. Or to talk about how bodily functions are completely natural and everyone has them. Or when they get in trouble in the book, that there are consequences to our actions and that’s why it’s important to make good choices. And all the while, children are improving their reading skills in the process. It’s important for children to understand it is okay to enjoy books, while still getting valuable lessons and takeaways from them.

All in all, the very idea of banning materials instead of talking about them is an unsettling prospect. Obviously, we should be aware of content and age appropriateness, but there is a fine line between that and complete restriction. As educators, we need to come up with ways of teaching lessons through these books instead of giving in to the notion that we know better than the reader what they should and shouldn’t be exposed to.

American Library Association, ALA, (2019). Top 10 most challenged books. Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10

Engel, Pamela, (2013). Why Captain Underpants is the most banned book in America. Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.com/why-captain-underpants-is-the-most-banned-book-in-america-2013-9

Temple, C., Martinez, M., & Yokota, J. (2015). Children's books in children's hands: A brief introduction to their literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.