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11 Apr 2007 08:17 PM

The Day They Came to Arrest the Book - Nat Hentoff

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

As a fast introductory note: at the time this book was published (1982) the politically correct term for a person of color was Black. I know things have shifted somewhat since then, but as I'm reviewing this particular book, I'll use the term Black, as that is what is found in the book.

"The Day They Came to Arrest the Book" is a classic young adult fiction novel about censorship. George Mason High School is the setting, and Nora Baines is the teacher who started it all. She's a history teacher who believes that sometimes, the best lessons can be learned through the medium of historical fiction, which shows emotions as well as historical facts. To go along with this thinking, she asks her students to read "Huckleberry Finn" as an example of the way people viewed slaves and slavery, and Huck's own personal struggles between society's norm and what he feels is right.

A young Black student named Gordon expressed his feelings of disgust with the book's usage of the "N" word in reference to Big Jim and the other slaves mentioned in the book, and Kate felt the book was feminist. As these students went home and shared their feelings with their parents, who in turn came to the principal, the issue of censorship comes front and center, bringing us to a very crucial question: when should a book be banned?

As debates are held in the school and the teachers and students talk about it amongst themselves, both sides of the issue are very well represented. Some felt that any book containing such harsh racial statements was not appropriate for the school's use, while others felt that the racial statements were used to show the very wrongness of racism and that the book should be allowed. Neither side was made to look foolish; the representatives for both sides were articulate, educated, and influential.

Barney, the editor of the school newspaper, was deeply troubled by the double-standards he was seeing displayed all around him, and decided to get to the heart of the matter with an interview conducted with the former school librarian, who quit because of the scrutiny of the principal. With her testimony, Barney wrote a compelling editorial which brought the story to the attention of the press and the national newspapers.

This is a novel that will really get you thinking. What place does literature have in education, and who should decide what literature should and should not be featured? Is any use of a racial slur, even when used to prove a point, harmful? Is there an age at which restrictions on reading material should be lifted? I found myself evaluating my own thinking as I read, determining where I fit on the continuum.

I would recommend this book for teenagers over the age of fourteen and their parents. I suggest fourteen because of language and the examples cited throughout the book of other "questionable" literary works, such as the Bible, which aren't exactly pretty. I definitely recommend it to parents as they determine what books to choose for their own collections at home. Regardless of what side you take on the issue, you will find something to applaud in this book.

(This book was published in 1982 by Marnate Productions.)

Related Blogs:

Censoring -- Good or Bad?

The Good, the Bad, and the Inappropriate -- Banning Books From Your School's Library

Where in the World is "Song of the South?"

Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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