Had to defend 'The Bluest Eye' at a PTA meeting last Tuesday

I live in a small town in Ohio and someone tried to get it pulled from the 11th grade reading list, called it 'pornographic'. I admit I hadn't read it myself, just knew the reputation. So I grabbed a copy from the library that weekend, read it in 3 days. Yeah, it's brutal and has that one scene, but the context about racism and self hate is so obvious if you actually pay attention. I stood up and told the board my exact page numbers and quotes. Now I'm the crazy mom who defends banned books, but honestly, I was the skeptic before and I get it now. Has anyone else had to fight for a book they initially thought was overhyped?

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jesse77316d ago

the skeptic before and I get it now" hit me hard because that's basically every adult I know who actually reads the stuff they're mad about. It's like people just read the summary online or heard someone else's take and run with it. Same thing happened with my nephew's school and "The Hate U Give", everyone at the meeting was mad about the language but nobody had opened the book. Once you actually see the words in context it's so obviously not what the panic makes it out to be. I swear half these book fights are just people scared of things they haven't taken the time to understand. Good for you for doing the homework before you showed up.